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Major Tom is a fictional astronaut created by David Bowie, appearing in his songs "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes" and "Hallo Spaceboy". Bowie's own interpretation of the character evolved throughout his career. 1969's "Space Oddity" depicts an astronaut who casually slips the bonds of a crass and material world to journey beyond the stars. In the 1980s song "Ashes to Ashes", Bowie reinterprets Major Tom as an oblique autobiographical symbol for himself. Major Tom is described as a "junkie, strung out in heaven's high, hitting an all-time low". This lyric was interpreted as a play on the title of Bowie's 1977 album Low, which charted his withdrawal following his drug abuse in America. A short time later, there is another reversal of Major Tom's original withdrawal, turning 'outwards' or towards space.^[1]

Other major artists who have featured Bowie's character include Peter Schilling in his "Major Tom (Coming Home)"; "I'm A Soldier" by Stefán; "Mrs. Major Tom" by K.I.A.; "Rocket" by Def Leppard; and "Rain or Shine" by Five Star; among others. Due to some similarities in Elton John's "Rocket Man", some presume this song might also be an allusion to Major Tom. In fact, Bowie made the connection during concerts, calling out during the song, "Oh, Rocket Man!"^[2]. While this reference would make the Major Tom circle more complete, "Rocket Man" was released by Elton John in 1972 ^[3]while "Space Oddity" was released in 1969. ^[4]

In May 2009, Shiny Toy Guns released a single titled "Major Tom" which is a cover of the original by Peter Schilling. ^[5]

Songs

In "Space Oddity", on the 1969 album also titled Space Oddity, Major Tom's departure from Earth is successful and everything goes according to plan, but he then cuts off contact with Ground Control. His last transmission is, "Tell my wife I love her very much." and the response is that "she knows".

In Peter Schilling's 1983 song "Major Tom (Coming Home)" Tom sends a final message, "Give my wife my love..." with no transmissions back to Earth from that point. He then declares that he's "coming home", being commanded by the light, which can be taken to mean the afterlife. The associated music video also shows an object falling back through the atmosphere, presumably either Major Tom or his ship. In this song the word "light" in "now the Light commands" is often heard or transcribed as "life", but the liner notes of the Error In The System LP (and the original German) confirm the word "light".

Also in 1983, Schilling's song was recorded by Plastic Bertrand, but with slightly altered lyrics, in which Major Tom prefers to stay away from Earth and its selfishness and danger of nuclear war.

Additionally from 1983, the song "Why Me?" by the Planet P Project, also about an astronaut, may be indirectly referencing Major Tom with the line, "The last man to leave here was never heard from again. He won't be back this way til 2010."^[6]

Matthew Wilder's commercially unsuccessful 1984 title track "Bouncin' Off the Walls" does not name its main character but may continue Schilling's story of Major Tom burning up during atmospheric re-entry to Earth.

In the hit single Rain or Shine from 1986 by British pop group Five Star the lyrics mention Major Tom.

In 1995 Bowie's song "Hallo Spaceboy" was remixed by the Pet Shop Boys, with extra lyrics (sung by Neil Tennant) taken from "Space Oddity".

In "Mrs. Major Tom", released by the artist K.I.A. (on Neuphoria Recordings, 2002), the story is continued, but now told from the perspective of the wife left at home.

The introduction to "Cosmonaut" on Relationship of Command (2000) by At the Drive-In contains a "final message" from Major Tom before he dies in space. The message was commonly used to introduce Cosmonaut at live shows.

Major Tom has also had passing references in other songs, such as Def Leppard's "Rocket", The Tea Party's "Empty Glass", and Marilyn Manson's "Apple of Sodom".

The lyrics "My mother said to get things done, you'd better not mess with Major Tom" appear on the song "Cicatriz: Part III" on The Mars Volta's live album "Scabdates", quoting Bowie's song "Ashes to Ashes" from Scary Monsters.

Major Tom is mentioned in Fantastic 6^[7] by Alphabeat in the lyrics "They have crash helmets on, Just like Major Tom".

Covers

There are multiple cover versions of the David Bowie songs mentioning Major Tom as well as Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)": In 1999 the band Helloween released a cover of "Space Oddity" on their album Metal Jukebox. A cover of "Space Oddity" also appears in the special edition edition of Space Metal, a collection of science-fiction and topically related songs, on the second disc. The American rock band I Hate Kate included a cover of "Major Tom (Coming Home)" by Peter Schilling on their CD Embrace The Curse. This cover does not include the verses after the second chorus, which includes the message from Major Tom. Colin Forsythe sang a cross-over mix of "Space Oddity" with "Christmas Time (Don't Let the Bells End)" on his debut album, 2007's "He's Just Not That Into You". The Contact also created a cover of Major Tom (Coming Home) on the album Canvas Tears.

The American band Shiny Toy Guns recorded a cover of Peter Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)" in 2009 for use in a commercial for the 2010 Lincoln MKZ.^[8] It reached #36 on the iTunes Top 200 Songs chart, causing it to debut at #97 on the Billboard Hot 100.

References in other media

There are several references to the character and the songs in the video game Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater. A character otherwise known as Major Zero will briefly use the codename Major Tom (although the character in-game describes his name as a reference to the movie The Great Escape). An enemy boss known as The Fury was a former astronaut, and wears a protective uniform that resembles a space suit in battle. One of his final words upon his defeat is "I'm coming home.", a reference to Peter Schilling's song. The director of the game Hideo Kojima has mentioned these were intentional references, and originally planned to have Space Oddity and Ashes to Ashes play in the end credits of the game. Major Tom, and his alias 'The Action Man', are used as the names of two minor characters in the television programme The Venture Bros.. Major Tom and The Action Man were members of Team Venture in the 1960s and 1970s. Major Tom (and later his ghost) play an important role in the episode Ghosts of the Sargasso where a flashback reveals he was killed in the crashlanding of an experimental rocketship (the TVC-15, which is the name of another David Bowie song). A large part of the dialogue in the flashback scene is taken from the lyrics of 'Space Oddity' and 'Ashes to Ashes'. Also, it is later revealed that The Action Man had gone on to marry Major Tom's widow.

Notes

External links

• Analysis of Schilling's "Major Tom (Coming Home)"