I realised today that if we count 13 solo albums from Station to Station, it leads us to HOURS.

Is it not a coincidence that on the 13th album, Bowie portrays the 13th station of the cross - the La Pieta - the dead christ cradled in the arms of the Virgin Mother?

From The Complete David Bowie:

"I was inspired by "La Pieta" David confirmed, "but since I didn't want to wear a dress anymore we made it a man. It can be visualised as life and death, past and present".







Get Bowie Downunder: Sign the Petition | Join the Community

On the ensuing tour, Bowie revived a number born from the spiritual despair / physchological terror of 1976.

"Lord I kneel and offer you, my word on a wing".

He considered this song "a protection".


Get Bowie Downunder: Sign the Petition | Join the Community

If "stations" come to represent Bowie's spirtuality or faith, could this make sense of the Heathen lyric:

"Cold station all of my life.

Train overdue, angels have gone".


Get Bowie Downunder: Sign the Petition | Join the Community

Perhaps he likes to bring out subtle hints of his past and the significance of his past via these little messages.

It makes me wonder just what Bowie thinks of his past? He has been known to have distanced himself and closed the gaps only a few months later.



Please chaeck out my Bowie Bootleg Site...
... http://www.geocities.com/bowieboyz/bowieondisc.html

And it all began in 1966, with 'Can't Help Thinking About Me'

Now I leave them all in the never, never land,

The station seems so cold, the ticket's in my hand

In reply to:

---

He considered this song "a protection".

---

If he was dabbling with the occult, poisoning his body with cocaine and flirting with ahem...totalitarian politics, he probably felt he needed spiritual protection. But he was beginning to lose himself seriously about that time, and the nervous breakdown was already in the post. Maybe he was scared...

It's the theatre of Financiers count them fifty round the table, white and dressed to kill.

I'm fascinated by the fact that Bowie is making obscure references to "La Pieta", and yet he claims that he doesn't even know what "The Bewlay Brothers" is about.

See them as they really are!

Adam, could you explain what the 13 stations of the cross are? Is it a catholic kind of thing?
I don't know "La Pieta" either... Is it a picture?

La Pieta is, in it's best-know form, a statue by Michelangelo:



I am not entirely aware of all the religious meaning of La Pieta and the stations of the cross (ask Adam for those), butI would like to note that that particular take on La Pieta was carved by Michelangelo in his youth, and he later did many variations of the subject, often differing a great deal from the original.

The Stations of the Cross mark fourteen stages in the death of Christ - from condemnation to crucifixtion to burial. Indeed, it has very strong usage among Catholics.

The Stations originated in Jeruslam. In the centuries that followed the death of Christ, pilgrams would walk the streets in which Jesus carried the cross.

These streets are known as Via Dolorosa - the way of pain.

As Christianity expanded, the fourteen stations were depicted around Churches and monasteries. Today they are depicted in almost every Catholic Church (I've seen the stations represented in both stain glass windows, and as plaques on the walls).

Catholics consider the stations a way to contemplate the life and suffering of Jesus. Typically, one would move from station to station and pray at each one.

For a detailed analysis and depiction of each station, check out this web site.


Get Bowie Downunder: Sign the Petition | Join the Community