Space Oddity Lyrics
[Verse 1]
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
(Ten) Ground Control (Nine) to Major Tom (Eight, seven)
(Six) Commencing (Five) countdown, engines on
(Four, three, two)
Check ignition (One) and may God's love (Lift off) be with you
[Verse 2]
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You've really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it's time to leave the capsule if you dare
This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I'm stepping through the door
And I'm floating in a most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
[Chorus]
For here am I sitting in a tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
[Guitar Solo]
[Verse 3]
Though I'm past one hundred thousand miles
I'm feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much she knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you?
[Chorus]
Here am I floating 'round my tin can
Far above the moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there's nothing I can do
[Instrumental Outro]
[Guitar Solo]
About
‘Major Tom’ is a fictional character created by David Bowie for this song in 1969. That same year marked the first moon landing, so space was “in”; this was a year after Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, co-written with Arthur C. Clarke.
The song is a “lost in space” story, which generated later more songs and sequels about the character by David Bowie (“Ashes to Ashes” and “Hallo Spaceboy”) and even other artists (Peter Schilling’s 1983 “Major Tom (coming home)”, (K.I.A.’s “Mrs Major Tom” and possibly Elton John’s “Rocket Man”. The last one is also produced by Gus Dudgeon, who filled in for Bowie’s usual collaborator Tony Visconti once he refused to work in “Space Oddity” feeling it was a novelty song, a publicity stunt to cash in to the Apollo missions (“this is not ‘Space Oddity’, it’s Ernie The Milkman”).
Many believe that the song describes a drug (heroin) trip, from “lift-off” to “floating” to being “still” with “circuit’s dead” ending in “nothing I can do”.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
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