The Path(os) through Outer Space

Why so sad?

Occasionally, hearing solely the first chord of a song can establish the feeling of an entire song. This is because of major and minor keys in music. Without going into extensive music theory, major keys are known for sounding bright and cheery, while minor keys are known for sounding grim, sad, or solemn.

The Chris Hadfield rendition of this song applies to one of those cases; the first piano chord carries a strong sense of sorrow. This is the first emotional appeal, or pathos appeal, found in the 2013 cover of Space Oddity.

Zero Gravity fun!

The first verse continues this feeling, forcing the listener to ponder the source of the sorrow. Hadfield even carries a troubled, mournful face so seemingly no reason. After all, Mr. Hadfield IS in outer space, and appearing to be having a great time in his zero-gravity home…

With the first chorus comes a chord shift to a less solemn sounding tune, as other elements in the lyrics and video begin to appeal to listener’s emotions.

The music video over the chorus appeals particularly to the human desire for adventure. Hadfield it depicted doing several tricks in the zero-gravity environment, such as spinning a guitar, or soaring down a corridor.

The final element seems to only hold power if the listener has also heard the original of the song, David Bowie’s Space Oddity. Toward the end of David Bowie’s version, Major Tom floats away into space, losing all contact with ground control in a sorrowful conclusion. On the contrary, in Chris Hadfield’s rendition, the end of the song brings a safe landing on earth. Instead of the original lyric “Tell my wife I love her very much”, Hadfield instead chooses “our commander comes back to earth”. A listener familiar with the original song will find this new line encouraging, as their favorite Major Tom will, this time, find his way back to our blue planet earth.

~Greg Fiola

The Wonders of Space, Revisited

Who Wants to be an Astronaut?

When’s the last time you've heard of a celebrity scandal about an astronaut?  Well, are astronauts considered celebrities anymore in the first place? Back in the 60’s, it was no strange occurrence to find an astronaut on the front cover of TIME Magazine, on the front pages of newspapers, and all over the news (which was just starting to be on TV at that point).

During the space race era, astronauts were the ultimate celebrity. Many children grew up playing with toy rockets and space shuttles, aspiring to someday exist the atmosphere themselves. Culture and conversation was commonly structured around the space race.

David Bowie’s "Space Oddity," as well as the music video accompanying it, uses this 1960’s status of astronauts to its advantage. The Pathos appeal, or appeal to emotions, is spurred by lyrics and clips in the production.

In the song’s lyrics, the aura of a brave maverick is created around Major Tom, as the song’s general solemn sound adds emphasis to this. With lyrics such as “Now it’s time to leave the capsule, if you dare” and “Tell my wife I love her very much”, listeners are forced to sympathize to the courageous, majestic Major Tom. Towards the end of the song, Ground Control attempts to reach Major Tom, exclaiming “Your circuit’s dead, There’s something wrong”, signaling the loss of Major’s Tom into space.

From a cinematography perspective, midway through the music video, Major Tom is depicted in his space suit alongside of two angelic looking women. Eventually, the two being to remove the major’s suit, in a pathos appeal of sexual desire.  When Ground Control finds they have lost connection with Major Tom, the Ground Control operator (who just so happens to be David Bowie) expresses mournful and grieving faces, provoking more sympathy in many viewers.

In a culture excited by the mystery of outer space, David Bowie’s "Space Oddity" offers a different perspective that is largely established by the strategic pathos use.

~Greg Fiola

Major Tom, Stylin'

Many songs produced during the era of the space race (especially songs about the space race) were known to their cheerfulness and uplifting spirit (after all, All You Need is Love, right?). Space Oddity is an exception to this trend. The first verse and opening bars come across as incredibly solemn, and through a slightly more cheerful turn at the start of the chorus, the song quickly returns to its solemn, blue tone.

A timely style that the song follows is the extended use of metaphors and analogies. The lyric “planet earth is blue, and there’s nothing I can do” particularly stands out. This line appeals to more than the literal sense. The color blue is a symbol of sadness and depression (There’s even an entire musical movement called the “blues”!), thus the line “planet earth is blue” refers to all the problems of the world. When Major Tom admits there’s “nothing [he] can do”, a literal perspective attributes this inability to his lack of presence on earth, while the figurative perspective reveals that Major Tom has realized he, as a single person, is too small to fix the world.

