Major Tom

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Alongside Ziggy Stardust, Major Tom is a character created by David Bowie , who was the subject of his songs Space Oddity , Ashes to Ashes and Hallo Spaceboy , among others . Other artists - especially Peter Schilling with Major Tom (completely detached) - referred to it. The figure is an astronaut who gets into trouble after launching his spaceship and ends up in space . Major Tom is one of Bowie's inspiration from the classic 2001 film : A Space Odyssey , in which a crew is sent on a long, uncertain journey to Jupiter and is at the mercy of the HAL 9000 on-board computer , which is increasingly developing a life of its own. The only survivor named David Bowman reflects the subject matter of the fictional person Major Tom .

Space Oddity was released on David Bowie's 1969 album David Bowie ( Man of Words / Man of Music in the United States ; also re-released as Space Oddity in 1972 ) and single, and the musician's first hit since the song hit the moon was heard on the radio around the world. David Bowie later alluded to Major Tom again in the title Ashes to Ashes , referring to him as a junkie . In 1983 Peter Schilling had international commercial success with the title Major Tom (completely detached) from the album Fehler im System .

Songs by David Bowie

Space Oddity

David Bowie performing in Oslo in 1978

In Space Oddity, on the 1969 album of the same name by David Bowie, Major Tom successfully launched his spaceship into space. At the sight of the earth he sings:

"Here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do."

"Here I am sitting in a tin can
high above the world
The planet earth is blue
And there is nothing I can do"

The astronauts often referred to the capsules of the Gemini missions as "tin cans". “Blue” is a play on words here, as the word not only denotes the color blue, but can also mean “sad”. The third verse can also be translated as:

"The earth is sad
and I can't do anything about it"

Then the ground control loses contact with Major Tom due to a technical malfunction and Tom floats uncontrollably into space.

Ashes to Ashes

In Ashes to Ashes ( Ashes to Ashes ) on the album Scary Monsters (1980), Bowie sings about drug addiction ( "Time and again I tell myself I'll stay clean tonight" - "I keep telling myself, I'll stay clean tonight " ). The chorus says that Major Tom is a junkie who is addicted to drugs in the sky: “We know Major Tom's a junkie, strung-out in heaven's height, hitting an all-time low” ( “We know Major Tom is a junkie , drunk in the highest sky, on the way to an absolute low ” ).

Major Tom (completely detached) from Peter Schilling

Peter Schilling first recorded the song Major Tom (completely detached) from 1982 in German. He later sang an English version, known as Major Tom (Coming Home) . The text also tells of an astronaut who loses contact with the ground station and becomes melancholy as a result. At the end of the song it is indicated that Major Tom himself breaks off communication with the ground station and follows a mysterious light:

“The egoists are still mourning below,
Major Tom thinks if they knew.
A light guides me through space,
you don't know that yet, I'll be coming soon,
I'm getting cold. "

Interpretations and quotations

Star Trek actor William Shatner in 2011 released an album of cover versions of songs about space.
Canadian astronaut Chris Austin Hadfield sang Space Oddity on the International Space Station (ISS) in 2013 .
  • The song Rocket by Def Leppard (1987) names Major Tom along with a few other David Bowie characters such as Jean Genie or Ziggy Stardust .
  • In Falco 's song Satellite to Satellite (1988) "Major Tom" is mentioned.
  • In Hallo Spaceboy (remix) (1995), by the Pet Shop Boys produced and sung by Bowie, the original was Hallo Spaceboy text added to that of Major Tom is.
  • The German synth-pop duo Wolfsheim and the singer Heike Nebel remember Major Tom in their single for A New Starsystem Has Been Explored (1996).
  • In the song So Long Hasi by the Swiss dialect group Stiller Has (1996) Endo Anaconda sings from Major Tom, who sends Christmas greetings from space.
  • The Sportfreunde Stiller remember in their song Hooray, we fly (2002) with the line "We greet you from an unknown amount, as then Major Tom" to the astronauts.
  • The band Cold mentions Major Tom in their song Happens All the Time on the album A Different Kind of Pain (2005): “I can see it in your eyes, you look as if your Major Tom has lost control” see it in your eyes: It looks like your Major Tom has lost control. "
  • The American rock band The Cab mentions him in their song Angel with a Shotgun (2008).
  • In his science fiction Limit (2009), Frank Schätzing describes how David Bowie sings from Space Oddity in 2025 when performing on a space station close to Earth .
  • In the sci-fi television series Defying Gravity (2009), the astronauts' hangout is called Major Tom .
  • The 2010 third-person shooter Alan Wake contains a character named "Tom the Diver". Developer company Remedy Entertainment confirmed that David Bowie's Major Tom was the template for this character.
  • Published in 2011 William Shatner album entitled Seeking Major Tom with many cover versions of songs that deal with the topic of space and space travel, such as David Bowie's Space Oddity , Peter Schilling Major Tom , Elton John's Rocket Man and U2 s In a Little While . 
  • A cover version of the song Major Tom by Peter Schilling appeared on the 2013 cover album Man speaks German by the German metal core band Callejon .
  • Canadian ISS commander Chris Austin Hadfield sang a cover version of David Bowie's Space Oddity before his return flight to Earth on May 12, 2013 . A music video shot on the space station was posted on the Internet and viewed over twelve million times in four days.
  • The main character in Raquel J. Palacio's novel Wunder (2012) , a boy named August, whose face is very disfigured, is called "Major Tom" by a friend. The song Space Oddity is quoted several times.
  • In the film The Amazing Life of Walter Mitty (2013), he was nicknamed Major Tom . As the film progresses , a new version of a part of Space Oddity with Kristen Wiig will be played.
  • In Song Terrence Loves You by Lana Del Rey (2015) Major Tom is also mentioned. She sings in the bridge (transition): “Ground control to Major Tom. Can you hear me all night long? "
  • Space Oddity is the opening song in the science fiction film Valerian - The City of a Thousand Planets (2017) by Luc Besson . During the song, first international, later extraterrestrial space pilots greet each other in a friendly way in an increasingly modern and growing space station.
  • A Perfect Circle mention Major Tom in their song So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish (2018) in the chorus alongside Willy Wonka , Muhammad Ali and Princess Leia (“Now Willy Wonka, Major Tom / Ali and Leia have moved on”).

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Jochen Scheytt: Peter Schilling - Major Tom. In: jochenscheytt.de , 2009, accessed on July 31, 2018.
  2. ↑ Lyrics: Stiller Has: So Long Hasi Lyrics. In: lyrics.wikia.com .
  3. ↑ Lyrics: Angel with a Shotgun. In: songtexte.com .
  4. ^ William Shatner's 'Searching For Major Tom' Track List. In: Huffington Post , April 13, 2011.
  5. ^ William Shatner. Seeking Major Tom. Track List. ( Memento of March 30, 2012 in the Internet Archive ). In: cleopatrarecords.com .
  6. ↑ The ISS Twitter star. ISS commander sings "Space Oddity". In: orf.at , May 13, 2013, accessed on July 31, 2018.
  7. ↑ Music video: "Space Oddity" by Chris Hadfield. May 13, 2013, accessed July 31, 2018 .
  8. ↑ Epic Movie Scenes - Valerian: Opening Scene (The future Major Tom !!!) In: YouTube , December 6, 2017.
  9. ↑ Volker Briegleb: Film review: Valerian - The city of a thousand planets. In: heise.de , July 19, 2017.
  10. ↑ Ryan Reed: A Perfect Circle Salute David Bowie, Carrie Fisher on New Song. In: Rolling Stone , April 16, 2018.