Hey, folks! These analysis videos are based on suggestions from our Patreon patrons, so if you have a song you'd like to suggest, just head on over to www.patreon.com/12tonevideos and pledge at any level! Anyway, here's some more thoughts on this song: 1) Didn't get a chance to talk about this in the main video, but it's also noteworthy that he mostly plays the line cliche in the bass. Normally, in a line cliche, the bass stays the same and one of the top notes moves, but doing it with the lowest notes in the voicing draws more attention to it. 2) I'm not sure I was clear enough in the Chromatic Mediants section, so just in case, the reason it's so significant is because it's one of the most common tools used in non-functional and atonal harmony in order to evoke relationships between chords without reference to a key center. F and Ab are like cousins. 3) This song is in what I like to call "Pantera Tuning", meaning the notes are all a quarter-tone flat. It doesn't change much, and I didn't have room to dive into it in the video, but it's worth mentioning. 4) Some of you have pointed out that the last chord of the prechorus is actually Db7/Cb, with the line cliche continuing up. That's correct: I misread the transcription I was working from and didn't catch the error. Thanks for pointing it out! The structure there is still largely the same, but it makes it a bIII7 in the target key, which is a weird but usable resolution that I'm sad I didn't get the chance to talk about. Sorry!
Hey dude. I recently found this channel and think it's pretty interesting. I had an idea, maybe you could open up a Discord for your viewers to talk about music and music theory. It could be neat.
"Pantera Tuning"? isn't it likely that the recording was done on a slightly flat piano, and all tuned to that? Even a slightly off tape machine? Tell you what, the piano in the opening part of Bohemian rhapsody could have done with a better tune up! Guess we're all used to modern digital instruments, auto-tuned vocals, and metronomic beats these days. A lot of old recordings are actually all over the place in tuning, or general precision, but few of us actually care. It's usually the song/performance that counts.
@Tim Beaton is on the right tack. It's highly likely that either everyone tuned to a piano as-is or that the tape was played back slightly slower when creating the album masters, whether for effect or by accident.
What i also didn't know re LOM. was that Bowie had originally written english lyrics to a french song..."Comme d'habitude" for his then publishing company. They were rejected at the time, and shortly thereafter, Paul Anka wrote the final english lyrics...for an obscure song called.."My Way". Yep. That one! (This explains the hand-written note on the sleeve of the Hunky Dory album next to LOM. where Bowie wrote "Inspired by Frankie" And Bowie then wrote Life on Mars as his "version" of My Way...so the line cliches are definitely a nod to those in the original French song.
The song was a response to Sinatra's 'My Way'. Before he made it big Bowie was a songwriter for hire and had been sent the music to My Way to put lyrics to. He sent his completed song back but didn't get the job. He later recognised the tune when he heard it on the radio and decided to do a better job than he had before - the result was 'Life on Mars'
Yes, I read that too. I think it was in the liner notes from his albums. Found this on Last FM liner notes : ""Life on Mars?" is a song by David Bowie first released in 1971 on the album Hunky Dory and also released as a single. The song-which BBC Radio 2 later called "a cross between a Broadway musical and a Salvador Dalí painting"-featured guest piano work by keyboardist Rick Wakeman. When released as a single in 1973, it reached #3 in the UK and stayed on the chart for thirteen weeks. The song re-entered the UK charts at #55 over 30 years later, largely because of its use in the original British television series Life on Mars. In 1968, Bowie wrote "Even a Fool Learns to Love", a song with lyrics by Bowie set to the music of a 1967 French song ("Comme d'habitude"). Bowie's song was never released, but Paul Anka bought the rights to the original French version, and rewrote it into "My Way," made famous by Frank Sinatra in a 1969 recording on his album of the same name. The success of the Anka version prompted Bowie to write "Life on Mars?" as a parody of Sinatra's recording. BBC Radio has described "Life on Mars?" as having "one of the strangest lyrics ever" consisting of a "slew of surreal images" like a Salvador Dalí painting. The line "Look at those cavemen go" is a reference to the song "Alley Oop", a one-off hit in 1960 for American doo-wop band The Hollywood Argyles. Bowie, at the time of Hunky Dory's release in 1971, summed up the song as "A sensitive young girl's reaction to the media". In 1997 he added "I think she finds herself disappointed with reality... that although she's living in the doldrums of reality, she's being told that there's a far greater life somewhere, and she's bitterly disappointed that she doesn't have access to it". The liner notes for Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply."
