앨범 제목에서 암시하듯 데이빗 보위 자신이 직접 곡을 고른 싱글 모음집이다. 데이빗 보위가 직접 코멘트한 8페이지 분량의 북렛에 눈길이 가는 본 베스트 앨범은 통상적인 앨범의 싱글 쵸이스를 피하고 (본작엔 ‘Life On Mars’, ‘Loving the Alien’, ‘Time Will Crawl’의 오직 3곡의 싱글만을 수록하고 있으며 1970년대의 싱글은 ‘Life On Mars’ 단 하나뿐이다) 그의 1997년작 [Low]의 1999년 발매반에 보너스 트랙으로 수록되었으나 절판되어 한동안 접하기 어려웠던 트랙 ‘Some Are’를 수록하고 있는 점이 특이하다. David Bowie 다이하드 팬들에게는 신선함으로 다가올 컬렉션. (12트랙)
It's a god-awful small affair To the girl with the mousy hair But her mummy is yelling 'No' And her daddy has told her to go But her friend is nowhere to be seen Now she walks through her sunken dream To the seat with the clearest view And she's hooked to the silver screen But the film is a saddening bore For she's lived it ten times or more She could spit in the eyes of fools As they ask her to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall Oh man! Look at those cavemen go It's the freakiest show Take a look at the Lawman Beating up the wrong guy Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know He's in the best selling show Is there life on Mars?
It's on Amerika's tortured brow That Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow Now the workers have struck for fame 'Cause Lennon's on sale again See the mice in their million hordes From Ibeza to the Norfolk Broads Rule Britannia is out of bounds To my mother, my dog, and clowns But the film is a saddening bore 'Cause I wrote it ten times or more It's about to be writ again As I ask you to focus on
Sailors fighting in the dance hall Oh man! Look at those cavemen go It's the freakiest show Take a look at the Lawman Beating up the wrong guy Oh man! Wonder if he'll ever know He's in the best selling show Is there life on Mars?
And so the story goes they wore the clothes They said the things to make it seem improbable The whale of a lie like they hope it was And the Goodmen Tomorrow Had their feet in the wallow And their heads of Brawn were nicer shorn And how they bought their positions with saccharin and trust And the world was asleep to our latent fuss Sighing, the swirl through the streets Like the crust of the sun The Bewlay Brothers In our Wings that Bark Flashing teeth of Brass Standing tall in the dark Oh, And we were Gone Hanging out with your Dwarf Men We were so turned on By your lack of conclusions
I was Stone and he was Wax So he could scream, and still relax, unbelievable And we frightened the small children away And our talk was old and dust would flow Thru our veins and Lo! it was midnight Back at the kitchen door Like the grim face on the Cathedral floor And the solid book we wrote Cannot be found today And it was Stalking time for the Moonboys The Bewlay Brothers With our backs on the arch In the Devil-may-be-here But He can't sing about that Oh, And we were Gone Real Cool Traders We were so Turned On You thought we were Fakers
Now the dress is hung, the ticket pawned The Factor Max that proved the fact Is melted down And woven on the edging of my pillow Now my Brother lays upon the Rocks He could be dead, He could be not He could be You He's Chameleon, Comedian, Corinthian and Caricature Shooting-up Pie-in-the-Sky The Bewlay Brothers In the feeble and the Bad Bewlay Brothers In the Blessed and Cold In the Crutch-hungry Dark Was where we flayed our Mark Oh, and we were Gone Kings of Oblivion We were so Turned On In the Mind-Warp Pavilion
Lay me place and bake me Pie I'm starving for me Gravy Leave my shoes, and door unlocked I might just slip away, hey
Just for the Day, Hey! Hey, Please come Away, Hey! Just for the Day, Hey! Please come Away, Hey! Please come Away, Hey! Just for the Day Please come Away Please come Away Please come Away Please come Away Away (Away) Away Hey
She'll come, she'll go. She'll lay belief on you Skin sweet with musky oil The lady from another grinning soul
Cologne she'll wear. Silver and Americard She'll drive a beetle car And beat you down at cool Canasta
And when the clothes are strewn don't be afraid of the room Touch the fullness of her breast. Feel the love of her caress She will be your living end
She'll come, she'll go. She'll lay belief on you But she won't stake her life on you How can life become her point of view
And when the clothes are strewn don't be afraid of the room Touch the fullness of her breast. Feel the love of her caress She will be your living end (repeat)
Me, I hope that I'm crazy I feel you driving and you're only the wheel Slow down, let someone love you Ohh, I've never touched you since I started to feel If there's nothing to hide me Then you've never seen me hanging naked and wired Somebody lied, but I say it's hip To be alive
CHORUS Now your smile is spreading thin Seems you're trying not to lose Since I'm not supposed to grin All you've got to do is win
(that's all ya gotta do) (ooh, it ain't over)
Me, I'm fresh on your pages Secret thinker sometimes listening aloud Life lies dumb on its heroes Wear your wound with honor, make someone proud Someone like you should not be allowed To start any fires
CHORUS
(that's all ya gotta do) (ohh, it ain't over)
CHORUS
(thats all ya gotta do, ohh) All you've got to do is win (it ain't over) When your smile is spreading thin (seek and believe in you) Since you're trying not to lose (it ain't over, no, no) Since I'm not supposed to grin (that's all ya gotta do) All you've got to do is win (it ain't over, no) (seek and believe in you) All you've got to do is win (it ain't over, no, no) Wo-ohh, all you've got Is all you've got (it ain't over) It ain't over...
