rfmcdonald: (Default)
[personal profile] rfmcdonald
Back in February 2008, I wrote about how David Bowie's song "I'm Afraid of Americans, off of his 1997 album Earthling, meant a lot to me. It means more now: I think it the best song on a pretty good album.



The whole gloriously spiky song is rich with meaning. It could well be that this is a song about simple fear of Americans, as Bowie said once. It may not only be that, equally telling a story about how we can be afraid of anyone and everyone and everything in a world not guaranteed to be safe.

I’m afraid of americans
I’m afraid of the world
I’m afraid I cant help it
I’m afraid I cant
Johnnys in america

God is an american
I’m afraid of americans
I’m afraid of the world


This is why I love Bowie's work so much. His work is so dense, so complete, so enjoyable. I hope we will see his kind again.
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