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David Bowie — Changes
Album: Hunky Dory
Avg rating:
8

Your rating:
Total ratings: 3052









Released: 1971
Length: 3:30
Plays (last 30 days): 1
I still don't know what I was waiting for
And my time was running wild
A million dead-end streets
Every time I thought I'd got it made
It seemed the taste was not so sweet
So I turned myself to face me
But I've never caught a glimpse
Of how the others must see the faker
I'm much too fast to take that test

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't want to be a richer man
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Just gonna have to be a different man
Time may change me
But I can't trace time

I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence and
So the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Don't tell t hem to grow up and out of it
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Where's your shame
You've left us up to our necks in it
Time may change me
But you can't trace time

Strange fascination, fascinating me
Changes are taking the pace I'm going through

Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Oh, look out you rock 'n rollers
Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes
(Turn and face the strange)
Ch-ch-Changes
Pretty soon you're gonna get a little older
Time may change me
But I can't trace time
I said that time may change me
But I can't trace time
Comments (195)add comment
first heard so long ago....I was 14...badly singing montegreens
Eight years this month??
I played Changes One Bowie (first batch of CDs purchased in 1985) four or five times that night.

That one hit me hard.
 itsme_bygolly wrote:


You know that pesky Left. Always causing problems over human dignity and rights.


I definitely want no part of this discussion.
I just couldn't help noticing the words  'left.. causing problems over.. rights'
and thinking 'if only we could all be ambidextrous' ....
.
feel free to ignore that though
 jpfueler wrote:


"Trans" is a mental health issue the left has exacerbated and taken advantage of to cause problems. 

fuck off you shitty human… You do not belong here.  We are not tolerant of your intolerance…

Get off of this platform - YOUR KIND ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!
Boh:ie, or Bowie, as Dave Stewart said on TV yesterday, is Ziggy Stardust for all times!
 jpfueler wrote:


"Trans" is a mental health issue the left has exacerbated and taken advantage of to cause problems. 


You know that pesky Left. Always causing problems over human dignity and rights.
 wossName wrote:
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

In a time where the right is trying to erase trans people from the face of the earth (using trans kids as a pretext), this is eerily and heartbrakingly up to date.


"Trans" is a mental health issue the left has exacerbated and taken advantage of to cause problems. 
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're going through

In a time where the right is trying to erase trans people from the face of the earth (using trans kids as a pretext), this is eerily and heartbrakingly up to date.
This album changed my life the day I first heard it..  I was 13 years old. David Bowie opened up the world of real, true music to me. For that I will always hold a special place in my heart for him.
Of blessed memory and such a terrible loss..
GREAT!!! ICONIC!!!
 Finnbayer wrote:


For the last 50 years, I heard it as "Time may change me, but I can't change time".  I love Bowie, but I like my version better (more changes).


Funny! I always thought the same thing!
 Proclivities wrote:

I think the way he uses "trace" in this song is meaning that time cannot be tracked or gone over again.  Like "tracing" one's steps.


For the last 50 years, I heard it as "Time may change me, but I can't change time".  I love Bowie, but I like my version better (more changes).
I wonder if we're aware of what we're going through !?  
 PhilK wrote:

I recall swapping this album for Strawbs From The Witchwood with a friend at work during my apprenticeship.Then had to go out and buy it again !
 
Thank you for your comment, That Strawbs album is far out, I learn so much from RP's stream and comments of fellow listeners like you! 
What a marvelous time to be alive, if we are aware of the good <3
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
 tomperth1 wrote:
Hunky Dory is my favourite Bowie album, and in my Top 10 of all time.
 
mine too.


ch-ch-ch-ch-changes
 Majestic pop / rock tune......."9"...
Hunky Dory is my favourite Bowie album, and in my Top 10 of all time.
слабоя породия
слабая породия
Seems like yesterday . . . more like half a century.   : (
 sandtyme wrote:
If anyone is in The Brooklyn Museum area, I highly recommend seeing the "David Bowie is..." exhibition!  It is wonderful.
 
