{"id":1602,"date":"2008-08-04T15:12:40","date_gmt":"2008-08-04T19:12:40","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2009-10-06T15:13:05","modified_gmt":"2009-10-06T15:13:05","slug":"please-convince-me-what-are-the-words-fo","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/please-convince-me-what-are-the-words-fo\/","title":{"rendered":"Please Convince Me: What Are the Words Following &#8220;Strange fascination&#8230;&#8221; in the Break in David Bowie&#8217;s &#8220;Changes&#8221;?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pvMTaDvyidE?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>Please convince me:<\/strong> <em>What are the words following &#8220;Strange fascination&#8230;&#8221; (around <strong>2:27<\/strong> in studio version in above clip) in the break in David Bowie&#8217;s &#8220;Changes&#8221;?<\/em> Before any of you nerds look it up and spit some nonsense back at me, please hear me out.<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nI&#8217;ve been listening to this song since it came out, when I was a boy. I&#8217;ve always had trouble understanding whatever it is Bowie&#8217;s singing in almost all of his songs, but this couplet is especially troubling. For years I assumed the first half was &#8220;Strange fascination is killing me&#8230;&#8221; The second half of the couplet I may now know, but the sense of it never helps me fill in the blanks of that first half of the couplet. <\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/75R3TkXorC4?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nI thought I&#8217;d try the live version from that old Ziggy Stardust concert movie. Seeing Bowie&#8217;s lips move would probably help, right? Take a look at this clip, around <strong>2:24<\/strong>. Maybe the lipstick&#8217;s obscuring my ability to read his lips.<\/p>\n<p>This week I asked two <strong>diehard Bowie fans<\/strong> as well as my wife, who is completely comfortable liking Bowie as much as any rock fan should love the guy. (I&#8217;m working hard on embracing this artist, who&#8217;s made probably 30 songs I like a lot or love yet who, as an artist, I still have serious troubles being a fan of.) All three of them said, &#8220;Sure, it&#8217;s &#8216;Strange fascination is killing me&#8230;&#8217;.&#8221; I went back and listened to that couplet a few more times. &#8220;Where&#8217;s the &#8216;k&#8217; sound?&#8221; I asked them that night at dinner. &#8220;Not even Bowie can swallow a k.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Then my wife had another suggestion, which got around the k sound, but she introduced a word that began with &#8220;th,&#8221; a sound that&#8217;s easier to swallow but another sound I don&#8217;t think exists in this line.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Look it up on the Internet!&#8221; one of my Bowie-loving friend said. I hope I kept my sense of betrayal and disappointment in check at this suggestion. This friend and I have had numerous <strong>deeply personal<\/strong> and stimulating arguments over Bowie through the years. He&#8217;s my go-to guy for reasonably heated disagreements over the guy. Despite rejecting as much of what he has to say as possible, I secretly walk away with a slightly improved understanding and perspective on the man and his work. Now, when I call on his expertise, he tells me to look it up on the Internet! I wanted to question his love for Bowie. He should have known this lyric to Bowie&#8217;s most lasting song by heart and shared it with me with authority.<\/p>\n<p><iframe class='youtube-player youtuber' type='text\/html' width='425' height='355' src='http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/FLCaRM2YCuo?rel=0&amp;fs=1&amp;ap=%252526fmt%253D18' webkitAllowFullScreen mozallowfullscreen allowFullScreen frameborder='0'><\/iframe><br \/>\nSo I found a clip of <strong>Thin White Duke<\/strong>-era Bowie performing the song in a rehearsal. No lipstick. This version should do the trick. I&#8217;ve viewed the segment beginning around <strong>3:02<\/strong> into the clip with no success. It still sounds like gobbledygook. <\/p>\n<p>You may think you can simply look up the lyrics and spit them back at me, but that&#8217;s not going to do the trick. First, I have ways of knowing if you&#8217;ve first looked up the lyrics on the Web. Second, I doubt simply seeing the words on screen will convince me. I ask that you point out key consonant sounds and dipthongs that might ensure my hearing these mysterious lyrics properly. To the person who clarifies these lyrics based on what he or she <em>knows<\/em> to be true, I will prepare a special <strong>reward<\/strong>. And thank you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Please convince me: What are the words following &#8220;Strange fascination&#8230;&#8221; (around 2:27 in studio version in above clip) in the break in David Bowie&#8217;s &#8220;Changes&#8221;? Before any of you nerds look it up and spit some nonsense back at me, please hear me out.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[342],"tags":[204,22],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1602\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rocktownhall.com\/blogs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}