The Bowie Theory

How the poets left and the darkness moved in

Have you heard the Bowie theory?

It goes like this: David Bowie went to the angels, and the world has been in hell ever since. I know it sounds nuts, but I keep thinking about it.

When I was in Berlin in 2022 for meetings with the Social Democratic government, I made a pilgrimage to the memorial for David Bowie at the apartment block where he lived while recording such iconic albums as Low, Lodger, and Heroes.

My German hosts were surprised that, of all the things to see in Berlin, this was at the top of my must-do list. But being good hosts, they insisted on providing a large van and inviting our Canadian delegation and German political guides to accompany me.

The memorial for Bowie was little more than a plaque on the wall of a busy working-class neighbourhood in Berlin-Schöneberg. You could easily miss it if you didn't know what to look for.

"We can be heroes, just for one day."

I gotta admit, I teared up seeing those words.

So I started to wonder: Did Bowie's passing mark some kind of rip in the cosmic fabric? The more I researched, the more I realized that it wasn't just tied to Bowie but also to Leonard Cohen.

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So hear me out.

David Bowie died in January 2016.
Then Trump launched campaign 2.0.
Leonard Cohen died that November.
Donald Trump was elected the very next day.
.

This fits a classic conspiracy theory: take two incidents and dates that have no real connection and link them to another set of dates and incidents through a wild loop of logic, and voila — the conspiracy theory.

Now, is it a coincidence? Of course it is but in the context of the Bowie theory it is a fact that we have been picking up the pieces ever since he left.

If only all conspiracy theories were that harmless.

To help spread this whimsical flight of fancy, I wrote a song called Song for Joan of Arc.

You might wonder what Joan of Arc has to do with Ziggy, the Tower of Song and the gangster from Mar-a-Lago. Allow me one more hop, skip and jump into logical illogic.

I always considered myself a Leonard Cohen Catholic (yes, I know he's Jewish), and I was trying to invoke some of Leonard's poetic wisdom. I am sure that Leonard would have seen the need for a Joan of Arc in these dark times. Bowie, Cohen, Joan of Arc.

Anyways, here is a video of the song just after it was written. It had just been written and we were workshopping it at a community theatre. I hope you like it.

When you were young your mother
Showed the way to the Tower of Song.
Ziggy brought the magic and Leonard lit the spark,
And you sang out your song Joan of Arc.
We come bearing three white roses for Joan of Arc,
Tied with red ribbon in a world that's gone dark.
Sing out your sweet song Joan of Arc.

When the beast he came to Babylon,
He set fire to the Tower of Song.
Everything went wrong he said your type don't belong —
But you sang your sweet song Joan of Arc.

Chorus:
When the poets faded away,
That's when the gangster came here to stay.
He said it's always been this dark,
That your heroes missed the mark —
But you sang out your song Joan of Arc.

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My band, Grievous Angels, will be in the studio next week recording our tenth album called Revolution. The Song for Joan of Arc will be one of the 10 tracks.

Our other nine albums including the much loved Last Call for Cinderella is available here: https://grievousangels2.bandcamp.com/

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