The man who fell

Rock musician David Bowie passed away January 10, 2016 at the age of 69.

On October 20 and 21, 1972, David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust tour played the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium. Perhaps because the show was in the Los Angeles region, home of the music industry; perhaps because it was live broadcast on FM radio and became a much-coveted bootleg recording; perhaps because Bowie was a dynamic and striking performer; or perhaps because the combination of all these things, this concert in the shambling, crowded 3000-seat beach-side venue and the breeze off the Pacific Ocean, this concert has been noted as one of the most legendary shows in rock music history.

Los Angeles Times Rock critic Robert Hillburn wrote: "[Bowie] is a certified, genuine, guaranteed, blue-ribbon star."

Halfway through the set with its flashing strobes and glitz-rocking drama, Bowie brought it down, for an acoustic performance of "Space Oddity," followed by a cover of Jacques Brel's "My Death."

My death waits like an old roue'
So confident, I'll go his way
Whistle to him and the passing time

My death waits like a Bible truth
At the funeral of my youth
Are we proud for that and the passing time?

My death waits like a witch at night
As surely as our love is right
Let's not think about the passing time

But whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is you

My death waits like a beggar blind
Who sees the world through an unlit mind
Throw him a dime for the passing time

My death waits there between your thighs
Your cool fingers will close my eyes
Let's think of that and the passing time

My death waits to allow my friends
A few good times before it ends
So let's think of that and the passing time

For whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is you

My death waits there among the leaves
In magician's mysterious sleeves
Rabbits and dogs and the passing time

My death waits there among the flowers
Where the blackest shadows, blackest shadows cowers
Let's pick lilacs for the passing time

My death waits there in a double bed
Sails of oblivion and my head
So pull up your sheets against the passing time

But whatever lies behind the door
There is nothing much to do
Angel or devil, I don't care
For in front of that door there is, Thank You