"Tis a Pity": A Glimpse Into the Musical Influence of David Bowie

Since January 10, 2016, news broadcasts all over the world have featured David Bowie. This legendary English singer, songwriter, musician, producer, and actor died on the 10th from an 18-month battle with lung cancer. Having released 27 studio albums between 1967 and 2016, the coverage and the devastation felt all around the world is warranted.

As a songwriter, David Bowie was incomparable and influential, with lyrics that were truly unique and non-confirming. Bowie was said to have been most famous for using a method called "cut-ups", where he would write phrases and words on paper and sort and rearrange them until he was pleased with the results. He almost writes with a stream of consciousness feel but when analyzed and dissected, his lyrics make lots of sense. In an interview with Bill Demain, Bowie says he uses the method to "provoke a new set of images" to himself.

An example of this style of writing for David Bowie is a song from his last album, “Blackstar”, which was released only two days before his death. "Tis A Pity She Was a Whore" features the following lyrics:

"Man, she punched me like a dude.

Hold your mad hands, I cried.

'Tis a pity she was a whore.

'Tis my curse I suppose.

That was patrol.

This is the war."

This method was a display of how Bowie prided himself in taking inspiration from all genres and being able to hybridize them. It was his preferred method of writing, which helped him realize that he couldn’t commit to any “genre loyalty”, he was a lover of them all.

In the same interview with Demain, Bowie explained the inspiration behind several of his songs. The 1969 hit song, "Space Oddity", is seemingly about the space landing. Bowie contrarily tells Demain that "it was written because of going to see the film 2001, which I found amazing...I was very stoned when I went to see it, several times, and it was really a revelation to me. It got the song flowing."

Bowie's commitment to free flowing creativity and nonconformity in his music is a big reason that he is an influence to many music genres today. There’s a significant amount of knowledge to be gained from studying his music and his style of writing. While he is absent from the world in the flesh, I am sure that his legacy and musical influence will live on forever.

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