David Bowie: uma vida em canções

by Rob Sheffield, Amanda Orlando (Editor), George Schlesinger (Translator)

Em David Bowie: uma vida em canções, o jornalista da Rolling Stone e fã de Bowie por toda a vida, Rob Sheffield, escreve uma carta de amor ao artista que tocou tantas vidas. Sheffield explora os momentos cruciais da carreira de Bowie, desde sua descoberta do glam-rock até Blackstar. O autor utiliza seu grande conhecimento eclético no campo musical para revisitar todas as fases e todos os momentos marcantes da vida de Bowie por meio de suas turnês, seus álbuns e suas canções. Neste completo retrospecto da carreira do ídolo dedicado tanto aos fãs de longa data quanto àqueles que acabaram de se apaixonar pelo maior astro de todas as galáxias, ele deixa claro por que David Bowie permanecerá, para sempre, inesquecível.

Genres: Music, Nonfiction, Biography, Audiobook, Memoir, Pop Culture, Biography Memoir

227 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 28, 2016

About the author

Rob Sheffield is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone magazine. In addition to writing music reviews and profile stories, Sheffield also writes the Pop Life column in the Mixed Media section of the magazine. His work has also been featured in The Village Voice and Spin. A native of Boston, Sheffield attended Yale and the University of Virginia, and is six foot five.

His first book, Love is a Mix Tape: Life and Loss, One Song at a Time (an excerpt of which was featured in the January 2007 issue of GQ), was released by Random House in January 2007. It received starred reviews in Publisher's Weekly and Library Journal.

Reviews

[Scott Rhee · Rating 5 out of 5]

I'm writing this review on January 1, 2017, the dawn of a new year. I'm writing this with both middle fingers raised to 2016, one of the shittiest and most fucking awful years on record.

Personally, 2016 was the year I lost my father-in-law to liver cancer. I had to watch a wonderfully kind, loving, funny, intelligent man with a crazy work ethic (he was a truck mechanic and he was working two weeks prior to dying quietly in hospice) and the wisdom of a demigod wither away and crush the spirits of my wife and mother-in-law, dying a week before Christmas. I will never have the pleasure of building a deck or putting up a tub surround or changing my oil again with him. We will never again have the pleasure of talking for hours about our favorite science fiction novels or bad 1950s grade-B horror films that we loved or our shared admiration of Kurt Vonnegut, Katy Perry videos, and Japanese cuisine. I will miss him terribly.

This past year was also the year that a fascist orange moron with yellow hair won the presidential election. I will never call Trump my president. He is an embarrassment, a national joke, a nightmare, and a piece of shit. He is the Asshole to end all Assholes, and I honestly fantasize that something awful will happen to him, Mike Pence, and Trump's entire Cabinet sometime before the 20th. Something juicy, like a pack of rabid wolves or a meteor shower right in the middle of Trump's getaway, Mar-a-Lago. It can take his whole worthless family, too, for all I care. I don't---and won't---apologize for this.

This past year was the year that Aleppo was bombed; millions of children were killed; the Russians hacked the United States; the Zika virus hit; kids in Flint, MI got lead poisoning from tap water; oil pipelines threatened to wipe out ancient Sioux burial grounds in ND; and global climate change got real, but nobody---including our President or anyone else in Washington, D.C.---gave a shit because they were too worried about transgenders raping our children.

This past year was the year that Black Lives Mattered but, ultimately, didn't.

This past year was the year that so many beloved celebrities passed away---Alan Rickman, Carrie Fisher, George Michael, to name a few---long before their time.

This past year was the year Bowie died.

So, fuck you, 2016. I hope you are rotting in hell for all eternity. I hope you are gagging on Satan's cock. I hope Antonin Scalia is dropping trou and dumping Cleveland steamers all over your face, you stupid, stupid, stupid excuse for a year.

Okay, that's enough… Thanks for letting me vent.

Anyway, Rob Sheffield's little 197-page book "On Bowie" is a beautifully-written love letter to Bowie and his legacy of awesome music. Sheffield, a music critic and contributing editor of Rolling Stone, focuses on the evolution of Bowie's music, starting with his forgettable Brit-pop roots to his sci-fi hippy resurrection with "Space Odyssey" and the heavy metal period of "The Man Who Sold the World" to his revolutionary experimental phase and brilliant collaboration with Brian Eno on "Low" to his brief but successful foray into mainstream with "Let's Dance" to his relatively dead period with the forgettable "Tin Machine" to his Iman-inspired resurrection with "Earthling" to his surprise last album "Blackstar".

Bowie fans know the first time they fell in love with Bowie. They could tell you which album and which song it was that they had the revelation that Bowie was a musical god, in much the same way that born-again Christians know the exact moment that they were saved.

