I think I've already reviewed Station to Station at some point, but I'm revisiting it today because I've recently been thinking about the album in a different light. Historically speaking, Bowie was working on Station to Station during a time of great personal confusion. He was in the final (and worst) stages of his cocaine habit, reportedly eating nothing but green peppers and milk much of the time. So what were the subjects Bowie was dwelling on during this long drug-induced frenzy?
According to the Wikipedia article, the song "Station to Station" does not refer to train stations, but in fact alludes to the Catholic stations of the cross. The song also mentions Kether and Malkuth, which are the first and last locations in the Kabbalistic tree of life. Aleister Crowley's work is quoted as well. However, along with obvious references to Christian and Jewish mysticism, demons, and the occult, Bowie adds elements of a new mythology. Gone is the mighty glam rock god Ziggy Stardust, having fallen to his doom years ago. Now a new and even more powerful god rises from his ashes, a god with Zeus-like capabilities throwing darts in lovers eyes and making sure white stains. I am referring of course to the Thin White Duke. At the outset, Bowie sets himself up as both god and follower, searcher and destination, lover and detached deity in one epic portrait of a spiritual journey.
Although the rest of the album pales in comparison to the first track, we continue to see the same themes repeated in the next few songs, supporting the sense of an inward dichotomy of god and man in one messianic being known as the Duke. "Golden Years" is alternately a plea for God to save a woman's soul and a declaration that everything is fine as a result of love and luck. Even more intriguing is that at the beginning of the song the Duke asks God to save her soul, but at the end he tells her to "run for the shadows." "Word on a Wing" reiterates the tension between the Duke and God with the Duke alternately declaring faith and allegiance and defiantly stating "just because I believe don't mean I don't think as well/don't have to question everything in heaven or hell".
Beginning with "TVC15", the album takes on a slightly different tone. It feels as though we have been floating in the heavens amongst deities only to realize, like a character in some old Looney Tunes short, that we are standing on nothing but air. We then plummet like Milton's Lucifer, but instead of hell we end up in some trashy flat. Here a pale and sallow man is sitting in the dark staring at his television set. His girlfriend has crawled inside the TV, and there she appears doomed to remain. The Duke has only one prayer left in his fallen state, and that is for the Lord to bring his baby back, or else he will crawl in and join her.
"Stay" sees our hero wondering if he should ask someone to stay the night, but as he tells us "you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too." This is the first song to have no mention of God at all. The Duke's sights are now on earthly pleasures. Perhaps he feels abandoned by God, and now thinks that love is what he should seek out in order to be happy. "Wild is the Wind" supports this conclusion, as it is a straightforward and conventional love song about hunger and vulnerability. It is here that we leave the Duke, pleading with his lover for satisfaction and peace, having decided that it cannot be found in religion.
After having heard the whole album, we can look back and realize just how far we have been taken. Bowie started with high religious imagery and a new rock and roll messiah and ended with a lovesick and hollowed-out shade pleading for an anchor in the stormiest of landscapes. This is truly art birthed out of suffering.
Although the rest of the album pales in comparison to the first track, we continue to see the same themes repeated in the next few songs, supporting the sense of an inward dichotomy of god and man in one messianic being known as the Duke. "Golden Years" is alternately a plea for God to save a woman's soul and a declaration that everything is fine as a result of love and luck. Even more intriguing is that at the beginning of the song the Duke asks God to save her soul, but at the end he tells her to "run for the shadows." "Word on a Wing" reiterates the tension between the Duke and God with the Duke alternately declaring faith and allegiance and defiantly stating "just because I believe don't mean I don't think as well/don't have to question everything in heaven or hell".
Beginning with "TVC15", the album takes on a slightly different tone. It feels as though we have been floating in the heavens amongst deities only to realize, like a character in some old Looney Tunes short, that we are standing on nothing but air. We then plummet like Milton's Lucifer, but instead of hell we end up in some trashy flat. Here a pale and sallow man is sitting in the dark staring at his television set. His girlfriend has crawled inside the TV, and there she appears doomed to remain. The Duke has only one prayer left in his fallen state, and that is for the Lord to bring his baby back, or else he will crawl in and join her.
"Stay" sees our hero wondering if he should ask someone to stay the night, but as he tells us "you can never really tell when somebody wants something you want too." This is the first song to have no mention of God at all. The Duke's sights are now on earthly pleasures. Perhaps he feels abandoned by God, and now thinks that love is what he should seek out in order to be happy. "Wild is the Wind" supports this conclusion, as it is a straightforward and conventional love song about hunger and vulnerability. It is here that we leave the Duke, pleading with his lover for satisfaction and peace, having decided that it cannot be found in religion.
After having heard the whole album, we can look back and realize just how far we have been taken. Bowie started with high religious imagery and a new rock and roll messiah and ended with a lovesick and hollowed-out shade pleading for an anchor in the stormiest of landscapes. This is truly art birthed out of suffering.
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