Yeah, Paul Anka wrote lyrics for My Way. So without him, we wouldn't have had Life on Mars?, which is a superior song. Incidentally, Anka means "duck" in Swedish, if that's of any interest.
I can draw a decent treble clef but I have _never_ been able to write out the all little those NOTES in a halfway legible fashion. That's the first thing that impressed me.
Y'all just don't transcribe enough on paper. Yer fancy muffhuggin modern gadgets let ya notate a whole score PLUS hear it back in less than a few minutes -- but ain't do shit for yer musical penmanship.
The song is also partially based on a French song called "Comme D'habitude". Bowie had written an English version of the song but before he released it Frank Sinatra had a big hit with another version of the song ("My Way"). So Bowie uses a very similar chord progression for a completely different song as a sort of joke.
Here's "Comme d'habitude" on RU-vid ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GME3fMeK5ts.html ... and it turns out there's a (fairly decent) recent cover too ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-GeTn56-lahg.html (from an album called "My Way", hah).
I'm french so I've always known "Comme D'habitude", I'm not a fan of Claude François(the original singer) but it still blows my mind how Bowie could make such a great song out of it and I never realized how similar they were in terms of progression listening to it even though I play guitar. Bowie's chord modulations, lyrics and overall performance just make it otherwordly, which in the end have nothing to do with the original song he borrowed from. Needless to say, I prefer Life On Mars.
As far as I know the producer didn't like Bowie's version ("Even a Fool Learns to Love", Bowie himself said it was crap) and then passed the song to Anka, who made "My Way". Bowie was so pissed that he got drunk, shaved his own eyebrows off (go figure) and wrote "Life On Mars?" as a sort of "revenge".
I was literally sat here listening to this song and My Way popped up in my head for what I thought was no reason at all, just read your comment and it’s blown my head off.
The F - Fm - Cm - Ebm7 bit is certainly an example of modal interchange, but I think it's also important to point out that there's another chromatically descending line hiding inside those chords -- A, Ab, G, Gb. Love these videos!
Wow, this is so complicated it makes me laugh -- I understand everything your saying, I can play and read music, but this is on the highest level of aptitude and it's cool to experience it
Great video! I was so sad after Bowie passed. I listened to Blackstar on repeat for like a month. So much vibrancy and creativity, even at the end of his life.
1. I love how jam-packed your videos are with information and yet you make it really accessible. 2. I really appreciate how you edit/speak to keep things moving! I often have to watch videos on 2x speed but yours are already perfect! 3. I am so thankful for you writing the notes as we hear them. A+ work on combining so many learning devices together into such a succinct package!
Life On Mars was probably the most complicated song I ever learned how to play. The chords were no big deal. But the sequence, the melody, and the progression-while all logical-threw me off. It's certainly not a true rock song-more like cabaret/Broadway/etc. If you're not used to that style, it can be intimidating. But it's like climbing the mountain top..."I did it!!!" feeling. Btw, yeah it's more of a piano song. I learned it on guitar, acoustic at that. Your hands will hurt if you learn it on one.
I've been writing software for 20+ years, not a dumb guy by any stretch, but I watch this video and my brain hurts.. I feel like the apes at the start of 2001 a space odyssey staring at the obelisk.
You’re not dumb or intelligent based on you being able to understand this lol if you haven’t studied music then you have no reason to understand this.... it’s like me watching a video about programming software & saying, “ oh I’m not a dumb dude whatsoever but I don’t understand a single thing about this software programming video” no duh..... it’s kinda pointless to state it isn’t it?
Yeah. That tends to happen when you try to understand/blindly jump into a language you’ve never studied or learned.... no need to be like “oh I’m smart as heck and do software stuff for 20+ years but I don’t even get this!” Umm you would if you just took the time to study it lol. It’s like redundant to state that you are intelligent yet you don’t understand a language you’ve never studied. Obviously no one even super intelligent geniuses will completely understand a new language they’ve never specifically studied. Like hey buddy, I’m super smart and stuff and have a PhD in Blah blah, but EVEN I dont understand a concept/language that I’ve never studied before! Like no duh.
great analysis! the Eb minor on the coda gets me every time with those pumping orchestral hits that rise and rise to the I ... so melancholy and a masterful use of the iv - I cadence
WOW, I’m gobsmacked! I read music and I LOVE Bowie so this was a real treat for me. I’m no where near your ability so allow me to applaud the note writing with the notes, nicely done. Loved this. Thank you.