I have that moment, and I don't necessarily have a problem with sharing it, but I'm keeping it to myself because I want that for myself, that shared moment I had with Bowie, for all time.

5/31/2025 addendum: I still miss my father-in-law dearly, and my own father passed away three years ago, but my happy and fond memories of both of them far outweigh and overshadow the sad ones. It's weird, but every time I listen to Bowie (which is a lot actually) I get teary-eyed, but mostly in a good way...

[Nat K · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5★s for me.

"Ain't there one damn song that can make me...
Break down and cryyyy?"
- David Bowie, "Young Americans"

Will the real David Bowie please stand up?

So many phases, so many personas, so many glittering personalities. But, ah, the music!

Rob Shettfield's book is an ode, or even a very long love letter if you like, to his idol David Bowie.

He takes us on a journey with him, we visit Bowie as he travels from city-to-city, shedding his skin along the way, creating new eccentric characters and amazing music. This isn't your atypical music bio, with stats about when/where/who recordings were made. It has more of the emotional touch, of what Bowie was going through, via each phase, the record that defined the year, and Bowie's place in it.

Rob Shettfield celebrates David Bowie's creativity while not shying away from talking about his chemical fuelled binges and self imposed exiles due to the demons that haunted him from various addictions.

But still, he remained utterly stylish & sophisticated, David defined each decade in his own way.

I remember being in (high) school just after the "Let's Dance" video had been screened over the weekend. Everyone was absolutely abuzz with how amazing Bowie looked, and how brilliant a song it was. Ditto for "Young Americans", which a very cool and hip English teacher asked us to treat as an essay. Discuss. I can quote this song verbatim. So many memories are tied in with Bowie's music. I'm sure most people feel the same. Rob Shettfield shares his moments with us.

"That's why listening to Bowie sent you back to your drab daylight world with fresh eyes, noticing all the glamour of ordinary people in ordinary places. Transition. Transmission."

Thanks for the music David, it will live on.

A very stylish read.

[Jason Koivu · Rating 4 out of 5]

One hardcore fan's postmortem of David Bowie's music. While being a celebration of the musician's creative life, this also has a sad tone throughout, due to it being written soon after Bowie's death.

[Book Riot Community]

There was no way I wasn’t going to read this book! The death of David Bowie shocked and saddened the world, but his legacy will love on long after we’re gone. Sheffield, one of the most respected music critics of our time, examines Bowie’s catalog of work in a series of essays written in Sheffield’s characteristic cultural astuteness. He explains why Bowie was so important to the world and his influences on music and culture, and why it’s okay to be sad that he’s gone. Because we sure are sad.
Backlist bump: Talking to Girls About Duran Duran: One Young Man’s Quest for True Love and a Cooler Haircut by Rob Sheffield


Tune in to our weekly podcast dedicated to all things new books, All The Books: http://bookriot.com/listen/shows/allt...

[Jennie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am a HUGE Bowie fan so this is in no way an objective book review.

I found out the morning of my birthday of 2016 that my biggest role model, life hero, inspiration and influence died. A piece of me did too.

"Something happened on the day he died"...

This book is written not just by someone who compiled facts and did a great deal of research, but by someone who loves his music. Peppered with song lyrics and some subtle/not-so-subtle references, we are privy to some widely known and die hard fan facts.

Many describe this book as a love letter and in many ways I would agree. Loving Bowie is like loving a favourite song or masterpiece. You love it in it's beauty and notice things you might not have in the beginning.

No two Bowie fans are alike; just put two together and talk about their go-to album or Bowie-style. He lived many lives and touched not just fans but music genres, challenging sexual roles and fashion boundaries.

Rob shares with us his in-depth view and experience of being a Bowie fan and I am thankful for it.

I strongly identify with Bowie as Jareth in Labyrinth. Seeing him on screen solidified my desire to be in film (which came true) hope and dream my way into my art. I believe this cult classic gave Bowie the rebirth he needed creating a new breed of loyal fans ready to take his music trip.

Painter, actor, writer, singer, musician, this man was/is an original.

A must read for Bowie fans. Kudos to Rob for his clever lyric insertion and talent for describing a man who for words can mostly fail us.

A highlight of my 2016 reading journey.

[Debra Komar · Rating 5 out of 5]

A love letter from a fan to fans. I devoured this the moment it arrived. It was written in the immediate aftermath of The Dame's death. It was still raw for Sheffield when he wrote it and reading it brought me back to that time in January when I couldn't stop crying. He nails the sense of shock and how Bowie's music changed after his death. He also captures how the music and its meaning changed throughout Sheffield's life. I have adored Bowie from the moment I bought my first record (Station to Station, the day it went on sale). I have bought ever album since and, while I have sometimes been disappointed (ironically with "Never Let Me Down"), I have never been bored and have never loved Bowie less. Bowie is, and remains, the soundtrack of my life.

