Heroes
(David Bowie & Brian Eno) Performed by David Bowie
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be Heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that
Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh
Just for one day
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can beat them, just for one day
We can be Heroes, just for one day
And you, you can be mean
And I, I'll drink all the time
'Cause we're lovers, and that is a fact
Yes we're lovers, and that is that
Though nothing will keep us together
We could steal time, just for one day
We can be Heroes, for ever and ever
What d'you say?
I, I wish you could swim
Like the dolphins, like dolphins can swim
Though nothing, nothing will keep us together
We can beat them, for ever and ever
Oh we can be Heroes, just for one day
I, I will be king
And you, you will be queen
Though nothing will drive them away
We can be Heroes, just for one day
We can be us, just for one day
I, I can remember (I remember)
Standing by the wall (by the wall)
And the guns shot above our heads (over our heads)
And we kissed, as though nothing could fall (nothing could fall)
And the shame was on the other side
Oh we can beat them, for ever and ever
Then we could be Heroes, just for one day
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
We can be Heroes
Just for one day
We can be Heroes
We're nothing, and nothing will help us
Maybe we're lying, then you better not stay
But we could be safer, just for one day
Oh-oh-oh-ohh, oh-oh-oh-ohh
Just for one day
We went to see A Bowie Celebration last week - mostly because Dave and Mallory are both big fans of Bowie - and while a lot of the show wasn't of maximum interest to me (it went deep catalogue and I'm more likely to enjoy those songs I can sing along to; Philistine), I did very much enjoy when they did Heroes as an encore; now that's a great song. (Even if I always have a mental image of Ewan McGregor singing this in Moulin Rouge whenever I hear it; yeah, yeah, Philistine.)
The show is basically a bunch of people who recorded or played with Bowie, now touring his songs as a tribute. His longtime piano player, Mike Garson, acted as the band leader, and Dave was super excited when Bowie's best known guitarist, Earl Slick, walked out on stage. It was interesting to me that it took two different gospel-voiced black men to cover Bowie's range - Bernard Fowler (pictured above with Slick) and Corey Glover (of Living Colour fame) - and even more interesting that neither were trying to do a Bowie impersonation: these were artists, interpreting Bowie through their art, and that was very satisfying to hear. On the other hand, it was eye-rolling when Garson introduced a song I had never heard before with, "We haven't played this in twenty years but not a day goes by that I don't get an email from someone about the piano solo". And then the discordant song that followed - which I didn't know, natch - devolved into a ten minute, self-indulgent jazz and classical mashup of piano plink-plunking that set my teeth on edge. I was totally annoyed, but Dave - who knew the song and its story, natch - declared it genius. That's why we were there, I guess.
In about the middle of the show, and this had been announced beforehand, so not a surprise, beloved Canadian hero and former Commander of the International Space Station, Chris Hadfield, joined the band onstage and sang Space Oddity. Now, Hadfield did seem to be affecting a Bowie impersonation, and he seemed slightly intimidated and certainly impressed to be onstage singing with this group, and K-W loved him and sang along and jumped to their feet with applause when he was done. (As Corey Glover said as he resumed his place at the front of the stage, "Never follow an astronaut.")
Overall: The show was really good; better for Dave and Mal than for me.
Then, on Saturday night, Dave and I went out with Dan and Rudy to a dinner and comedy night as part of the K-W Comedy Fest. Dinner was at TWH Social, and it was an interesting menu, great vibe and service, and delicious food: not a complaint among us. They gave us wristbands when we first entered the restaurant - which I hadn't been expecting, although I did know that by buying the "Food & Fun" package we'd have reserved seats at the theatre for the show - and when we got to the theatre, I was surprised to see the lobby completely jammed with people who had been lined up for who-knows-how-long. I'm just jerk enough to like that feeling when someone at the front shouts out, "People with wristbands can enter now", and I get to part my way through the crowd with wristband raised high.
Now, we had had a couple of drinks with dinner, and the theatre was also licensed - so we had had a couple of more drinks before the show started - and it was with a loose and ready to be entertained attitude that I greeted the first comedian. And he killed; we all thought he was hilarious. And then the next comedian wasn't all that funny, and the headliner, Steve Patterson, was more a confident and polished storyteller than hilarious, really. And then when he started talking about Justin Trudeau, my derangement syndrome sorta kicked in; and when he started singing a song as though Justin Trudeau was apologising to the Canadian people for the SNC-Lavalin scandal by way of a Justin Beiber song, I turned into a seeing-red dirtbag conservative hick and couldn't help myself but heckle. He'd sing, "I'm sorry", and I'd yell out, "Bullshit", with Dave egging me on the whole time. As soon as it was over, I felt like a total idiot, but Patterson was generous (saying he should take me on the road with him and that anyone who wasn't reacting to his Trudeau bits ought to read a newspaper). I still felt like a total tool - I am not the heckler type and even the drinks don't excuse it - and was gratified to see that on his Twitter feed, Patterson wrote, "Thanks and congrats to all @comedy_kw for a fabulous festival full of hilarious comedians, savvy comedy fans and nary an arsehole in the bunch. It was a pleasure entertaining a packed house @theApolloCinema last night!..."
So, I'm a Philistine, a jerk, a dirtbag conservative hick, but maybe I'm not quite an arsehole. Ah, but we could be Heroes...
