The general thought is that the unofficial line of songs goes as such:

Space Oddity
Ashes to Ashes
Time Will Crawl
Hallo Space Boy

Does "Never Get Old" come next? Lets look at the lyrics:

In reply to:

---

Better take care
I think I better go, I better get a room, better take care of me
Again and again
I think about this and i think about personal history
Better take care
I breathe so deep when the movie gets real when the stars turn around

---

Major Tom was struggling for an answer and direction after Hallo Space Boy

In reply to:

---

Again and again
He looks me in the eye and he says he’s got his mind on a count-down 3-2-1

---

Count-down is an obvious gimme

In reply to:

---

Forever
I’m screaming i’m gonna be living on till the end time
Forever
The sky splits open to a dull red skull and my head hangs low cause i’ts all over now

---

Refrence to Space, and another throw from Time Will Crawl

In reply to:

---

There’s never gonna be enough money
There’s never gonna be enough drugs
And i’m never ever gonna get old
There’s never gonna be enough bullets
There’s never gonna be enough sex
And i’m never ever gonna get old
So i’m never ever gonna get high
And i’m never ever gonna get low
And i’m never ever gonna get old

---

In Ashes to Ashes, Major Tom was remarking that he has no money or hair.. here he seems to get past this.

In reply to:

---

Better take care
The moon flows until the end of the world because of you
Again and again
And i’m awake to an age of light and i’m living it because of you
Better take care
Looking at the future, soud as a rock, because of you
Again and again
I wanna be a here then i wanna be there, living just like you living just like me
Forever
Putting on my gloves and i bury my bones in the Marshland
Forever
Think about my soul but i don’t need a thing just the ring of the bell in the pure clean air

Now i’m running down the street of life
And i’m never gonna let you die
And i’m never ever gonna get old
And i’m never ever gonna get…
And i’m never ever gonna get…

---

I think It's pretty obvious from here on, with refrences to space and fate. Although I don't claim to be able to correctly interpret any Bowie lyrics better than anything else, I think it's pretty clear that Space Oddity is about a bad trip, and never comming down. Ashes to Ashes is a reflection on this, perhaps a moment of clarity, that alcoholics sometimes claim to have ("I heard a rumour from ground control/oh no don't say it's true/they got a message from the action man"). Time Will Crawl is a continuation of this, and further plunges into the drug-induced lifestyle. Hallo Space Boy is where he perhaps hits rock bottom, and is confused, left behind. Never Get Old, as Reality, is a comming to terms and equalization of his life. Here, Major Tom is able to find balance, realizing he can't have it all, but he can keep on partying if he keeps his head on the ground.

Joethelion
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor

I like your interpretation; it's made a few links I've never thought of before.

I agree that 'Never Get Old' fits into the drugs/partying category, but I've always taken it to be an ironic comment at the expense of a naive, younger Bowie who believed that he would never age. The album cover expresses similar sentiments, but the disparity between the 'real' and cartoon Bowie are fairly apparent.

Sequentially, I think it belongs before Ashes to Ashes, before the come down.

Fifteen jugglers, Fifteen jugglers
Five believers, Five believers
All dressed like men

see what you mean there, but i don't understand why time will crawl fits in, i get all the others - bit of a saga here...

If you think we're gonna make it...
http://groups.msn.com/keithism

it certainly is a nice interpretation, if time will crawl looks a bit out of place..

"Don't listen to the crowd, they say jump"
www.fivedaysofstatic.cjb.net

i think it is a little foggy, but:

I've never sailed on a sea
I would not challenge a giant
I could not take on the church
Time will crawl
Till the 21st century lose

I know a government man
He was as blind as the moon
He saw the sun in the night
He took a top-gun pilot
He made him fly thru a hole
Till he grew real old
And he never came down
He just flew till he burst

Time will crawl till our mouths run dry
Time will crawl till our feet grow small
Time will crawl till our tails fall off
Time will crawl till the 21st century lose

I saw a black black stream
Full of white eyed fish
And a drowning man
With no eyes at all
I felt a warm warm breeze
That melted metal and steel
I got a bad migraine
That lasted three long years
And the pills that I took
Made my fingers disappear

Time will crawl, time will crawl
Time will crawl
Till the 21st century lose

You were a talented child
You came to live in our town
We never bothered to scream
When your mask came off
We only smelt the gas
As we lay down to sleep

Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl till the 21st century lose

Time will crawl and our mouths run dry
Time will crawl and our feet grow small
Time will crawl and our tails fall off
Time will crawl till the 21st century lose

Time will crawl and our heads bowed down
Time will crawl and our eyes fall out
Time will crawl and the streets run red
Time will crawl till the 21st century lose

For the crazy child
We'll give every life
For the crackpot notion

After AtA, he's even more screwed up, finally hitting that low.

Joethelion
And it was cold and it rained so I felt like an actor

Time will crawl is about nuclear warfare and not about Major Tom. As I see it the saga is something like this:
Space oddity (of course)
Ashes to Ashes
Hallo spaceboy, petshopboy remix
Everyone says hi (its about a person who sens Tom a letter, perhaps his child)
and perhaps Never get Old

i see......a bit tenuous thou innit???

If you think we're gonna make it...
http://groups.msn.com/keithism

I agree with you. I have never really thought about this before, but now that I do, it makes a lot of sense. And yes, I do not really seem how Time Will Crawl would fit into all of that, so 'Everyone Says "Hi"' would probably be a better fit.

The sisters fell back and said "Don't that man look pretty!"

It is interesting though, how Bowie 'said farewell' to Major Tom in Ashes to Ashes, yet there are still references to him in newer songs.

The sisters fell back and said "Don't that man look pretty!"

what about slip away and the stylophone
and the guitar riff at the end part of buddha of suburbia