Old man, wonder if you'll ever know...

This song used to creep me out, and yet I loved it.
Correction: This song still creeps me out, and I still love it.

Ground control to Major Tom,
Your circuit's dead,
There's something wrong.

Can you hear me, Major Tom?

Perhaps since Superman II, I've been creeped out by the idea of dying in space. Since I'm a little too young to have caught the late David Bowie's 'Space Oddity' first time around, it was probably on Pick of the Pops with Alan 'Fluff' Freeman that I first came across and was creeped out by the story of astronaut and reputed junkie Major Tom and his highly desirable shirts. Unlike most songs that I found disturbing, however, I loved this one from the first, and perhaps that's why Bowie has retained a stronger presence in my mind than many other artists.

Part of me wishes I could share some story of the deep and profound effect Bowie's music had on me, and if nothing else the fact that I chose to discuss him here in my life blog instead of one of my more media related efforts shows that he did have some impact, but all in all I'm not the guy who is that into music. My tastes and my music collection have always been eclectic, and the dawn of the digital age freed me from the need to buy albums, but I've always been aware that Bowie was one of those artists who popped up from time to time, with something new; and actually new, rather than running on nostalgia and fame.

I mean, we're talking about a guy who recorded songs with Queen, Nine Inch Nails, Bing Crosby and Mick Jagger and has had two existential/mystical cop dramas (four if you count both US adaptations of Life on Mars) named after his songs; how many other people can say that*?

Anyway, in the absence of anything profound to add to the discussion, I shall simply include a link to perhaps Bowie's greatest work**.

* I haven't checked, but I'm pretty confident it's none.
** Seriously, I love this song.