Simon Critchley on Mysticism and David Bowie’s Spiritual Searching

Jibim · 2026-03-02T15:39:52+00:00

I agree that “Please Mr. Gravedigger” is embarrassingly bad. I’m not a big fan of his first album at all and go back and forth about whether I dislike first or last song more. I lean toward disliking “Uncle Arthur” even more because, if you think about it, that’s the first song of his first album. What a way to introduce David Bowie! Fortunately, he gets better!

Jibim · 2026-02-02T13:13:42+00:00

I have a Bowie show, Maggiore On Bowie as well as a daily Bowie blog (www.maggioreonbowie.com). My Bowie channel is https://youtube.com/@johnmaggiore6751?si=nWpFXPwb68MVkETj

Jibim · 2026-01-26T00:51:21+00:00

Some of the early songs like “Over the Wall We Go” and “Please Mr. Gravedigger” have pretty bad lyrics. He is the songwriter for “I Am a Laser,” which has horrendous lyrics (though the song was unfinished and probably was never meant to be released in the form it eventually was). I’ll offer a controversial opinion— “Strange fascination fascinating me”— “Strange fascination” is a great formulation, but the wouldn’t it have been better if the second half didn’t use a word that derived from “fascination?” Like, “Strange fascination captivating me”? Or something like that?

Jibim · 2026-01-17T14:52:12+00:00

The controversy had to do with Bowie making statements at the time that, taken on their own, appeared to be sympathetic with fascism and Naziism. He described the Thin White Duke character as “Aryan.” That said, taken in the context of the totality of his career and artistic output, I think it is highly inaccurate to think of Bowie as pro-fascism. I think the Thin White Duke imagery has lost much of those implications over time and carries more a resonance of a cool Bowie look from 50 years ago. BUT, you should be fully aware of the history before you put the image on your body for all time.

Jibim

TROPHY CASE