Agreed, Was there in March, really cool exhibition. 
If anyone is in The Brooklyn Museum area, I highly recommend seeing the "David Bowie is..." exhibition!  It is wonderful.
 skooba wrote:
I can't believe that I haven't rated this song before today.  Been hearing it for the past 4+ decades.  Man, I'm old.  {#Bounce}

 
I recall swapping this album for Strawbs From The Witchwood with a friend at work during my apprenticeship.Then had to go out and buy it again !
45 years ago my brother came at home with this record and Ziggy, all together. I listened it for years and years. Time changed me. But bowie's voice on this song still the same : young and genious.
I can't believe that I haven't rated this song before today.  Been hearing it for the past 4+ decades.  Man, I'm old.  {#Bounce}
David, thank you for all the fond memories. Your Serious Moonlight was the first concert I ever saw. Talk about setting the bar high!
oh lookout, you rock n rollers           voice of an Angel 
Timeless! Still bummed about Bowie's passing :(.
 MJdub wrote:
What does it mean to "trace time", and how is this the converse of being changed by time?

 
I think the way he uses "trace" in this song is meaning that time cannot be tracked or gone over again.  Like "tracing" one's steps.
What does it mean to "trace time", and how is this the converse of being changed by time?
The problem with David Bowie is that no-one else sounds nearly as interesting by comparison ...turns off RP to stream DB for rest of the day... :)
 boontonite wrote:
This was the first Bowie song I ever heard, on Christmas Day 1972. I had read an article about DB in Rolling Stone and was intrigued but didn't want to risk my hard earned cash on the high price of an album (maybe $3) that I might not like. Solution; I bought the album as a Christmas gift for my sister. She didn't know what the hell it was upon opening the gift but we both became lifelong fans. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Still magic!

 
Ha!  What a thoughtful approach.  Not really self-oriented, rather an extremely generous brother who introduced his sister to a fan-dam-tas-tic artist!
God is David Bowie {#Wink}

He was such a great singer, songwriter, performer... I miss him. 
This was the first Bowie song I ever heard, on Christmas Day 1972. I had read an article about DB in Rolling Stone and was intrigued but didn't want to risk my hard earned cash on the high price of an album (maybe $3) that I might not like. Solution; I bought the album as a Christmas gift for my sister. She didn't know what the hell it was upon opening the gift but we both became lifelong fans. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes. Still magic!
Though I know every single word and nuance of this like my own heartbeat it still elicits a rare thrill...and David's jammin good with weird and ghillie somewhere and now Van the Man is crooning and RP is such a Sweet Thing, isn't it? Thanks, RP, for the Soundtrack!
 lemmoth wrote:
It still hurts.

 
A lot
Ziggy Stardust or Hunky Dory?
.
love em both 
It still hurts.
I'll never be tired of Bowie, 

zwölf Punkte mein Held

bis denne


 Pedro1874 wrote:


I often discover new groups and songs here that I can't do on Spotify!
 


WOW David f'n Bowie !!!!!!!!!!!!!!
OH NOOOOOOOO!! 
An outstanding classic hit
Mick Ronson on guitar? 
 lemmoth wrote:


Some of us have (wisely I think) given up listening to commercial terrestial radio so we appreciate hearing a great classic mixed in with the eclectic brew served up hear on RP.  The RP experience is the best DJ produced radio today and maybe ever. You can collaborate with Spotify's computer algorithm to program your radio, put your own collection on random, but neither bring the great element of surprise and wonder that a DJ selected music mix brings.

 
Brilliantly put! Couldn't agree more! Unless that selection includes Bob Dylan of course ;)
A man beyond time. Not everyone understands...
 
 GeorgeMWoods wrote:
Can't we hear this just about anywhere? Else?