There are many that would make the argument that Major Tom’s words about his zero gravity weightlessness is actually and innuendo to a drug trip. I would not comply with this argument, but this kind of innuendo would fit the style of many other songs of the era.

I find it difficult to perform an adequate analysis of the visual style of the music video, primarily because of how much filming techniques have evolved since the 60’s. I would find myself being overly critical of the cinematography, which can also be blamed on my lack of understanding of 60’s video culture. 

~Greg Fiola

A Nobody.

Ask anyone. Well, almost anyone. They’ve all heard of David Bowie. You’ve all heard of David Bowie. Singer, songwriter, actor… “His influence has been unique in popular culture – he has permeated and altered more lives than any comparable figure” (David Buckley, composer).

Back in the 60s however, he was a nobody. His debut singles were all commercial failures, and he hopped from band to band, unsatisfied with any. It wasn’t until “Space Oddity,” until July 1969, that Bowie finally caught the eye and ear of the public. Ironically, British television used the song as background music for the first lunar landing itself – despite the controversial lyrics.

“Space Oddity” became a UK top five hit, but it didn’t reach American audiences until 1972. That’s right about when Bowie’s success took flight. He has now been a major figure in the world of popular music for over four decades, and his reputation alone serves as an appeal to ethos. Back then, it was the song alone, and maybe the context of its release, that had to convince audiences – no help from the “big name.”

A National Treasure.

Why did Chris Hadfield’s rendition of “Space Oddity” reach over 22 million views on YouTube?  Why does he have more than 1,000,000 followers on Twitter? Why is the Reddit AmA thread he created one of the top of all time? Why is his Tumblr blog so popular?

Because he’s Chris Hadfield – Canadian former fighter pilot, astronaut, and even commander of the International Space Station.

Because he’s an astronaut for the 21^st century – using the social media to gain recognition and build a reputation.

In the 1960s, being an astronaut was like being a superhero. Children and adults would dream of outer space, and the growth of the television as a major mass media allowed them to be a part of the frenzy. Nowadays, space is closer –a little less mysterious, a little better known, and a little more explored – yet much more distant – not omnipresent in the media or in pop culture, not discussed as much, not reaching, captivating, fascinating, the imagination of a nation… It’s simply there. Everyone is aware of it. Some kids dream of becoming astronauts. Others want to be firefighters, ballerinas or teachers. No big deal. It’s very paradoxal when you think about it: space exploration is becoming so mainstream that it doesn’t interest people as much. Through his “supreme mastery of social media,” Hadfield created a bridge to those of us stuck on Earth. He reached more people, enthralled more minds, re-created a little of that space magic present in the 60s.

The ethos of the music video is also established through the logo present in the top left corner throughout the clip. It reads “CSA ASC” and links to the Canadian Space Agency. The connection to the CSA provides “credentials” and a sort of official authority to the video, added to everything that Hadfield brings.

I will leave you with a quote from this Canadian national treasure, posted on Reddit: “Space is profound, endless, a textured black, a bottomless eternal bucket of untouchable velvet and untwinkling stars.”

Beautiful, right?

~ Sky Sumino

P.S. Here's another quote by him, on the Space Oddity video: "It helped show that humans have left Earth, and that the Space Station is a new stage, for not just science and exploration, but for our art and music too. With exploration comes insight - with perspective comes self-realization."

David Bowie's appeal to Logos

David Bowie's song "Space Oddity" is an otherworldly tale of an astronaut about to embark on his first mission into space.  Throughout the song, the tone is apprehensive and foreboding, as if it is telling a cautionary tale against going into space.  Bowie uses such ominous language as "may Gods love be with you" to hint at the possibility for disaster and the need for all the help possible when going on a voyage into space. Bowie's wonder for outer space is portrayed when he says "the stars look very different today", talking about the difference between observing the sky from behind the earth's atmosphere and from beyond it.  In the chorus of the song, Major Tom talks about how he's "floating in an tin can", expressing the fragility of space travel.  In the end, Major Tom appears to become disconnected from ground control and his life back on earth.  Concerned, ground control calls to Major Tom, "Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong," frantically trying to alert Major Tom so he can rescue himself from the soul-sucking abyss of outer space.  The song's structure, from Major Tom embarking on his journey, having "made the grade", to him floating away from Earth, logically conveys the sentiment at the time of many that the unknown of space was not someplace humans were destined to go.

- Robert