How David Bowie Fucked Me Up For Life

The first song I remember hearing: "Space Oddity" by David Bowie.

I couldn't have been any older than 3. I remember hearing this song on the radio, in the car with my mom. I was in the back seat of the Ford Escort, one with backward-facing rear seats, on the way back home from a grocery store.

This countdown began pumping through the speakers... 10...9...8...7... The sounds of Mission Control walking Major Tom through his final pre-flight checks, wishing him luck, then Blast Off.

I was completely enthralled by this. Hearing Major Tom's transmission to Mission Control as he steps out of the capsule, into Space. This was the most amazing thing I had ever heard.

All of these images flashing through my developing mind of a lonely astronaut, venturing out of the safety of his rocket, exploring deep space, going where no man had ever gone before (I did not yet know about the moon landing).

It was COOL.

Then the song goes on, and Major Tom is in trouble. "Ground Control to Major Tom... Your circuit's dead, there's something wrong... Can you hear me, Major Tom... Can you hear me, Major Tom...

Then the song ends with Major Tom's final transmission: Here am I floating 'round my tin can. Far above the Moon. Planet Earth is blue, and there's nothing I can do... Fade out.

I was devastated. Weeping quietly to myself, in the back seat of my mother's car, worried about the fictional Major Tom.

I didn't know what a "song" was, really. Some part of my brain thought this was really happening, that poor Major Tom was lost in space, drifting further and further away from his home, out into the Void.

That memory still stands out, crystal clear, in my head. I've managed to forget so much of my early childhood, but that memory still remains.

And every time I hear "Space Oddity", my eyes grow a little damp.