Released: June 17, 1971
Songwriter: David Bowie
Producer: David Bowie Ken Scott
[Verse 1]
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
[Verse 2]
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
Because I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
It's a god-awful small affair
To the girl with the mousy hair
But her mummy is yelling, "No!"
And her daddy has told her to go
But her friend is nowhere to be seen
Now she walks through her sunken dream
To the seat with the clearest view
And she's hooked to the silver screen
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
For she's lived it ten times or more
She could spit in the eyes of fools
As they ask her to focus on
[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
[Verse 2]
It's on America's tortured brow
That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow
Now the workers have struck for fame
'Cause Lennon's on sale again
See the mice in their million hordes
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads
Rule Britannia is out of bounds
To my mother, my dog, and clowns
[Pre-Chorus]
But the film is a saddening bore
Because I wrote it ten times or more
It's about to be writ again
As I ask you to focus on
[Chorus]
Sailors fighting in the dance hall
Oh, man, look at those cavemen go
It's the freakiest show
Take a look at the lawman
Beating up the wrong guy
Oh, man, wonder if he'll ever know
He's in the best selling show
Is there life on Mars?
- The Life Aquatic
- Hunky Dory (1971)
- Life on Mars? / The Man Who Sold the World (1973)
- Hunky Dory (1990 Rykodisc) (1990)
- Best of Bowie (2002)
- John Peel- A Tribute (2005)
- 101 Power Ballads (2008)
- iSelect (2008)
- Nothing Has Changed (2014)
- Legacy (The Very Best of David Bowie) (2016)
- Space Oddity
- ★ (Blackstar)
- Heroes
- Life on Mars?
- Lazarus
- Starman
- Changes
- The Man Who Sold the World
- Girl Loves Me
- Ashes to Ashes
- Ziggy Stardust
- Moonage Daydream
- Modern Love
- Five Years
- ’Tis a Pity She Was a Whore
- I Can’t Give Everything Away
- Dollar Days
- Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide
- Rebel Rebel
- Young Americans
- Station to Station
- Suffragette City
- Let’s Dance
- Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)