The class read and analyzed the lyrics of “Space Oddity” by David Bowie. We tried to get some DEEEEEP meaning out of the song. Read the comments below for some of the deep thoughts of sixth graders at Marion Mix Elementary School in Elk Grove, CA.
Ground Control to Major Tom…
March 25, 2019 | 10 Comments
March 25, 2019 at 2:31 pm
¨Space Oddity¨ is a song written by David Bowie, based on the film ¨Space Odyssey¨. I think the song is about sleep. One reason is in line three of verse one, whish says ẗake your protein pills…”. Before some people sleep, they take protein pills. Next, line four of verse 2 states that Major Tom is leaving the capsule. I think this means leaving his body, or his consciousness. This is what happens when you sleep. Also, line seven of verse two states Major Tom is floating in the most peculiar way. When some people sleep, they feel like floating, or they dream they are floating. Finally, line six of verse three states that Tom’s circuit is dead. I think this is referring to the alarm clocks circuit, explaining why somebody says an you hear me, Major Tom?” three times, because Major Tom’s alarm circuit is dead, it does not ring, and Tom’s parents are calling him. This is my deeper explanation of Space Oddity.
March 25, 2019 at 2:32 pm
I think Space Oddity is about a dead man who died off a motorcycle. It begun when the man was recently divorced with his wife and dearly wishes she would return. Evidence for this is in the lyrics “Tell my wife I love her very much she knows.” And that means his wife knows he loves her because he misses her and tells her that too many times. The man would start to take drugs every now and then to forget the pain. Within the lyrics for this is when it says “Take your protein pills.” I do not think protein pills have anything to do with space and they wouldn’t help at all! Since he takes drugs he would always be drowsy and hallucinating, which means he now thinks he is an astronaut. He starts to get on his motorcycle and you may think “Why specifically a motorcycle and not a car?” Well, in the pills part it also speaks “Put your helmet on.” And you know nobody puts on a helmet in car, that’s silly. As he is driving something within the motorcycle is wrong because he says “Your circuit’s dead there’s something wrong.” And he is gonna start to fly off. I also have to add there is someone in the song that’s name is repeated, Major Tom. Major Tom is a person this man calls when under the influence of drugs. He probably could be schizophrenic and I think that too but Major Tom doesn’t help at all, he is only called out to. When the man is out of his motorcycle he says “Am I floating round my tin can?” and that obviously means that he is about to die since there is something wrong with his motorcycle and he is flying out! He then dies but when he goes through the door to heaven. Its true because the lyrics say “And I’m stepping through the door.”Its very sad but it’s good to know he’s in heaven.
March 25, 2019 at 2:34 pm
I believe “Space Oddity” is about a man who took drugs and now is resolving to commit suicide by jumping. In the first verse, when Bowie sang that the man was taking protein pills, I think that means he is not taking protein pills, but drugs. When he says he is putting his helmet on, that usually means someone is getting ready for something. In this song, I think he is preparing for the jump. Again in the first verse, it says “the papers want to know whose shirts you wear”. I believe this means that the news reporters wants to know why the man is jumping. Next, when it says, “I’m stepping through the door”, I think that means he is at the beginning of the jump. When it said that he is “floating in a most peculiar way”, he is floating through the air, or in mid-jump. In “the stars look very different today”, the man in looking upwards to the sky awaiting his fate. “Far above the world” means, due to the drugs, he feels disorientated and believes he is floating rather than falling. In the second verse, when it repeats “can you hear me Major Tom?”, that is the man carrying the man on the stretcher to the ambulance, asking if “Major Tom”, could hear him/her. “There’s nothing I can do” means that he is paralyzed after surviving the fall, and quickly wanting to end himself. The end music signifies that the man is finally at his resting spot.
