Hi. One thing to realize in Bowie's songs is all characters coexist. Major Tom is above the Earth, looking down at the same time the young boy in Five Years pushes through the market square. Major Tom realizes that Earth is beyond help. The young boy gets the news Earth is really dying.

If we want to know why Major Tom said, "Planet Earth is blue," all we have to do is see the planet through the young boy's eyes: A young girl tries to kill children. Mothers are sighing. A soldier with a broken arm. A cop kneels. The news guy weeps. Smiling teenagers are self-absorbed and don't realize what is going on around them.

The young singer in the song, Starman, is talking about Major Tom. Major Tom has become a hero and is known as "Starman," the astronaut. This same young boy will cry in dismay later on that the Starman, his hero, is really a junkie.

Bowie has characters going up and coming down in Ziggy Stardust. The ones that go up into the sky don't want to come back. The ones that fall to earth flame out and die.

What a lovely reading between these two albums.