Young Americans

Okay, that Bowie track.

Young Americans is not considered one of Bowie's great albums.  He was out of his mind on coke at the time, of course.  And in a somewhat tentative and experimental space musically -- glam rock had run its course, and it wasn't clear what was next.  So the album is kind of a mess.  Basically there are two tracks to take away from it: 'Fame' and the title song.

But they're good tracks.  Flawed, but good.  'Fame' was Bowie's collaboration with Lennon, and if you haven't heard it, go listen.  And 'Young Americans' was... well, it's hard to say exactly what it was.  But it's worth five minutes of your time.

(Note the saxophonist and the backup singers.  Bowie was experimenting with soul and with funk.  He'd get better at putting it all together later, but this is a pretty promising rough first draft.)

Here's a thing.  Most Bowie is junk, because at the end of the day Bowie was a pop songwriter, and most pop is junk.  But: Bowie was a really good pop songwriter, and high-end Bowie contains flashes of what you have to call brilliance.

* * *

All the way from Washington
Her bread-winner begs off the bathroom floor
"We live for just these twenty years
Do we have to die for the fifty more?"

All night
He wants the young American
Young American, young American, he wants the young American
All right
He wants the young American

Do you remember, your President Nixon?
Do you remember, the bills you have to pay
Or even yesterday?

Have you been an un-American?
Just you and your idol singing falsetto 'bout
Leather, leather everywhere, and
Not a myth left from the ghetto
Well, well, well, would you carry a razor
In case, just in case of depression
Sit on your hands on a bus of survivors
Blushing at all the Afro-Sheeners
Ain't that close to love?
Well, ain't that poster love?
Well, it ain't that Barbie doll
Her heart's been broken just like you have

All night
You want the young American
Young American, young American, you want the young American
All right
You want the young American

You ain't a pimp and you ain't a hustler
A pimp's got a Cadi and a lady’s got a Chrysler
Black's got respect, and white's got his soul train
Mama's got cramps, and look at your hands shake
[I heard the news today, oh boy!]
I got a suite and you got defeat
Ain't there a man can say no more?
And, ain't there a woman I can sock on the jaw?
And, ain't there a child I can hold without judging?
Ain't there a pen that will write before they die?
Ain't you proud that you've still got faces?
Ain't there one damn song that can make me
break down and cry?

All night
I want the young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
All right
I want the young American
Young American
Young American, young American, I want the young American
(I want with you, I want with you want)

* * *

Noted in passing: Bowie's distinctive voice, that beautiful liquid croak?  It's a classic Irish baritone.  Oh, it's filtered through cocaine and heroin instead of whiskey, but if he broke into 'Danny Boy' every Guinness in the house would be raised in praise.  Nobody notices it because Bowie's such a freak, is all.

Anyway.  The seventies had any number of artistic works mourning the end of the sixties: how all that idealism curdled and soured, leaving a sticky residue of confusion and resentment; how we somehow moved from Pepperland to Nixonland; how the Baby Boomers, those young Americans, turned out to be just a huge fucking disappointment in pretty much every way imaginable.  Even in 1974, this wasn't a new theme.  (Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas came out in, what, 1971?  Yes.) The frenzied final set of verses, with its love, cynicism, misogyny and despair?  With Bowie sort of babbling in despair, almost unintelligible through the soaring pop joy of the backup singers?  Gets me, man.  "Ain't there ONE DAMN SONG that can make me... break down and cry?" 

There are about a dozen versions of this, and some are better.  Most put more emphasis on that final verse, which is probably good.  Still...

(Canoodling for Bowie stuff on YouTube, I found this: Bowie and Marianne Faithful doing 'I Got You, Babe'.  Bowie on heroin as opposed to coke; see the difference?  Also, Marianne Faithfull was the Billy Corgan of the Nixon administration discuss.)

So why stuck in my head?  Well, my subconscious and I are not on speaking terms and that's a good thing, but yeah, something cross-wired about the election, hope, despair, and the great wheel of the generations clicking through another quarter-turn.

Jump: Obama's technically a Baby Boomer except, you know, he's not.  Which means that the Boomers got two Presidents, and one of them was George W.  Worst generational average ever?  The Silent Generation (born 1926 - whenever the Boomers started) didn't get a one: is that worse?  -- Except I find my Boomer-phobia is slowly fading with time; now I just feel sort of sad for them.

And that's all for today.

Comments

[Syd Webb]

Doug wrote, "Except I find my Boomer-phobia is slowly fading with time; now I just feel sort of sad for them."

You young punks.

Finally we have a POTUS younger than me and I still can't call him 'boy'.

[Carlos]

"Noted in passing: Bowie's distinctive voice, that beautiful liquid croak? It's a classic Irish baritone... Nobody notices it because Bowie's such a freak, is all."

Bing Crosby did. There's a duet of them singing "The Little Drummer Boy," which has them harmonizing before Bowie goes into his falsetto tenor: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c9KpNznVLlY

"Except I find my Boomer-phobia is slowly fading with time; now I just feel sort of sad for them."

You say this now, but wait till you find the cask of Longbottom Leaf amidst the wreckage of their fortress. Just sayin'.

[Dennis Brennan]

Doug- you might not have seen this in Germany, but back here, they're running a Lincoln car commercial built around a cover of a Bowie song.

It's "Space Oddity".

The one that's about an equipment failure in a vehicle that kills the occupant.

[CultureWatcher]

Interesting post and blog. Relevantly, many prominent experts and publications have pointed out that Obama is part of Generation Jones, born 1954-1965, between the Boomers and GenXers.

You may find this page interesting: it has, among other things, excerpts from publications like Newsweek and the New York Times, and videos with over 25 top pundits, all talking specifically about Obama's identity as a GenJoneser:
http://www.generationjones.com/2008election.html

You also may find it interesting that the guy who coined the term Generation Jones--Jonathan Pontell--lived the expat life for many years, was one of the movers and shakers in the early/mid-1990s Prague expat life, and I believe I read somewhere that he first formulated the theory that there was a lost generation between the Boomers and Xers while living the expat life in Goa, India.

[Will Baird]

"Except I find my Boomer-phobia is slowly fading with time; now I just feel sort of sad for them."

Phobia? More like loathing for me, not fear. Unfortunately, my contempt grows with each passing year.

[Bernard Guerrero]

Something we can all agree on! Boomer loathing and Bowie's voice. The Bing Crosby duet's the first one out of the Xmas box every year. Or into the Itunes playlist now, I guess.

[CultureVulture]

Regarding Jonathan Pontell in 90s Prague: If by "mover and shaker" you mean Jonathan walked around smoking dope from a bong and doing magic tricks on the Charles Bridge, uh, yeah, he was a real mover and shaker!

[CultureVulture]

Regarding Jonathan Pontell in 90s Prague: If by "mover and shaker" you mean Jonathan walked around smoking dope from a bong and doing magic tricks on the Charles Bridge, uh, yeah, he was a real mover and shaker!