The Man Who Polled the World, aka DAVID BOWIE POLL RESULTS

Good morning! My wife got up with the dog and his dumb bladder this morning so I got to sleep in about an hour longer than usual. Time for some results.

40. "It's No Game" (from Scary Monsters) - 324 points/13 votes/1 first-place vote

Part 1: http://youtu.be/E6hEcDt8HZI
Part 2: http://youtu.be/yUzWAJJMycs

Did she 'ouvrez le chien' ?

Another track that made my ballot, although I voted specifically for the first part. I love the way 'It's No Game' opens up Scary Monsters with the projector sound-effect. Some excellent guitar work in this. Particularly fond of the Japanese vocal, and Bowie here turns in a great manic vocal performance himself, screaming himself hoarse... "I REALLY DON'T UNDERSTAND! THE SIT-U-A-TIOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOON!!!". The way it ends is just fantastic too, the lone guitar and Bowie screaming "SHUT UP!!! SHUT UP!!!".

I guess the second part of 'It's No Game' highlights that it's a good enough song to be able to withstand being done in a different approach... in the case of part two, a more calmer reading. But for me, it's all about the more panic-stricken first part.

Specified the first part of "It's No Game" in my vote as well

Nine votes specified Pt. 1, two votes specified Pt. 2, and two votes didn't give a specific version.

willem and woof, thanks for the recap and links!

39. "Fantastic Voyage" (from Lodger) - 327 points/17 votes/ 0 first-place votes

http://youtu.be/CMh6GgwFLS0

Yeah I voted 'Its No Game' but didn't specify which part...(part 1)...

Thank you all for voting "Fantastic Voyage"! One of the songs it pained me to leave off.

two votes specified Pt. 2

Glad I'm not the only person who prefers 2. Love the deadpanness of it.

And you're welcome EZ!

The PAotD post on "It's No Game" is chock full of interesting information (trivia: the japanese vocalist is one of the ladies on the cover of Kimono My House!, the one on the right :-). This song is so much fun to scream along to (Shirueto ya kagega!) - I'll be doing just that when I leave for home in an hour :)

Yay @ "Fantastic Voyage"! My #14. His delivery sounds so compassionate.

'It's No Game (Pt. 1)' was my lucky #13.

My favourite part in FV is segue from the first chorus to the second verse... The contrast between that massive sustained high note, and the very understated, lower register "...And the right words make you listen".

I wish I'd been able to include "Fantastic Voyage" on my ballot -- the lyric is just about the most brilliantly mature I can think of in his catalogue. But I didn't really know the song until this past week.

'Fantastic Voyage' made my ballot also @ #17. I've always been a massive fan of this track. Bowie turns in a great vocal on this in my opinion, and the "we're learning to live with somebody's depression/and I don't want to live with somebody's depression" line has always been a bit of an earworm for me.

Remember it's true!

Dignity is valuable... but our lives are valuable tooooo-hoOoO-hOOOO!

38. "Breaking Glass" (from Low) - 333 points/15 votes/1 first-place vote

http://youtu.be/2j4mfErOeqg

The thing about 'Breaking Glass' is that I always find myself wishing that the song were twice as long, even if I do realise that its length is actually perfect.

I always want to know what the awful thing he drew on the carpet was.

In the event that this fantastic poll should turn to erosion

The awful thing was a pentangle I believe, drawn during some paranoid LA hallucination.

Can I do the nick Lowe joke now?

The lines "Don't look at the carpet; I drew something awful on it" refer to Bowie's practice of drawing the Tree of Life on the floor during that period, as he was interested in Aleister Crowley and Qabbala at the time.

(from wikipedia)

Good.

http://www.wilde-life.com/expos/secretsongs/nicklowe.html

Side A of Low is my favourite of any of his sides. All but "Breaking Glass" and "What In the World" feature on my ballot. And even those are great songs. Sequentially, that side kinda comes of as a perfectly executed run of try out singles. As if he recorded them all within a week or so, each in one take, bang on the money every time. Perfect.

xp
Think you're too late Mark. Unless it's different to the one upthread.

Breaking Glass was my no.6. I love love love it.

Low in general sounds so interesting texturally to me, and Breaking Glass is the most so.

The awful thing was a pentangle I believe, drawn during some paranoid LA hallucination.

― Ismael Klata, Wednesday, March 7, 2012 3:37 PM (3 minutes ago)

This is slightly disappointing.

Yeah I tried to find the photo of him drawing that. It's in one of the ryko booklets. There's one of him standing up and drawing it and one in which he sits on the floor, one arm supporting his upper body, the other drawing. Maybe it's the back cover for Station to Station ryko release?

http://schoolgirlsmack.tumblr.com/post/224871240/bowie-drawing-a-kabbalistic-tree-of-life

as he was interested in Aleister Crowley and Qabbala at the time

The time being his whole career. Also see "Quicksand.

Bowie looks as if you could snap his arms off in that picture.

does look pretty awful:

http://neovitruvian.files.wordpress.com/2011/07/340px-tree-of-life_queens-colours-svg.png

What In The World seems too, uh low. That is a doozy of a song, and still sounds ahead of its time.

xp, Yep, back of Ryko StS. Didn't know what that was until now; assumed it was another still from The Man Who Fell To Earth.

So what did he use to draw on carpet? I assume it wasn't shag.

Maybe rather than drawing something that is awful, he drew something but did an awful job.

Sorry chap. I knew there was some satanist thing going on. Tree of Life might be nastier; don't know what it is but it must be evil somehow.

Bowie would've been a hellvua roommate. Breaking glass, drawing on the carpet, crashing his car in the parking garage...

Cool, two in a row for me! Fantastic Voyage was my #14 as well, such a cool song. Breaking Glass almost got cut, but eeked out my last spot. Just such a bizarre, texturally dynamic song. The hooks were too hard to ignore for me.

But the best is the abusive "don't look!" then "see!"

37. "All the Young Dudes" (Bowie: Aladdin Sane sessions; Mott the Hoople, 1972 single) - 334 points/15 votes/2 first-place votes

Bowie: http://youtu.be/YZqY3hiXJr8
Mott: http://youtu.be/IBcDEmNDYW8
Queen, Bowie, Ian Hunter & Mick Ronson at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert: http://youtu.be/nhGOx1lidGc

Moderator, is it too early to guess the top 5?

(Thanks ledge and tarfumes, that's the pic I was referring too)

It was different, but I'm too late anyway:

http://www.vinyltap.co.uk/gallery/ni/nickliltsobg5005150309498270.jpg

Tree of Life is Jewish mysticism, nothing evil about it.

http://www.yelp.com/biz/lowes-bowie