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I’d Rather Be High – The Words

“I’m seventeen my looks can prove it”

Actually, the teenage David Jones is only sixteen in this picture, a promotional shot taken in 1963 during a Kon-rads’ photo session with Roy Ainsworth.

OK, so we’re on to I’d Rather Be High, track number eight from The Next Day and the story of a young man who’d prefer to be in the shoes of the teenager pictured here than the ones he’s in.

As we said yesterday, we’ve decided to try and illustrate each set of lyrics with images from the upcoming David Bowie is Exhibition at The V&A. 

 

 

I’d Rather Be High  (David Bowie)
 
Nabokov is sun-licked now
Upon the beach at Grunewald
Brilliant and naked just
The way that authors look
 
Clare and Lady Manners drink
Until the other cows go home
Gossip till their lips are bleeding
Politics and all
 
I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns on those men in the sand
I’d rather be high
 
The Thames was black, the tower dark
I flew to Cairo, find my regiment
City’s full of generals
And generals full of shit
 
I stumble to the graveyard and I
Lay down by my parents, whisper
Just remember duckies
Everybody gets got
 
I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns on those men in the sand
I’d rather be high
 
I’m seventeen my looks can prove it
I’m so afraid that I will lose it
I’d rather smoke and phone my ex
Be pleading for some teenage sex,
Yeah
 
I’d rather be high
I’d rather be flying
I’d rather be dead
Or out of my head
Than training these guns on the men in the sand
I’d rather be high
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Full-page TND advert in today’s Observer

“This time tomorrow I’ll know what to do”

Page twelve of today’s Observer newspaper in the UK is carrying the third and final advert of Jonathan Barnbrook’s clever full-page ad campaign for The Next Day. 

Those of you of a certain age may remember the original “Heroes“ music press advert from 1977, which today’s Observer ad obviously references.  

The Next Day is released in the following countries tomorrow:

 

UK
Croatia
Denmark
France 
Greece
Hong Kong
Hungary 
Norway
Poland 
Portugal
Serbia 
South Africa
Latin America (ex-Mexico, ex-Brazil)
Asia (ex-Japan, ex-Taiwan, ex-Korea)
 
Can you hear it coming?
 
#TheNextDay
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French advert for tomorrow’s TND release

“Switch on the TV we may pick him up on channel two”

There has been a pretty impressive billboard and press campaign in the run up to the release of The Next Day.

We’ve decided to post just a few of the more interesting ones over the coming days on here and on the David Bowie (Official) Facebook page. 

The one pictured here is of French origin and utilises the BBC 2 television test card.

But it’s not just any old test card, this is yer actual test card for the BBS channel two, as favoured by one Ziggy Stardust, in the song Starman.

Now that’s either close attention to detail or serendipity. You decide! (See the FB version of this story to make this one mildly more amusing.)

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Limited edition signed Bowie fine art print available now

 

“Hang him on my wall…”
 
St Pauls Gallery in the UK is proud to add another David Bowie print to their collection of fine art poster prints.
 
We can exclusively reveal that their latest print is the David Bowie ‘The Archer’ Fine Art Poster Print hand-signed by David Bowie and photographer John Robert Rowlands. (Pictured)
 
 This iconic image of David Bowie as The Thin White Duke was taken by renowned Rock photographer, John Rowlands, on February 26th, 1976, at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto, Canada.
 
 Having seen the previous evening’s show on the 1976 Station To Station / Isolar Tour, Rowlands was primed to capture the image of Bowie as ‘The Archer’ while the singer was preparing to ‘fire’ his imaginary bow and arrow.
 
 The pose was used as a signal for Bowie’s lighting engineer to kill the lights. The picture was taken moments before the lights were killed.
 
 Rowlands took the shot about 30 feet away from the stage and he credits his Hasselblad camera for producing an image that is striking in its sharp tonal range of whites, blacks and greys.
 
 This Fine Art Print was produced from the original negative and has been re-created in 3 sizes (small, medium and large). Each size being an edition of 100 prints worldwide.
 
 Each of the prints is numbered and hand-signed in pencil by both David Bowie and John Rowlands, with every print also being accompanied by a certificate of authenticity. (COA)
 
 Rowlands travelled to the UK in Feb 2013 to sign the prints at St Pauls Gallery in Birmingham. They were then dispatched to David Bowie in New York to sign.
 
 ‘The Archer’ is among Bowie’s favourite photographs and has been adopted as the main promotional image for the V&A’s ‘David Bowie is’ Exhibition in London, March through August, 2013.
 
‘The Archer’ is available here now.
 
FOOTNOTE: If you use this code: IGALO209 on checkout you will get free postage on any order from the St Pauls Gallery range of Bowie prints.
 
FOOTNOTE 2: Obviously the signatures in this image are not to scale!
 
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Barbara Nessim illustration for V&A magazine

“Painting our faces”

Some of you have been asking about the beautiful V&A Magazine cover (Spring 2013 issue) that we posted a smaller version of a few days back in our magazine round up. (BOWIE WORLDWIDE PRESS BLITZ CONTINUES APACE)

The magazine was published officially today and both the cover illustration and montage on the inside of the cover are by Barbara Nessim and were specially commissioned for this edition by the V&A.

Barbara has a feature inside the mag regarding an exhibition of her own work at the V&A, but here’s a bit from the Creative Review website about Barbara’s cover illustrations:

The image on the first panel is a pastel drawing on paper. The brief referred to Mick Rock’s ‘Life on Mars’ video, and asked Nessim to create an ethereal, ghostly image – something that suggests great presence and absence while also having the qualities of a transmission from another planet.

The second portrait of Bowie is a collage that depicts a contemporary Bowie (the profile photograph is taken from Jonathan Barnbrook’s cover for the Bowie album ‘Heathen’) looking at himself through a telescope at the point at which he became a star. The quote between the images is from an essay on Bowie written for V&A Magazine by Dylan Jones.

As Creative Review points out, the wording on the inside cover is a quote taken from the essay by Dylan Jones “on the twists and turns that created the most spectacular pop musician in recent history”.

Meanwhile, Creative Review also has an excellent review with pictures of the V&A’s David Bowie is book, which we can confirm is truly a thing of rare beauty and an absolute visual feast for Bowie fans everywhere.

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Full-page TND advert in Saturday's Times

“Times, is waiting in the wings”

The Times newspaper in the UK are carrying another of Jonathan Barnbrook’s intriguing full-page adverts for The Next Day on Saturday.

It‘s possible that you can‘t make out the advert at the size reproduced here, but it‘s simply all of Bowie‘s lyrics for the 17-track deluxe version of the album. Cool eh?

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If You Can See Me words plus V&A footwear

“I could wear your new blue shoes”

With this track we’re half way through The Next Day and on to the words for If You Can See Me.

Though many of you have them allready, we’ll continue posting more lyrics for now.

Pretty much all of Jonathan Barnbrook‘s album cover artwork has been revealed one way or another, not least of all on his blog. 

So we decided we would try and post some vaguely-relevant-to-the-lyrics images from the upcoming David Bowie is Exhibition at The V&A.  

Pictured today are the blue, blue, ’lectric blue boots that Bowie wore for Mick Rock’s Pin-Ups album cover session.

We all presumed they were shoes actually, but you can view them here for the first time in all their unhidden glory.

And so, the words.

 

 

If You Can See Me  (David Bowie)
 
If you can see me I can see you
 
I could wear your new blue shoes
I should wear your old red dress
And walk to the crossroads
So take this knife
And meet me across the river
 
Just shoots and ladders and this is the kiss
American anna fantasticalsation
From nowhere to nothing
And I go way back
 
Children swarm like thousands of bugs
Towards the lights the beacons above the hill
The stars to the West, the South, the North
And to the East
 
Now you could say I’ve got a gift of sorts
A fear of rear windows and swinging doors
A love of violence a dread of sighs
If you can see me I can see you
If you can see me I can see you
 
I have seen these bairns wave their fists at God
Swear to destroy the beasts stamping the ground
In their excitement for tomorrow
 
I could wear your new blue shoes
I should wear your old red dress
And walk to the crossroads
So take this knife
And meet me across the river
 
I will take your lands and all that lays beneath
The dust of cold flowers prison of dark ashes
I will slaughter your kind who descend from belief
I am the spirit of greed a lord of theft
I’ll burn all your books and the problems they make
If you can see me I can see you
If you can see me
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The Next Day at #1 in 21 countries

“And the next day, And the next”

Further congratulations are due to David Bowie for the continued success of his new album. 

The Deluxe version of The Next Day has entered the iTunes album chart at #1 in 21 countries around the globe, as you can see from the accompanying graphic.

Thanks again to everybody who has bought the album thus far, both in the digital and physical formats, couldn’t do it without your support.

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The Next Day straight in at #1 in 11 countries

 

“He’s got something to say”

Congratulations are due to David Bowie for the incredible success of his new album on the first day of its release.

The Deluxe version of The Next Day has entered the iTunes album chart at #1 in eleven of the twelve countries it is released in today.

Only the Czech Republic has the album lower and it’s top 5 there too. Here’s the breakdown

 

Austria #1

Australia #1

Belgium #1

Czech Republic #5

Finland #1

Germany #1

Ireland #1

Netherlands #1

New Zealand #1

Sweden #1

Switzerland #1

Turkey #1

 

Thanks to everybody who has bought the album thus far, your support is hugely appreciated.

Here’s to similar successes in the other territories the album is released in over the coming days.