How David Bowie told us he was dying in the 'Lazarus' video

[Contrary1]

This is Ground Control to Major Bowie...You’ve really made the grade.

"Bowing out with typical style, David Bowie didn’t just release his last album ‘Blackstar’ to coincide with his 69th birthday last week, on January 8 – he was using it to say goodbye to the world.

An 18-month battle with cancer that hardly anyone knew about came to tragic end yesterday (January 10), but Bowie provided bleak hints about his terminal condition for his fans and followers in what was to be the final music video of his that was to be released in his lifetime.

Released only four days ago, the video for single ‘Lazarus’ was Bowie’s parting shot, opening with a blindfolded, fragile-looking Bowie laying in bed. His first words “look up here, I’m in heaven/I’ve got scars that can’t be seen” are now obviously an admission of his ill health, rather than just a fantastical musing on mortality. It soon becomes obvious that the bed he's in is a hospital one and Bowie begins to float above it, signifying his transmutation to the other side – whatever, or wherever that may be. Watching it now, it’s a statement as bold as it is bleak...

As Bowie writhes around on the bed, trying to break free, another Bowie then appears, a Bowie clad in black and stood upright, a Bowie who can still pose, pout, pick up a pen and create. Inspiration hits him and he scrawls at speed in a notebook, while the other Bowie continues to convulse. As he writes, we see a skull sitting ominously on his writing desk, the spectre of death looming over Bowie and his final creation, before he steps backwards into a wooden wardrobe, a fitting kind of coffin for an icon of style and fashion.

"His death was no different from his life - a work of Art," explained Bowie's producer Tony Visconti, in tribute. "He made 'Blackstar' for us, his parting gift. I knew for a year this was the way it would be. I wasn't, however, prepared for it." Creative to the very end, the 'Lazarus' video is a heartbreakingly sad way to bid farewell, but a more than appropriate one.

Read more at http://www.nme.com/blogs/nme-blogs/how-david-bowie-told-us-he-was-dying-in-the-lazarus-video?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=social#dgZvtZ2F1gychrGm.99

[KT2000]

1. Stunning nt

[FrodosPet]

2. Trippy, Haunting, and Beautiful - David Bowie - Blackstar

Last edited Tue Jan 12, 2016, 05:54 AM - Edit history (1)

[PoliticalMalcontent]

3. So god damned moving.

An artist till the end. An amazing individual.

He will be missed.

[beveeheart]

4. "I'll be free"

Saturday I found out that my very best friend of 66 years is dying. In addition to refusing dialysis treatments, she
has pneumonia and a broken foot. This line from Bowie's song has just helped me adjust to the reality of losing her. She'll be free.

Contrary1, thank you for sharing the video and its analysis.

[Skittles]

5. I saw this video in early December

I checked my sent mail - I had sent it to a friend saying, "He hasn't lost it."

[malaise]

6. My thoughts exactly

http://www.democraticunderground.com/10027520188

[DonCoquixote]

7. On the one hand

I really would have learned to see how this stage of Bowie turned out. It started with "the next day" and he was planning collaborations with all sorts of people. I really do think he was in another phase, a very modern, very un-sentimental, but still very lively and healthy phase.

On the other hand, there are very few artists of any sort that, after a career of highs and lows, continue to make great work in their last days. Blackstar was a VERY high note to go out on.

PS: is it me, or is David Bowie crawling into the cabinet after putting the pen down the ultimate image of death? The look he had in his eyes said that he had a lot more to write, but knows he never will. That look is very sharp compared to the buttons on the eyes figure on the bed.

PPS: someone says there is an astronaut in this. I did not see it. If so, three guesses who that fellow is.