Lyric: Keep your mouth shut, your squawking like a pink monkey bird
Song: David Bowie – “Moonage Daydream”
Album: The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1973)
Background: Out of all the artistic touchstones in David Bowie’s mercurial career, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars remains one of his most celebrated and accessible bodies of work. The definitive timestamp of Bowie’s revered glam era, Ziggy Stardust captures the Thin White Duke’s alien magic through fantasy and adrenaline-fueled rock ‘n’ roll. Jazz-laden serenades depicting the apocalypse, glittering piano ballads about androgynous rock stars, and iconic riff-heavy guitar jams all helped build one of Bowie’s first mesmerizing dream lands. The shimmering ambiance “Moonage Daydream” personifies the album’s obsession with the cosmos, perhaps better than any track, though the record’s mythos is best comprehended when embraced as one whole space adventure. Bowie produced many great albums in his lifetime, but few of his projects (or most other ’70s rockers) achieve the quality and aura of Ziggy Stardust.
Riffs & Rhymes 