Nevena Paunovic and I wanted to celebrate both the bicycle as a way of public life in Amsterdam and the act of collective singing.
Stages of this bicycle choir:
1. People in Amsterdam were invited to sing Life on Mars throughout the day, wherever they were, whenever they cycled.
2. People gathered and scattered, in a particular area, at a particular time, and sang Life on Mars while biking
3. When the whistle blew, mass bell ringing followed.
Following the bells, people met at the designated meeting point.
4. People formed a temporary, cycling CHOIR...
This is what happened:
These were the instructions...
1. Learn as much of David Bowie's Life on Mars as you can. Focus on the Chorus. If you can’t memorize all the words, just learn the tune. Humming is welcome.
2. If you like, print the lyrics provided below (you can bring them with you on Tuesday!)
3. On Tuesday the 25th May, sing Life on Mars, wherever you are, whenever you cycle.
4. At 5:30 be anywhere in the area indicated on the map below while cycling and singing Life on Mars. You can do this on your own or with another person. You can put the song on your MP3 player and sing along with it, or go solo.
5. When you hear the whistle, start ringing your bell and then bike to the spot indicated with the arrow and red dot on the Map. Don’t worry, you will see us! We will be singing: stay on your bike, but stop and join in! From there we will ride and sing together for around 6 minutes before saying goodbye and riding off our separate ways...
See the meeting point on google maps here
...
Some invitations were made and attached to bicycles around the city. The envelopes looked like this:
Hand Signals:
...
LIFE ON MARS
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
CHORUS:
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 America'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
CHORUS
...
Other Fun Things:
A fun song about a bike:
The wonderful Seu Jorge's Life on Mars in Portuguese!
...
(Another) great version of Bowie's Life on Mars:
