I was thinking about the excellent song Alladin Sane recently, and i was wondering about the main character, Alladin himself. In the booklet of the album, David is dressed up as Alladin Sane in a kind of catsuit, striking a very camp pose. So i began to wonder if Alladin himself perhaps was gay, this seems reasonable as the catsuit was so much more camp than say...Ziggy who was mainly outrageous. And Bowie's chin-up pose in particular. Anyway so then i wondered about the title song of the album. Lets take a look at the facts.

"watching him dash away" - to "dash" away sort of has a dancing feel to it, an airy kind of image, we can imagine him as a kind of spritely little figure skipping along. This seems especially true when we see that he is "swinging an old bouquet", Bowie was well in tune with stereotypes of gay people, the association with femininity in particular is evoked by the "old bouquet". The objects of his affection, the "passionate bright young things"could be female or male, so nothing is ruled out. "Sadden glissando strings" - he is a very sensitive creature, again the gay stereotype includes increased sensitivity, his is a sad melancholic character.

And all of this led me to this lyric "Sake and strange divine", what does this mean? Sake could be a mutation of suck me.
So if Sake = suck me, and this guy is gay then perhaps StrangeDivine is equivalent to an anus, or anal sex, Divine because its his source of pleasure (or object of interest on another), and strange because anatomically nature probably didnt design it for that purpose, also one should consider the word divine, as in a possible association with the ancient Gods of Greece who's purported sexual ambiguity is well recorded. my other thought on this was drugs, but the rigidity of the Alladin Sane pose, the nervousness, discouraged me from exploring a narcotic line of reasoning. "Passionate bright young things, takes him away to war" - Perhaps Alladin isnt having too much luck with his love quests "swinging an old bouquet" - This bouquet he is "swinging" like a weapon, is old or second hand, hes probably used it before, given it to an old lover who rejected it and him, so why does he still keep it, maybe he hopes he can use it again some time, that next time it will work some magic, even if it is old - So he becomes bitter and angry, he wants to strike out -"Passionate bright young things, takes him away to war". Anyway the evidence from the booklet, the apparent feminisation of Alladin by Bowie, and the other references seem to suggest that this character is probably an unhappy unlucky 'campish' character, and he's really ready to "go to war".

Anyway dont take too seriously, this is just some random thoughts i have had recently about the character, inspired by a recollection of an older thread.

Well, that started out well, I like what you bring up in the first two paragraphs, but after that you present some thoughts that go outrageously astray.

strangeDivine (Greg) probably isn't going to like your interpretation.

You do know, though, that Sake is Japanese rice wine? Which makes so much sense in the Japanese atmosphere of Ziggy/Aladdin.

So sad, so fair, like a dead squirrel still clinging to the highway's edge.

Now iīll just wait and see if StrangeDivine changes his name. StrangeAnus, DivineAnus or just plain old Anus. It all sounds good to me!
I donīt think iīm able to drink sake anymore...

Since the last time we met iīve been through
about seven hundred changes and thatīs just a few

Well I can be a bit of an asshole sometimes.

I sort of like this interpretation. Even though mine involves a soldier who has gone insane during the Vietnam war, "serving" his country, and now feels unlovable once he has come home. Happened to a relative in WW2, actually.

My dream dogs have arrived. My summer turns to fall.

For fuck's sake, Greg, don't encourage him!!!

My interp of this tune (the whole album actually) was basically the story of an aging Ziggy. But I DID come up with a great reasoning for the line "sake and strange divine"...and told it to Greg...and then I lost it. Gone, I have no idea what I said but I KNOW it made sense.

In conclusion, sake tastes like warm tequila.

They only want you when you're seventeen;
when you're twenty-one, you're no fun.

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Well, that started out well, I like what you bring up in the first two paragraphs, but after that you present some thoughts that go outrageously astray.

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Thank you [bows in a japanese manner], as for the second part, your right, again i did say dont take too seriously didnt i ?

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strangeDivine (Greg) probably isn't going to like your interpretation.

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Probably not, but thats an occupational hazard when it comes to choosing your name here (try being a LaughingGnoome).

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You do know, though, that Sake is Japanese rice wine? Which makes so much sense in the Japanese atmosphere of Ziggy/Aladdin.

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I do indeed.

While you're going with the whole Divine=gay thing, you might want to consider the character of Divine in Jean Genet's"Notre Dame des Fleurs."

Bowie met with Genet to ask him for permission to portray that character in a mime act. Too bad they didn't drink sake, or I could have formed a very fun connection there...



Marc.
But I didn't throw up, and that's what's important.
--Glitterbot

Oh my god!!!

*pictures Bowie mime-acting Divine*

That's so damn funny.

Or maybe I have a weird sense of humour.

How does the story go? Did Genet say "No, you insolent little Brit!"

So sad, so fair, like a dead squirrel still clinging to the highway's edge.

I'm too dumb to understand. I just thought it was this guy from post-nuclear holocaust times. wasn't it? Or am I wrong?

bigsnorlaxdoll@hotmail.com
And I'd rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen roaming free . . .

Any song, poem or story has multiple layers of meaning and context. Quite often they are not in harmony with each other.

That's all I have to say.

So sad, so fair, like a dead squirrel still clinging to the highway's edge.