March 25, 2019 at 2:36 pm
The song is about Major Tom who is a kid bringing a science project to school. In the lyrics, it states “take your protein pills and put your helmet on”, this means he is at home taking his medication and needs to put on his helmet since he bikes to school. In the second verse, it says that he made the grade so that means he got a perfect score on the project. I also says that he is sitting on a tin can, this shows that he made a replica of himself and the spaceship is a tin can. Another lyric says “And I think my spaceship knows which way to go”, Major Tom made his spaceship interact-able by making a wire circling around the earth so that the spaceship can slide on the wire. In the last verse it says that his circuits dead and somethings wrong, his project involved a circuit for the spaceship to move but the battery died. Also in the last verse it states “And there’s nothing I can do”, this shows that he doesn’t have another battery for the circuit.
March 25, 2019 at 2:36 pm
In my opinion, Space Oddity is about a man that got into a car crash. The first reason to support my claim is because it says, “Commencing countdown, engines on” meaning that he is turning on his car, and telling the beginning of his tragic story. Furthermore, it states, “…the papers want to know whose shirts you wear” meaning that the car crash was on the papers, and people want to know about what happened. It also says, “I’m floating in the most peculiar way ..and the stars look very different today”, which in my perspective means that he is telling this story in his mind, because his soul is out of his body since he’s in a coma, which was the effect of the car crash. In Addition, “..though I’m going past one hundred thousand miles, I’m feeling very still, and I think my spaceship knows which way to go,” which means that he lost control of his car, because he’s not in control anymore, his “spaceship” is. “Major Tom” is also thinking that he’s dying, so he is telling his wife that he loves her, but his wife is sad because it says “planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do” meaning that his wife is his whole world.
March 25, 2019 at 2:37 pm
In my opinion I think space oddity is about A guy that’s named Major Tom about to lift off into space after he had left his wife. I think that once after he was one hundred miles away from earth his rocket might have ran out of fluid and broke down and thought that he may never come back to earth to see his wife ever again.
March 25, 2019 at 2:38 pm
I think the deeper meaning of Space Oddity is that David Bowie is talking about himself in his daily life. I kind think David Bowie is talking about himself predicting the future of him overdosing. (“and the paper wants to know whose shirts you wear”,probably a famous guy which is David Bowie.)I think he is taking drugs daily fearing he might die ( “take your protein pills”,means drugs).Then later in the song, David Bowie says, “your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong” which means he overdosed. Then more later in the song, it says, “planet earth is blue and there’s nothing I can do” and another evidence that David Bowie says that he overdosed is when he said “I’m stepping through the door” which means he’s in the progress of dying and then David Bowie is “dead” as an famous guy.
March 25, 2019 at 2:39 pm
I think Space Oddity is about Major Tom getting out of his senses and being more aware. First of all, it says “I’m floating in the most peculiar way.” This could mean he is beginning to get lost in his mind. Secondly, it says “Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare.” That could mean he is starting to view things outside the box. Thirdly it says “Planet Earth is blue and there is nothing I can do.” is him releasing all of Earth’s problems and hes not able to solve them.
March 25, 2019 at 2:41 pm
My deeper meaning of major tom is major tom goes out to space (in his spaceship). I think major tom is hoping he will live until he leaves space. My evidence is the lyrics saying take your protein pills and put your helmet on. I believe that major tom is going out of his spaceship to explore space. My text restatement for my evidence is that when the lyrics stating step out the door if you dare. I think major tom is losing oxygen (to help him to breathe). My evidence is that when the lyrics stating that (major tom is saying) I am floating in the most peculiar way and when the lyrics also say your circuit is dead. I think major tom just wants his wife to know he loves her. Based off of the lyrics saying tell my wife I love her (major tom”s wife) is my evidence. And that is my deeper meaning of the song major tom.
March 25, 2019 at 2:45 pm
I think space oddity is about how a man or major tom just got in a divorce and now is taking anti depression pills to take the pain away.That is when it says “Take your protein pills” and also when it says “Tell my wife I love her she knows”.And now is waiting until the pain goes away but it doesn’t. So he decides to kill himself. When the song starts counting down I think that his mind is counting down when he is going to jump. And when the song says “I’m floating in the most peculiar way” he is in mid air. Also in the song when it says “ And the stars look very different today” He is in the medical bed going to the hospital and he is looking up at the sky.