 
No.
 lemmoth wrote:
Hey Bill, you called this - and rightly so - old Bowie.  How 'bout some new Bowie. (edit)

I nominate Hearts Filthy Lesson (albeit not so new any more).

https://content.internetvideoarchive.com/content/photos/311/013095_1.jpg
 smokingpikachu wrote:

Ditto.  I'm seriously sick of the usual Bowie tunes.  He has so much stuff.  Why not something more obscure?


 
Let's have the gnome song.  ;p
Perfectly put!  {#Yes}
 lemmoth wrote:


Some of us have (wisely I think) given up listening to commercial terrestial radio so we appreciate hearing a great classic mixed in with the eclectic brew served up hear on RP.  The RP experience is the best DJ produced radio today and maybe ever. You can collaborate with Spotify's computer algorithm to program your radio, put your own collection on random, but neither bring the great element of surprise and wonder that a DJ selected music mix brings.

 

 GeorgeMWoods wrote:
Can't we hear this just about anywhere? Else?

 

Some of us have (wisely I think) given up listening to commercial terrestial radio so we appreciate hearing a great classic mixed in with the eclectic brew served up hear on RP.  The RP experience is the best DJ produced radio today and maybe ever. You can collaborate with Spotify's computer algorithm to program your radio, put your own collection on random, but neither bring the great element of surprise and wonder that a DJ selected music mix brings.
Not my favorite Bowie material, but still better than 99% of the songs out there. 
 GeorgeMWoods wrote:
Can't we hear this just about anywhere? Else?

 
better yet, not at all?
Can't we hear this just about anywhere? Else?
Bowie's art show is coming to The Art Gallery of Ontario in Toronto this fall.  Can't wait to see!
 lemmoth wrote:
Hey Bill, you called this - and rightly so - old Bowie.  How 'bout some new Bowie.  My top three recommendations from the new record:
1. Dirty Boys
2. I'd Rather be High
3. Boss of Me

But the new album is quite good, and the first single released a few months back, "Where Are We Now" is not indicative of the rest.

 
I'll second that. New album is solid.
Tribute to Bradley Chelsea Manning?
 neuticle wrote:

 Uh....your wrong there..check your dates..Ol' Davey was out and about almost 10 yrs before Mr Bolan

 
Ten years?  Not unless David Bowie was "out and about" in the 1950s.  You may want to check your dates.  David Bowie's first album was released in 1967; T. Rex (then known as Tyrannosaurus Rex), released their first album in 1968.  Bolan and Bowie were both playing music around London since the mid-1960s; they knew one another and even played gigs together.  Both also had the same manager and the same producer for a time.  Marc Bolan was already deceased about ten years after Bowie's first album.

Marc Bolan and David Who? The extraordinary story of one of the closest friendships - and most bitter rivalries - in pop


The mix is thin... :-(
Great segue from "Star Witness" Neko Case to this song. Kissing my fingertips....Ooh la la!

This song be the story of my life...

everybody in my church still loves this song...  that has not changed...
 
Hey Bill, you called this - and rightly so - old Bowie.  How 'bout some new Bowie.  My top three recommendations from the new record:
1. Dirty Boys
2. I'd Rather be High
3. Boss of Me

But the new album is quite good, and the first single released a few months back, "Where Are We Now" is not indicative of the rest.
It was easier to face the changes when this song came out; I was 11 years old. Now I'm 52 and the message is so much more bitter. {#Think}
nice to see that Bill has reverted to the Hunky Dory cover art.

Everybody in my church loves this song...
 

I'm always amazed to recall that this tune comes from Hunky Dory back in '71, its retained a contemporary tone throughout the years, IMHO.


This is a classic and very powerful healing message all in one!        {#Ask}
Thanks RP.....acceptance of change is much easier while hearing Sir David!
 allabout wrote:
Bill, this is the same as Dire S, why so much Bowie?? How about the real man T-Rex? Which is where DB got his inspiration!
 
