Nathaniel Jordon
Creative Writing
December 10, 2014
Response to a Song
An Interpretation of David Bowie’s “Changes”
I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
and every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't tell them to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can't trace time
Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace
I'm going through
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strain)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon now you're gonna get older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can't trace time
“Changes” is a hit song from David Bowie’s 1972 album Hurky Dory. Though one could say that the song is simply about changes, I have taken a deeper look into the song and its meaning. I believe it tells the story of a matured man looking back at the mistakes he’s made in life. He perhaps had tried to be things he was not, and it had never seemed to work out. So he took a look at himself and decided that he needed to be who he really was. Also in the song Bowie takes a look at children and rockers. I think that he sees the children trying to find who they are and doesn’t like that people “spit on them” for doing that. For the rock ‘n’ rollers, I think he warns them that they’ll soon look back at themselves and realize what they did wrong, the same way Bowie did. Though this interoperation may be completely wrong, this is how I see David Bowie’s “Changes.”
Tap here to start writing
