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David Bowie: The Singer Who Fell to Earth

Simon Reynolds, The New York Times, 6 March 2013

ON 'THE STARS (ARE OUT TONIGHT)', the new single from David Bowie's comeback album, The Next Day, one line jumps out: "We will never be rid of these stars". In the video Mr. Bowie and the actress Tilda Swinton play an elderly couple persecuted by a pair of vampiric stars, who stalk them, invade their house and manipulate them like marionettes. But the song itself is less literal. It portrays celebrities as members of an overlord class who "burn you with their radiant smiles" but also as faintly pitiable creatures, jealous of the quiet, grounded lives of ordinary folk. "But I hope they live forever," Mr. Bowie sings, a nod to the notion of fame as immortality, a compensation for all the damage and delusion that comes with the territory. 

Total word count of piece: 1787

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