 Uh....your wrong there..check your dates..Ol' Davey was out and about almost 10 yrs before Mr Bolan
I don't see how you can be sick of a song like this
 ScottN wrote:
So much good DB to choose from and we get this?  Some of his best work isn't even in the RP library.  Uploads anyone?
  All Bowie is good/great Bowie. Quite a diversity here in my opinion. You have the ability to dig into his catalog. I have all his albums but then I'm spoiled (and I know what I like).

 ScottN wrote:
So much good DB to choose from and we get this?  Some of his best work isn't even in the RP library.  Uploads anyone?
 
Ditto.  I'm seriously sick of the usual Bowie tunes.  He has so much stuff.  Why not something more obscure?

I can name that tune in two chords.

 allabout wrote:
Bill, this is the same as Dire S, why so much Bowie?? How about the real man T-Rex? Which is where DB got his inspiration!
 

If you knew anything, anything, about the relationship between Marc and David, than you would not be making this post.
Very Nice!
So much good DB to choose from and we get this?  Some of his best work isn't even in the RP library.  Uploads anyone?
DB does not exsist....its all nicked.......................................... NickDanger wrote:


{#Roflol}
 


Bill, this is the same as Dire S, why so much Bowie?? How about the real man T-Rex? Which is where DB got his inspiration!
 bluecshells wrote:

All of my love Bowie....always.

 
Like
 mandolin wrote:
...i don't know who this david bowie guy is, but he sounds a lot like mott the hoople...
 

{#Roflol}

All of my love Bowie....always.


 nicolewe wrote:
yes, yes, i know bowie is talented and has great music, but i just HATE this song!! Overplayed!{#Puke}
 
How can you say that??

the song is great but that album art is awful...
 apd wrote:

perhaps my memory has gone but... is that really the original cover? I don't remember the collage on the vinyl version.

 
You're probably thinking of the ChangesOne and ChangesTwo albums, which had different covers. When these were combined for the CD market - I believe the result was actually all of ChangesOne and a few songs awkwardly cherry picked from ChangesTwo - we got this Photoshop beauty on the cover of the resulting Changes album.

 ziakut wrote:
Hooray for the days before remedial Photoshop...cut and paste album cover...c'mon! Could have done better than this...for the excellent music that's there.
 
perhaps my memory has gone but... is that really the original cover? I don't remember the collage on the vinyl version.

yes, yes, i know bowie is talented and has great music, but i just HATE this song!! Overplayed!{#Puke}
 ziakut wrote:
Hooray for the days before remedial Photoshop...cut and paste album cover...c'mon! Could have done better than this...for the excellent music that's there.
 
I agree. ONE egocentric portrait would have worked fine, and made for a more attractive cover. {#Crowded}
...i don't know who this david bowie guy is, but he sounds a lot like mott the hoople...
Great song.  Too bad it sounds so lame compared to the last three tracks you've played.
This song and  many of David Bowie's songs are inside the soundtrack of my childhood.  Great  memories.  
 RabbitEars wrote:
used to play this on the jukebox in my jr high school cafeteria
 
hah !! good one

This album cover should be named "Me, me, me, me, me ,me ,me ,me ,me and me".
Even more egocentric than Prince.
Both are geniuses, anyway.
 t00lur wrote:
Chip Chip Chip Chip and Deil 
 

Thanks for that childhood reminder. Loved that cartoon.
A great song, overplayed. (not necessarily on RP, but everywhere)
Bowies da man! {#Think}
Chip Chip Chip Chip and Deil 
 CamLwalk wrote:
bowie
 
Ooooh, Jareth the Goblin King.  I love Bowie. Took me awhile, after watching him try to match Jagger's moves in the video of "Dancing In The Street," but the man's got a style all his own. And I still love "Heroes" and "Suffragette City."


 lemmoth wrote:
Or read comments from punks and new wavers of the 70s, post-punks and new romantics of the 80's, indie artists like frank black, billy corgan, Curt Cobain and countless others and tell me you don't think Bowie was among the more influential artists  of all time.

