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The possibility of life on Mars is a subject of interest in astrobiology due to the planet 's proximity and similarities to Earth. To date, no conclusive evidence of past or present life has been found on Mars.
Life on Mars? Lyrics: It's a god-awful small affair / To the girl with the mousy hair / But her mummy is yelling, "No!" / And her daddy has told her to go / But her friend is...
Life on Mars (named after David Bowie's song of the same name) and its sequel, Ashes to Ashes (also named after a David Bowie song), received acclaim for blending elements of mystery, police procedurals, supernatural drama, science fiction, and historical drama.
- Background and Writing
- Recording
- Composition
- Release
- Critical Reception
- Commercial Performance
- Live Performances
- Cover Versions and Appearances in Media
- Personnel
In early 1968, David Bowie's publisher David Platz was sharing a London office with another music publisher named Geoffrey Heath. One day, Heath arrived with an acetate disc of the 1967 French song "Comme d'habitude", which was composed by Claude François and Jacques Revaux, and sung by François. Heath, who had a limited option for the song's Briti...
Early demo
Bowie recorded a demo of "Life on Mars?" between May and June 1971.[c] According to biographer Nicholas Pegg, the demo is one minute and fifty-three seconds long, and has Bowie alone on vocals and piano. This early demo contains only the first verse and chorus, and several lyrical variations from the finished track, including "It's a simple but small affair"; "Her mother is yelling no, and her father has asked her to go"; and "It's a time for the lawman beating up the wrong guy". The demo wou...
Studio version
Work on Hunky Dory began at Trident Studios, London, on 8 June 1971. "Life on Mars?" was recorded on 6 August, the final day of the sessions.[d] According to O'Leary, Bowie and co-producer Ken Scott considered the track to be "the Big One", and saved it for the end of the sessions. In July that year, Defries sent a letter to comedian and jazz pianist Dudley Moore, asking him to play piano during a session. There is no evidence Moore replied; although the song on which Defries wanted Moore to...
Music
Biographer David Buckley described "Life on Mars?" as a "soaring, cinematic ballad". The song has been classified as glam rock, while Michael Gallucci of Ultimate Classic Rock said the melody "bridges cabaret and art rock". "Life on Mars?" has a complex structure; the verses are primarily in the key of F major but chord changes are present throughout, including C7 ("told her to go"), F ("but her friend"), and later on, C9 to A♭ ("lived it ten times"). The pre-chorus sections range from F majo...
Lyrics
According to British radio station BBC Radio 2, "Life on Mars?" has "one of the strangest lyrics ever", consisting of a "slew of surreal images" like a Salvador Dalí painting. Spitz said the song has a theme of optimism. In the song, a "girl with mousy hair" visits a cinema to escape from reality. Sandford writes it "sets up a complex parallel world in which the cinema becomes life". After the girl becomes "hooked to the silver screen", Bowie uses an array of images that are typical of films,...
Title
Although Bowie was fixated on becoming Ziggy Stardust at the time of its recording, "Life on Mars?" has no connection with the planet Mars; the title is a reference to the intense media coverage of the contemporaneous US-Soviet Union race to reach the planet. Doggett states the media interest inspired headlines around the world that asked "Is there life on Mars?" According to Perone, the science fiction-influenced character Ziggy Stardust and his backing band The Spiders from Mars originated...
RCA Records released Hunky Dory on 17 December 1971, with "Life on Mars?" as the fourth track on side one, sandwiched between "Eight Line Poem" and "Kooks". Eighteen months later, at the height of Bowie's Ziggy Stardust fame, RCA released "Life on Mars?" as a single in the UK on 22 June 1973, with the catalogue number RCA 2316 and the 1970 track "T...
Hunky Dory was met with very positive reviews from several British and American publications. Billboard, classifying it under their "Top Album Picks", named "Life on Mars?" as one of the strongest songs on the album. Reviewers have generally considered "Life on Mars?" one of the best tracks on Hunky Dory. According to Gallucci, "Life on Mars?" is o...
Upon release as a single, "Life on Mars?" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 21, peaking at number three in mid-July behind "Welcome Home" by Peters and Lee and "I'm the Leader of the Gang (I Am)" by Gary Glitter. "Life on Mars?" remained on the chart for thirteen weeks. In West Germany, the song peaked at number 39 on the Official German Chart...
David Bowie frequently performed "Life on Mars?" during his concert tours. Live recordings from 1972's Ziggy Stardust tour have been released on the 2003 30th-anniversary bonus disc of Aladdin Sane and on the bootleg album Santa Monica '72 (1994), which received an official release as Live Santa Monica '72 in 2008. On the 1973 leg of the Ziggy Star...
"Life on Mars?" has appeared in numerous television series. The British series Life on Mars was named after and heavily featured the song, which is included on the series' soundtrack album. Actor Jessica Lange sang the song with a deep German accent on the fourth-season premiere of the FX television series American Horror Story: Freak Show. Lange p...
According to biographer Chris O'Leary: 1. David Bowie– vocals 2. Mick Ronson – electric guitars, recorders, string arrangement 3. Trevor Bolder– bass guitar 4. Mick Woodmansey– drums 5. Rick Wakeman– piano 6. Unknown musicians – violins, violas, celli, string basses Production 1. David Bowie – producer 2. Ken Scott – producer, engineer
NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover has begun its search for signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. Flexing its 7-foot (2-meter) mechanical arm, the rover is testing the sensitive detectors it carries, capturing their first science readings.
- Jet Propulsion Laboratory
The official music video for David Bowie - Life On Mars?Taken from Bowie's 4th studio album 'Hunky Dory' released in 1971, which featured the singles 'Change...
- 4 min
- 48.4M
- David Bowie
Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, and distribution of life in the Universe, and searching for life on Mars is a major goal of the Mars 2020 mission.
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