Rock'n'roll suicide is one of my favorite songs of Bowie's.

One day, while listening to the song, I was curious to konw what the lyrics mean.
(Since I am a Korean, sometimes I have difficulties figuring out what lyrics of Bowie's songs really imply.
It was easy to know what each word mean. When those words are put together in sentences, however, it was not easy things to understand.

I've searched for the translation of it on the internet. I couldn't find any good web sites.

So, please help me understand that song and appreciate it.


These are the parts I can't get.

"Time takes a cigarette"
(Does that line mean a cigarette is just burning?)

"the wall-to-wall is calling"
(I googled that line, but any web sites don't give me an clear answer.)

"chev brakes"
(what is that?)

and "you're a rock n roll suicide"


Any comments will help me a lot and I would appreciate your efforts.

Thank you and have a great day.

im english and sometimes struggle with the lyrics..but ive always summised that a lot of the lyrics are open to self interpretation......

you type good english for a korean ???? i believe tour recipe for hot dogs is a bit different from ours ?


" dont care anymore "

"chev brakes"
(what is that?)


The brakes of a chevrolet car.

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Baal

I smile and go off waving
(Amiably) - for that's my way

http://www.helden.org.uk

RocknRoll Suicide!!!!!!!!! Bowie Said..
At this point I had a passion for the idea of a rock star as meteor and the whole idea of The Who's line Hope I die before I get old. At that youthful age you cannot believe that you'll lose the ability to be this enthusiastic and all-knowing about the world, life and experience. You think you've probably discovered all the secrets to life. Rock n Roll Suicide was a declaration of the end of the effect of being young" - Bowie

Rock n Roll Suicide spoke to me personally and it was my personal anthem for everyone everywhere who had endured the humiliation of growing up with stupidity and I am that all-embracing in my interpretation. Thats the incredible thing about Davids music: here we are, 30 years on still discussing a solo, a chorus, the meaning of the words....Rock n Roll Suicide has the positive affirmative - "youre wonderful" and "Give me your hands youre not alone" refrain, that I could hear as I walked into a restaurant or jumped up in the morning." - Angie Bowie (2000)

Chev brakes are snarling ( Chev car brakes )

Rock n Roll Suicide was a declaration of the end of the effect of being young.

Wall-to-wall suggests wall-to-wall carpet which means "home" and "homely". It is routine, home, day after day.

The lyrics "Time takes a cigarette..." has its original roots in the poem Chants Andalous by Spanish poet Manuel Machado where he writes: "Life is a cigarette / Cinder, ash and fire / Some smoke it in a hurry / Others savour it."




Time takes a cigarette, puts it in your mouth
You pull on your finger, then another finger, then your cigarette
The wall-to-wall is calling, it lingers, then you forget
Ohhh how how how, youre a rock n roll suicide

Youre too old to lose it, too young to choose it
And the clocks waits so patiently on your song
You walk past a cafe but you dont eat when youve lived too long
Oh, no, no, no, youre a rock n roll suicide

Chev brakes are snarling as you stumble across the road
But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Dont let the sun blast your shadow
Dont let the milk float ride your mind
Youre so natural - religiously unkind

Oh no love! youre not alone
Youre watching yourself but youre too unfair
You got your head all tangled up but if I could only
Make you care
Oh no love! youre not alone
No matter what or who youve been
No matter when or where youve seen
All the knives seem to lacerate your brain
Ive had my share, Ill help you with the pain
Youre not alone

Just turn on with me and youre not alone
Lets turn on with me and youre not alone (wonderful)
Lets turn on and be not alone (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause youre wonderful (wonderful)
Gimme your hands cause youre wonderful (wonderful)
Oh gimme your hands.

Off subject.....My ex wife was Korean and came home from uni and asked the meaning of
" one eyed petrol head " . She understood the one eye but not the petrol head !! She still got her Law Degree .

Very interesting post, as James D said, even for English people Bowie's lyrics can be hard to decipher.


I think that by TIME, Bowie means the passing of time.

And I've always taken the cigarette as a metaphor for one's life burning away, possibly by suicide or a hedonistic lifestyle with reckless behaviour with fatal consequences such as a drugs overdose.

The candle that burns twice as bright only burns half as long.

Through the passage of time the subject has grown weary of their life and wants out, hence Bowie is trying to save them by telling them they're not alone.


Chev (Chevrolet) brakes are snarling / milk floats blow your mind = mundane, everyday things are dragging you down, leading you to your suicide.

Isn't that, milk floats BLIND your mind?
I have always thought of db's music like art, not to nessecerily (never could spell that) be read, but just enjoyed for what it is. I feel that if what you want to say is important, why speak in riddles? The song is about pace and intonation and bloody good for it. Bowie loves his words, he is not a story teller or a narrator as such (his efforts at such are far less successfull). It seems to me, that he find his inspiration in a sentance drawn from life, a book or anywhere else, and then lets the evolution of the fitting, do the rest, allowing each song to do what it does.

Isn't that, milk floats BLIND your mind?

Ive seen it on other lyric sheets as RIDE and the Ziggy Album sounds like Ride...
His later live shows sounds like BLIND ??? On Bowie Karaoke its milk floats GRIND your mind......

(ha ha)

But the day breaks instead so you hurry home
Dont let the sun blast your shadow
Dont let the milk float ride your mind


With a milk float being is a small electric vehicle that delivers milk in the morning
Would RIDE or BLIND make more cents ????

Don't let the milk floats ride your mind

---------------------

Baal

I smile and go off waving
(Amiably) - for that's my way

http://www.helden.org.uk

I think the wall-to-wall is a reference to how stereo speakers were first described.
They were wall to wall speakers.
Not that I'm old enough to remember of course ;

This is great, just like back to the bridge fridge days.

Oh yeah, you're right. It is ride. But, blind - blow - ride.... I think they all have the same meaning in the context of the lyric.

If I had to I'd go with ride!

He sings BLIND YOUR MIND on the David Live version. I wondered where I got BLIND from, as it is quite obviously RIDE on Ziggy. I only take notice of lyrics in order to sing them, and am, at least relieved that my cock-up is at least negotiable.

Bowie has a habit of singing all manner of lyrics when he's live....

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Baal

I smile and go off waving
(Amiably) - for that's my way

http://www.helden.org.uk

I think that Bowie sings it as both blind and ride illustrates my point above!

Yours and mine both Alan. I think this is the wonderful thing about bowie. That he has allowed ambiguity to shape our individual perceptions, of both him and his music. Molding all things in any way which we feel suits us best. This may well be all b*****ks, but its my b*****ks and it suits me.