Five Years

"Five Years" is a song written by David Bowie and released in 1972. It was the opening track on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. The song tells of an Earth doomed to destruction in five years and the aftermath of this knowledge. Bowie is rumoured to have chosen the length of time, five years, as a result of a dream in which his deceased father told him he must never fly again and would die in five years. Various live versions of the song have been recorded: Bowie played the song at the BBC show In Concert: John Peel on June 3, 1971. This was broadcast on June 20, 1971 and released in 2000 on the album Bowie at the Beeb: The Best of the BBC Radio Sessions. A version recorded at Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, 20 October 1972 was released on Santa Monica '72. Another version recorded on the "Heroes" tour at the Philadelphia Spectrum on April 28 or April 29, 1978, was released on Stage. Bowie performed the song live on Old Grey Whistle Test. It is included on the DVD version of Best of Bowie. The track was performed by Bowie with The Arcade Fire at the 2005 Fashion Rocks concert in New York as well as Life On Mars? and the The Arcade Fire's own song Wake Up. These recordings were made available on the iTunes Music Store in a virtual live EP. The track was to be the closing number of David's 1985 Live Aid set at London's Wembley Stadium but was dropped the day before the concert to allow time for the broadcast of the famous appeal video featuring Drive by The Cars as its soundtrack. It can also be found on the japanese Best of Bowie and the Russian release of Starman. The song has also been covered many times: Aslan - CD Single (1998) Cyclefly - Blockbuster: A Glitter Glam Rock Experience (2000). Endless - The Dark Side Of David Bowie: A Tribute To David Bowie (1997) Fish - Songs From The Mirror (1993) Seu Jorge recorded a Portuguese version for the film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou and appear on his album The Life Aquatic Studio Sessions. (2004) Marian Gold – United (1999) Golden Smog - Live Recording 16 April 1996 Low Max - Live Recording The Outcasts - 5-track mini-LP, Seven Deadly Sins, Blood and Thunder & Seven Deadly Sins CD (1997) Frank Sidebottom - "Frank's Firm Favourites" The Polyphonic Spree - the track was made available on the band's website. They occasionally played it while supporting Bowie on his Reality tour. Brian Molko - Live on France2 (2004) Uncredited live performance included as a "bonus track" on the tribute album ".2 Contamination: A Tribute to David Bowie" (2006) The Enemy - Live Recording 12 March 2007

[Verse 1] Pushing through the market square So many mothers sighing News had just come over We had five years left to cry in (cry in) News guy wept and told us Earth was really dying (dying) Cried so much his face was wet Then I knew he was not lying (lying) I heard telephones, opera house, favourite melodies I saw boys, toys, electric irons and TVs My brain hurt like a warehouse, it had no room to spare I had to cram so many things to store everything in there And all the fat, skinny people And all the tall, short people And all the nobody people And all the somebody people I never thought I'd need so many people [Verse 2] A girl my age went off her head Hit some tiny children If the Black hadn't have pulled her off I think she would have killed them A soldier with a broken arm Fixed his stare to the wheels of a Cadillac A cop knelt and kissed the feet of a priest And a queer threw up at the sight of that I think I saw you in an ice-cream parlour Drinking milkshakes cold and long Smiling and waving and looking so fine Don't think you knew you were in this song And it was cold and it rained, so I felt like an actor And I thought of Ma and I wanted to get back there Your face, your race The way that you talk I kiss you, you're beautiful I want you to walk [Outro] We've got five years, stuck on my eyes Five years, what a surprise We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got We've got five years, what a surprise Five years, stuck on my eyes We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got We've got five years, stuck on my eyes Five years, what a surprise We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got We've got five years, what a surprise We've got five years, stuck on my eyes We've got five years, my brain hurts a lot Five years, that's all we've got Five years Five years Five years Five years