Life On Mars2 chords by David Bowie

Song:     Life On Mars?
Artist:   David Bowie
Album:    Hunky Dory, 1971
URL:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPDJQBtHaY (Live)
Tempo:    4|4
Style:    Weimar & French Cabaret Style
Tuning:   Standard


Capo 3


Chords    EADGBe
D         XX0232
F#m/C     X44222
F#dim7/C  X34242
B         X24442
Em        022000
G/D       XX0002
A7        X02020
F/C       X33211
C#aug     XX3221
Dm        XX0231
Eb        XX1343
Bb        X13331
Bbaug     X10332
Gm        355333
Bb7/F     XX3334
G         320003
C         X32010
Ebaug     XX1003
Em7       020000
Am7       X02010
Cm7       X35353
C#m7b5    X4545X
Ebdim7    XX1212
Bdim      X2343X
F#m       244222
Cm        X35543

INTRO:(Piano over)
|D   |


VERSE 1:
D      F#m/C#          F#dim7/C
It's a god-awful small affair,
       B                   Em
To the girl with the mousy hair.
        G/D               A7
But her mummy is yelling "No!?,
                              D
And her daddy has told her to go.
        F#m/C                   F#dim7/C
But her friend is nowhere to be seen.
        B                         Em
Now she walks, through her sunken dream.
       G/D                    A7
To the seat with the clearest view,
                               F/C
And she's hooked to the silver screen.
        C#aug               Dm
But the film is a saddening bore.
          Eb                    Bb
For she's lived it ten times or more.
          Bbaug               Gm
She could spit in the eyes of fools,
            Bb7/F
As they ask her to focus on?


CHORUS 1:
G       C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug                 D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm                 Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7                G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C                    Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
        Ebaug                D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm                       Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7              Em7
Is there life on Mars?


BRIDGE:
|Ebaug   G/D|C#m7b5  D|
|Ebdim7   Em|Bdim  F#m|
|G        Gm|D        |


VERSE 2:
D       F#m/C#             F#dim7/C
It's on Amerika's tortured brow.
            B                     Em
That Mickey Mouse, has grown up a cow.
        G/D                      A7
Now the workers, have struck for fame.
                        D
'Cause Lennon's on sale again,
        F#m/C                 F#dim7/C
See the mice in their million hordes.
     B                    Em
From Ibiza to the Norfolk Broads,
     G/D                 A7
Rule Britannia is out-of-bounds.
                         F/C
To my mother, my dog and clowns.
        C#aug               Dm
But the film is a saddening bore,
         Eb                     Bb
'Cause I wrote it, ten times or more.
     Bbaug            Gm
It's about to be writ again,
         Bb7/F
As I ask you to focus on?


CHORUS 2:
G       C
Sailors fighting in the dance hall.
Em7
Oh man!
Ebaug                 D
Look at those cavemen go,
Dm                 Am7
It's the freakiest show.
Cm7                G
Take a look at the Lawman,
C                    Em7
Beating up the wrong guy.
        Ebaug                D
Oh man, wonder if he'll ever know,
Dm                       Am7
He's in the best selling show.
Cm7              Em7
Is there life on Mars?


CODA:(Instrumental & Fade)
|C#m7b5   |D       |
|Ebdim7   |Em      |
|G/D      |G/D     |
|G/D      |C       |
|Cm       |G       |


Very low frequency, Reprise of the INTRO Piano (Fade Out)
|(D)   |


[End]


NOTES:
1.  ??In 1967 Claude Francois recorded Comme d?habitude, a song that became pretty fast famous in the USA.
At that time a young David Bowie was commissioned to rewrite and sing the lyrics in English, hoping to
give a larger diffusion to his debut record and earn popularity across the States. Even a Fool learns
to Love,
as the song was retitled, was unfortunately never released. Paul Anka, with a huge sense of business,
bought the rights of that French song and rewrote it into the famous My Way. In a short time that
version reached a huge popularity thanks to Sinatra?s interpretation. ?
2.  ??But what?s the point of quoting Mickey Mouse, John Lennon and a bunch of workers in the lyrics?
To clear this point is to remind a huge Disney?s animators strike during the 40s. That fact
(?a god-awful small affair? as Bowie sing) showed how the company turned arts and entertainment into
factories and products. The ?girl with the mousy hair? is quite bored of the repetitive work is doing
(?she?s lived it ten times or more?) but it seems like there?s no way out: the revolution became a product
itself, the idealism is ready to be sold on silver screens and dance halls.  Even the 60s student protests
turned into a brand. That?s the reason why Lenin-Lennon was once again up for sale. Life on Mars itself
became a best seller from being an anti-showbusiness hymn. ??
https://musicblob.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/david-bowie-life-on-mars/
3.  ??Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist
Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.[1] The liner notes for
Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'. ??
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
4.  This is simply ?my take? on how this might have been accompanied.  By using the Capo on the third fret,
it reduces the Chorus to simple open chords.  Hence, this version differs from all previous versions.
Feel free to transpose or simplify to suit your playing style.  I believe that it comes very close to the
spirit of the original. :-R