LAZARUS

 

David Bowie

Look up here, I'm in heaven
I've got scars that can't be seen
I've got drama, can't be stolen
Everybody knows me now

 

Look up here, man, I'm in danger
I've got nothing left to lose
I'm so high it makes my brain whirl
Dropped my cell phone down below
Ain't that just like me?

 

By the time I got to New York
I was living like a king
There I'd used up all my money
I was looking for your ass
This way or no way
You know, I'll be free
Just like that bluebird
Now, ain't that just like me?
Oh, I'll be free
Just like that bluebird
Oh, I'll be free
Ain't that just like me?

 

4.Why is David Bowie important in terms of English culture? Provide data.

David Bowie was an English rock star known for dramatic musical transformations, including his character Ziggy Stardust. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

5.In your opinion, why is western culture so afraid of death? Are there rites of passage to death in other cultures? Can we learn from them? Why/why not?

Many Westerners consider death a taboo subject and [it’s] considered a social faux pas when broached in conversation, especially when it refers to someone who has recently died. The irony is that everyone currently alive…will eventually die despite the fact that so few people seem to actually consider his or her own mortality.He follows the ages and differing cultures in their attitudes toward death and states that for those of us in the West, death — especially in the Middle Ages and prior — was merely a “fact of life” when it was much more common and in the open. While we still consider death a taboo subject, there are also other cultures around the world in which it is not spoken of. He specifically mentions Australian aboriginals who, upon someone’s death, remove any pictures of that person from public display or cover their faces, “erasing their image as if they never existed.”But death occurs every single day. We’re surrounded by it. There are rites of passage to death in other cultures. We can learn from them because simply by being born, we are on a path straight to death. Nothing we do can alter that (or can it?).
But it really is no wonder that the fear is deep-seated given the horrible circumstances surrounding death that is constantly presented to us in media and entertainment. The path to acceptance isn’t an easy one to traverse, but one well worth being on.