This week Helen at This Thing Called Life One Word At A Time has challenged us to share a song about judgementalism or, as she writes, the opposite – getting rid of judgment and being more accepting.
When David Bowie died earlier this year, it seemed to me that a common theme among the many tributes paid him was that his songs offered consolation to many young people who felt unable or unwilling to conform to established social norms and mores and who felt, with some justification no doubt, that they were being judged – and found wanting – for their appearance or beliefs.
The reassurance that ‘daring to be different’ was okay perhaps reached its apogee during his Ziggy Stardust period and I was reminded of Bowie’s lyrics to ‘Rock ‘N’ Roll Suicide’, especially these lines:
No matter what or who you’ve been
No matter when or where you’ve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
I’ve had my share, I’ll help you with the pain
You’re not alone
Here are the complete lyrics of this, the final track on the seminal The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars’ – of which I certainly had a well-played copy.
Well worth seeing him perform it live too:
the only deadhead in the hameau 
I loved everything about this. It’s a little before my time, but David Bowie was still huge while I was growing up and I feel like I missed out on so much of his music based on pure judgment. Everything I’ve heard of David Bowie recently, though, makes me want to explore his music further. Thanks so much for sharing this! 🙂
Wonderful lyrics, wonderful album closer. I can definitely relate.
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