The Daily Bowie - #74 - "If You Can See Me"

The Daily Bowie - #74 - "If You Can See Me" 

I don't have much to say today.

"take this knife
And meet me across the river"

David Bowie makes rare public appearance - Daily Mail - UK - Nov 07 2013

THE NEXT DAY

DAVID BOWIE

FROM PUSHING AHEAD OF THE DAME "If You Can See Me"


"Does it all hold together? The production veers all over the place, with Bowie’s chintzy-sounding synthesizer lines getting more prominence in the mix than Zachary Alford’s kinetic drum patterns; Tony Levin is a quagmire foundation (in the brief post-apocalyptic coda, Levin grumbles off into the distance); Gail Ann Dorsey gets her most prominent spot on the album with her whirling vocal intro (shades of Clare Torrey on Pink Floyd’s “Great Gig in the Sky“) and adds a high ceiling to some of Bowie’s lines. Bowie seems delighted to have managed to set the thing in motion, relishing the rhythm of lines like “American Anna, fantastic Alsatian” and having a blast playing Shiva, Destroyer of Worlds in his last refrain.

Impenetrable, viciously-sung, a strange dark work of labored ambition, “If You Can See Me” wound up being the Next Day track which most hinted at Bowie’s next move, the “Sue”/”Tis a Pity She Was a Whore” single in 2014."


"If You Can See Me" - THE NEXT DAY - 2013




+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

"If You Can See Me"

If you can see me I can see you

I could wear your new blue shoes

I should wear your old red dress

And walk to the crossroads

So take this knife

And meet me across the river

Just chutes and ladders and this is the kiss

American Anna, fantastic Alsatian

From nowhere to nothing

And I go way back

Children swarm like thousands of bugs

Towards the lights the beacons above the hill

The stars to the West, the South, the North and to the East

Now you could say I've got a gift of sorts

A fear of rear windows and swinging doors

A love of violence and dread of sighs

If you can see me I can see you

If you can see me I can see you

I have seen these bairns wave their fists at God

Swear to destroy the beasts, stamping the ground

In their excitement for tomorrow

I could wear your new blue shoes

I should wear your old red dress

And walk to the crossroads

So take this knife

And meet me across the river

I will take your lands and all that lays beneath

The dust of cold flowers, prison of dark of ashes

I will slaughter your kind who descend from belief

I am the spirit of greed, a lord of theft

I'll burn all your books and the problems they make

If you can see me I can see you

If you can see me

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Rest in peace, David. We miss you.

- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 1606.22 -  8:25

NOTE ON WHY THE DAILY BOWIE IS NO LONGER DAILY: For 53 days, I completed daily Bowie posts. My schedule is too demanding to make a post every day, so this will now be a feature that is called The Daily Bowie, but it will not be daily. I will post as I can. I will post often. But if I miss a day, I will skip it. Otherwise, I get in the position of making five Bowie posts all in one day, and that's a lot of Bowie for people to swallow all at once... (yeah, leaving that badly phrased, innuendo packed statement. I bet Bowie would have laughed at it).