 
Yeah, he was scary great. And I do mean scary. And great. A visionary rabble-rouser, really.

Probably he's victim of the Now That Everybody's Appropriated His Sound And Made It Mainstream, It Doesn't Sound So Original Anymore syndrome.

 madtowner11 wrote:
I'm not all that young, but I might have had the misfortune of seeing the Mentos commercial (which used this song as its jingle) before hearing this song on the radio.  So now all I hear when I hear this is "commercial jingle".
 
The same thing happened to me with Instant Karma...

Hooray for the days before remedial Photoshop...cut and paste album cover...c'mon! Could have done better than this...for the excellent music that's there.
 madtowner11 wrote:
I'm not all that young, but I might have had the misfortune of seeing the Mentos commercial (which used this song as its jingle) before hearing this song on the radio.  So now all I hear when I hear this is "commercial jingle".
 

huh?
I'm not all that young, but I might have had the misfortune of seeing the Mentos commercial (which used this song as its jingle) before hearing this song on the radio.  So now all I hear when I hear this is "commercial jingle".
Bowie is one of those guys - chameleons in pop - that changed music and made a difference. More than MJ did IMO . . .
Almost forgot to mention....this is dire.
 peacockangel wrote:
Timeless ;-)
 
Yes, if Bowie ever had a natural element, this tune would define its heart.


Simply. Awesome.
Timeless ;-)
 cosmiclint wrote:

I know it preceded Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane, since he performed it on the Ziggy Stardust concert film that Pennebaker made in 73. Wikipedia says it was Hunky Dory, for what that's worth. Definitely from early in his career. No offense, but I don't think it's "pop." It's not a rocker like Watch That Man or Rebel Rebel, but it's a pretty decent tune, IMO. 

  

Hunky Dory is a folky, mellow almost jazzy and yes poppy album musically.  But check out the darkness of many of the lyrics.

Now if you want rock, look at the book ends, Man Who Sold the World - almost but not quite metal - and Ziggy - great classic hard riff driven guitar rock
 Rotterdam wrote:
Interesting. I just heard this song come on and looked at the ratings on the RP. I saw that I had given it a 2 some time in the past. And that's still what I give it. I paged down and could scarcely find a negative comment from everyone. So now I feel guilty for being negative, but honestly, I have always thought Bowie was all about style, and nothing about substance. He irritates the heck out of me. Don't know why I am writing this - feel like I am shouting into the wilderness. But it needed to be said. Didn't it? No? OK, just forget I said anything.
 
Thanks for your civility.

No go back and buy The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, Ziggy Stardust, Alladin Sane, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station to Station, Low, Heroes, Lodger, and Scary Monsters, and tell me why you don't think he was among the most consitently prolific and substantive artists in rock and roll in the 1970-1980 time frame.

Or read comments from punks and new wavers of the 70s, post-punks and new romantics of the 80's, indie artists like frank black, billy corgan, Curt Cobain and countless others and tell me you don't think Bowie was among the more influential artists  of all time.

This guy really ought to go visit his GP, he is in soooooooooo much pain...
 Rob_S wrote:
Is this the theme song of our Democratic Party? I WILL vote for one of them, but maybe all their talk of real change is as nonsensical as the lyrics referred to here.
 

I perceive thou art a prophet.
Happy Birthday to the Thin White Duke! {#Sunny}
 jagdriver wrote:

Stairway To Heaven
Freebird

and...

anything by David Byrne or Talking Heads
 
Talking heads are hardly overplayed anywhere but perhaps here. That said, it sounds like you just don't like the Talking Heads so why don't we scratch that off the list, eh?

Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer" comes to mind as well as "We will rock you" by Queen, but we could go on all day about overplayed songs.

Bill G. mixes it up p p p p pretty good I think.

And yes, although not at the top of the Bowie heap of great songs, this is still a classic if not an overplayed one.

used to play this on the jukebox in my jr high school cafeteria