Well, how come you only want tomorrow With its promise of something hard to do A real life adventure worth more than pieces of gold Blue skies above, sun on your arms strength in your stride And hope in those squeaky clean eyes You'll get chilly receptions everywhere you go Blinded with desire - I guess the season is on
So you trade by shadow boxing, search for the truth But it's all, but it's all used up Break open your million dollar weapon And push your luck, still you push, still you push your luck A broken nosed mogul are you One of the new wave boys
Same old thing in brand new drag Comes sweeping into view, oh-ooh As ugly as a teenage millionaire Pretending it's a whizz kid world You'll take me aside, and say "Well, David, what shall, shall I do? They wait for me in the hallway" I'll say "Don't ask me, I don't know any hallways" But they move in numbers and they've got me in a corner And I feel like a group of one, no-no They can't do this to me I'm not some piece of teenage wildlife
Those midwives to history put on their bloody robes And the word is that the hunted one is out there on his own And you're alone for maybe the last time And you breathe for a long time Then you howl like a wolf in a trap And you daren't look behind
You fall to the ground like a leaf from the tree And look up one time at that vast blue sky Scream out aloud as they shoot you down No no, I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife I'm not a piece of teenage wildlife
And no one will have seen and no one will confess The fingerprints will prove that you couldn't pass the test There'll be others on the line filing past, who'll whisper low 'I miss you he had to go' Well each to his own, he was Another piece of teenage wildlife, oh-oh-oh-ohh Another piece of teenage wildlife, oh-oh-oh-ohh Another piece of teenage wild... Life Wild - Life Wild - Life Wild - Life
Johnny is a man And he's bigger than you But his overheads are high And he looks straight through when you ask him how the kids are
He'll get home around seven 'Cause the chevy's real old And he could have had a cadillac If the school had taught him right And he could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse He could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse
And the food is on the table But the food is cold Don't hit her
"Can't you even cook? What's the good of me working when you can't damn cook?"
Well Johnny is a man And he's bigger than her I guess the bruises won't show If she wears long sleeves But the space in her eyes shows through
And he could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse He could have married Anne with the blue silk blouse Shows through Shows through Shows through
In the event that this fantastic voyage Should turn to erosion and we never get old Remember it's true, dignity is valuable But our lives are valuable, too.
We're learning to live with somebody's depression And I don't want to live with somebody's depression We'll get by, I suppose
It's a very modern world, but nobody's perfect It's a moving world, but that's no reason to shoot some of those missiles Think of us as fatherless scum It won't be forgotten 'Cause we'll never say anything nice again, will we?
And the wrong words make you listen In this criminal world Remember it's true, a loyalty is valuable But our lives are valuable, too.
We're learning to live with somebody's depression And I don't want to live with somebody's depression We'll get by, I suppose
But any sudden movement and I've got to write it down They wipe out an entire race and I've got to write it down But I'm still getting educated but I've got to write it down And it won't be forgotten 'Cause I'll never say anything nice again, how can I?
Watching them come and go The templars and the saracens They're traveling the holy land Opening telegrams oh ho
Torture comes and torture goes Knights who'd give you anything They bear the cross of coeur de leon Salvation for the mirror blind oh ho
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky Pray and the heathen lie will disappear Prayers they hide the saddest view (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien) And your prayers they break the sky in two (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien)
Thinking of a different time Palestine a modern problem Bounty and your wealth in land Terror in a best laid plan
Watching them come and go Tomorrows and the yesterdays oh ho Christians and the unbelievers Hanging by the cross and nail oh ho
But if you pray all your sins are hooked upon the sky Pray and the heathen lie will disappear oh ho Prayers they hide the saddest view (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien) And your prayers they break the sky in two (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien) You pray till the break of dawn (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien) And you'll believe you're loving the alien (Believing the strangest things, loving the alien) Believeing the strangest things (loving the alien)
I've never sailed on a sea I would not challenge a giant I could not take on the church Time will crawl Till the 21st century lose
I know a government man He was as blind as the moon He saw the sun in the night He took a top-gun pilot He made him fly thru a hole Till he grew real old And he never came down He just flew till he burst
Time will crawl till our mouths run dry Time will crawl till our feet grow small Time will crawl till our tails fall off Time will crawl till the 21st century lose
I saw a black black stream Full of white eyed fish And a drowning man With no eyes at all I felt a warm warm breeze That melted metal and steel I got a bad migraine That lasted three long years And the pills that I took Made my fingers disappear
Time will crawl, time will crawl Time will crawl Till the 21st century lose
You were a talented child You came to live in our town We never bothered to scream When your mask went on We only smelt the gas As we lay down to sleep
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down Time will crawl and our eyes fall out Time will crawl and the streets run red Time will crawl till the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our mouths run dry Time will crawl and our feet grow small Time will crawl and our tails fall off Time will crawl till the 21st century lose
Time will crawl and our heads bowed down Time will crawl and our eyes fall out Time will crawl and the streets run red Time will crawl till the 21st century lose
For the crazy child We'll give every life For the crackpot notion