Man when he wrote this song he tapped into something special, its absolutely genius on many levels. You didn't even mention the lyrics wich are intertwined with the music to make up a timeless masterpiece. There are not many songs in which so many things come together like genious lyrics AND music, the right musicians, production etc... Very high level this
The modal interchange from F to Fm in the chorus is one of my favourite musical moments. So simple yet brilliant. Orinoco Flow by Enya does something really similar in its transition from verse to Chorus going from C to Cm. However in Life on Mars the effect is more wistful, rueful, in Orinoco Flow it's more stormy or brooding.
What I love about the arrangement is the stripped down verses representing the dull "Earth" which the girl with the mousy hair lives in, while the choruses explode with strings, representing "Mars" i.e the escapism the girl is desparate for. Another is the use of the recorder in the second verse. The recorder is associated with children and innocence, fitting the main character of the song, but because of the studio effects, it sounds more like a theremin or synth giving it an obvious spacey and dreamlike sound. The recorder melody flies up in pitch, reinforcing the metaphor just exploding with tension, like the kid is screaming or crying for a brighter life that is just out of reach.
I literally let out a cry of joy when I saw you're doing a Bowie song! Thank you! Oh how I wish you did hour long videos so that you could analyse Blackstar (the song).
Blackstar is an insane work of brilliance. Part hot mess, part virtuosic dark psychedelic occult genius. I think it's one of those "perfect" songs in that it intentionally fails to adhere to the rules, and yet perfectly outlines the spirit of the rules. So amazing.
In the first verse, the chords' bass moves down a half step, instead of what you said (thus it becomes F, Fmaj7/ E, F7/Eb, etc). I just thought this sounds better and thought to tell.
Bowie asked Rick Wakeman to come up with this, and its so emotional which is why Bowie just left to do it. If you see the RW interviews about it you will understand how it was made.
I love these song analyses. But what would help me a lot--even in a song like Life on Mars which I know very well--is to have you write the lyrics underneath the music as you're going along. Your style of mixing snippits of piano with verbal analysis is great for the analysis, but often leaves me feeling a little lost within the song you're analyzing. I have a very verbal brain, which keys strongly off of the lyrics. You don't have to talk about the lyrics (unless you want to) or reference them at all, but just having them there for me to key off of would really help me keep my bearings within the analysis.
I literally heard this song somewhere, wondered why it sounds so damn good despite seeming simple at the beginning, and then I remembered seeing your Toto video. I came here looking for Life on Mars, and I can't believe I actually found it.
"Captain of Dreams and Colours" is a song that is a tribute to David Bowie. It was also amazing to work with @Lydia Consilvio who performed the voicals, oboe AND English horn parts!! In Filip's words about this piece, "it is also a song about [a] farewell to anyone...'sail on...your new journey has just begun.'" Thank you so much Filip for having me on such a sentimental piece and bravi to Lydia for her beautiful performance on so many parts!
5:30 I'd personally view that Gbaug as sort of a passing chord. It keeps most notes of the preceding chord, but moves the bass note a half step downwards, so that it creates a chromatic bass line between Gm and F. This is also the justification I'd give for the weird chords in the guitar solo. This technique is not too far away from a line cliche, but imo it's not quite the same.
A lot of Bowies songs sound so natural and easy and yet they are complicated and technical as F.... And thats why I like his songs, they challenge you and make you learn new stuff.
Oh yeah! I fear that it would stop at the polyrhythm that starts again after 90 or so beats, but knowing 12tone he can't go without looking at the harmony
No better time and place for music than Britain in the 70s. Bowie, Pink Floyd, Queen, Genesis, Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, The Who... I could go on an on.
I played drums (as secondary instrument) on this song in school, it was haaaard. My main instruments are guitar and violin so is was pretty crazy. I always wanted to instinctively raise the tempo aaaall the time.
Can you look into knights of cydonia by muse? The verse plays the same melody 3 times in a row but played in keys a minor 6th from each other. That seems super weird to me but it doesnt sound weird, and I don't know why.
I haven't heard the song before, but here's an idea: when talking about the way keys change, it's usually easiest to talk about them in terms of an intervals' smallest form (remember, since the key change could be either considered up or down, the interval can be inverted). So from what you describe, the keys wouldn't be a minor 6th away, they'd be a major 3rd away. And in that case, assuming the song begins in the major mode, you'd have a *chromatic mediant* (just like 12tone talked about in this video!). Key changes a 3rd apart are some of the most common ones, and are a staple of bands like Muse. Chromatic mediants are good at facilitating them because the major III chord sounds exotic at first but smoothly resolves in new directions away from the key. And since the major III chord shares 2 out of it's 3 notes with the key still, many melodies could fit over it that also worked before the chord change. Just my thoughts!
Well, if anybody is interested in hearing from Rick Wakeman himself, check the "5 Years" documentary, some of which is on Vimeo... vimeo.com/108694354 especially after about 3:10... sounds like the actual chords were Bowie's and the part was performed by Wakeman pretty much around those chords. Love the final remark he makes after running through the song... (at that time, RW says he hadn't played it for 40 years.
That's a great find and thanks for sharing. So it seems that the genius was mostly Bowie's after all. Wherever it came from "Hunky Dory" remains my favourite Bowie album.
Difficult to say... i find i vary on which is my favourite according to mood. But my current favourite track is the EP version of Sue (or a season of crime) with the Maria Schneider Orchestra. Just extraordinary. And i suspect that Blackstar will long remain as the album that makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
An important thing that you failed to mention in the chorus analysis is that a chord moving from major to minor with the same root will have a IV-iv sound, and minor iv is actually a more of a dominant function compared to IV. It works here because Fm would be the iv of C minor (which is exactly how it resolves) and Em7 is the iv of Bb (which is exactly how it resolves). Also Cm7 and Eb7 are almost the same chord in terms of common notes.
Interesting - cool video! I hear a Db7/Cb just before the chorus - it fulfills the ascending chromatic bass line from the two chords prior and creates a deceptive cadence with the ensuing Bb - word painting the phrase, "as they ask her to focus on." It's been awhile since I've heard the song, though.
HOLY HELL Rick Wakeman played on the album? NUTS!!! I had no idea. Just learned this last week on piano, long time fan of this youtube channel and this popped up at random today.
I am very thankful you do this. I realized during my senior year of music college that this was not your run of the mill chord progression, but a lot of these terms are new to me even now. This is really exciting to discover 10 years after my realization of Bowie's brilliance in this song. This may be a simple request/answer, but this song makes me think of it: What is the function/name of the chord progression on the line "Wouldn't you like to get away" in the Cheers theme? I can't tell how that works, but boy does it sound good.
I think there's one more line cliche/descent you forgot to mention - in the beginning of the prechorus, , the G minor's G moves down to F to make it the Bb/F, then to E for the C7 chord. It's not a complete line cliche, because of the move down from D to a C to make it a C7, but in this song rich with line cliches (full and partial) and chromatic movements, it's work noticing! Your functional analysis of it also makes total sense though, and is another good way of looking at it.
7:06 They're _rotationally_ symmetrical, to be exact. Which means that they are axially symmetrical several times over, they have more than one axis of symmetry. The diatonic scale (the major scale and all of its modes), for instance, is axially symmetrical too, but it only has one single axis of symmetry and so it isn't notably rotationally symmetrical.
I love your videos and you explain everything very well, with a lot of energy and clarity, but as a viewer I think I'm letting you down. I feel like I understand what you're telling me in each video, but understanding an idea and understanding how the idea actually works are two very different things and my grasp of music and structure isn't enough to read between the lines (literally I guess, on staff paper) and actually internalise this stuff. I'm going to have to come back to these videos again when I have a real understanding of musicality and progressions and I can actually tell what all the little things in your toolbox are meant to do, so you can teach me these things properly.
You guys should try playing Mike Garson’s jazz improv based on this song. It’s crazy intricate and difficult (I’m still learning to play it even near his speed) but beautiful. You can buy the sheet music or the album he plays it on. The theme and spirit of Life on Mars are there but it’s a more complex and technically demanding song for piano. I love Bowie’s voice and the spareness of his version, but Mike’s version has its own magic.
Like many others I didn't study music, and maybe I would spend months (or years?) until I could fully understand the video. I was just trying to find some video that explains why life on Mars is so...so... unique. It seems this video explains it all, but I wish I could understand it. I also wonder if Bowie or the pianist (Wakeman?) created the melody by heart, or weather they built it being fully aware of these tricks.
I wonder if technology exist to remove your hand yet leave the pen and notes behind. It’s pretty cool how you coordinate the played with the drawn. Especially nice for us musicians...
I think that besides being inspired by "My way", this song was also influenced by Bridge over troubled water by Simon and Garfunkel; at least in the ending, they sound very much alike
Burkhard Mittelbach The phrase "space oddity" doesn't get mentioned in the song. Most songs with vocals at least mention the title, so it stands to reason that the most repetitive line in the song would be mistakenly assumed to be the title.