I have read all the Bowie books and most are junk. This one finally gets it. If you are not already a fan, this book is not for you. The biography is tiny and there are no explanations as to why Bowie is great or meant so much. You either already know or need to find out for yourself.

[Cassandra Rose · Rating 5 out of 5]

ORIGINALLY POSTED: https://bibliomantics.com/2016/08/01/...

I’m going to be honest, this book destroyed me. I’m talking almost crying in public levels here. Part love letter to David Bowie, part biography, part music criticism, Sheffield’s book taught me even more about Ziggy Stardust, the Thin White Duke and all the iterations of David Jones in a mere 200 pages. Get ready to binge on Bowie tunes after reading! You know, more than usual.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rob Sheffield writes about music exactly how I want to read about music: as a fan, as an educated fan, one with an encyclopedic knowledge of music as well as a clear understanding of how importance its both cultural and emotional resonances are. His Bowie book did not disappoint: while realizing the impossibility of trying to separate his own life from his understanding of Bowie's career, his explanations for it all go well beyond his own emotional response. Great stuff here.

[Erick Mertz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply stated, I could not put this book down.

Author Rob Sheffield is one of the most engaging music writers working today and his stylish look at the life and work of the late David Bowie is one of the finest creative tributes I've read in the months since he passed away. Sheffield offers an appropriately prismatic view on Bowie's life, weaving personal narrative in with reported facts, legends and a healthy dose of hyperbole about the artist's career. I picked it up at a glance and never set it down. This book isn't there to teach the small details. It's there to bring to life the broad creative swatch cut over decades of reinvention.

My only problem may be that the book is light on pictures. Actually, there are four similarly staged shots of Bowie from different eras. With such a paltry number, why bother including them at all?

Don't let that defer you though. If you want Bowie pictures, go to the internet. Search: BOWIE, DAVID. Otherwise, read this book.

www.well-lightedetcetera.com

[Quentin Montemayor · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rob Sheffield is a master of awakening nostalgia in the reader without being schmaltzy. His taste in music is so approachable and unpretentious, as is his writing. I wish he would write this book a million times over about every artist that I love. Points because it's Bowie, but mostly Rob gets all the points himself with his refreshing and beautiful style. Cannot wait for the Beatles book!

[CF · Rating 4 out of 5]

I always think that maybe one of these Brooklyn days, I'm gonna run into Rob Sheffield. The question is, what would I say to the NY Times best seller or better yet, what would I ask him? He has become my Yoda to music and the historical emotion that rides shotgun to it. This obviously cathartic book, On Bowie, is exactly what my broken heart needed. We all love Bowie for different reason. We love different eras, different faces, different genders roles.... I think I have always been obsessed with David Jones, the man behind the curtain and the artful danger Bowie always put him(self) in. What artist has pushed so many dimensions of self through art the way he has?

Sheffield reflects on Bowie's plastic soul era with,"For him, realness was whatever he wasn't enough of-that's why he kept trying on a variety of cultures, genders, ages, stepping into strangers' lives to ponder how music sounded to them." Bowie created through an infinitely symbolic method and wore the face of a real believer that he probably stole from someone else. Because after all, he is the DJ, he certainly is what he plays.

In a poignant statement in regards to Klaus Nomi's pining to team up with David Bowie again, Sheffield explains that,"As with so many David Bowie fans, what he learned from the master was how to turn loneliness into a grand theatrical gesture- how to turn your loneliness into a work of art". Sheffield, delivers like the Starman himself, writing from a place of loneliness and capturing the emotion to reflect on the life of an artist we were lucky enough to share the same orbit with.

And as far as what I might say to Rob Sheffield, I think I might just say, Lodger is my favorite too.

[Casey · Rating 1 out of 5]

An unnecessary chronological march through Bowie's albums complete with groan-worthy efforts to wedge song titles and lyrics into every paragraph.

The way Sheffield writes about music just doesn't do it for me. There are too many pop culture comparisons and analogies jammed in to try and fit with whackadoo thru lines and theories. I guess the exact stuff of Rolling Stone reviews. My own fault for bothering with this.

[Clare · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well, if I can't give this more than 5 stars, then I'll have to just give it 5. This took me much longer than any other 192 page book would have taken me to read: I had to keep stopping to play the songs the author was talking about. I have notes (something I don't usually do). And those last 12 pages. I read them with a lump in my throat, hoping that the end would change. We've lost Bowie, but we'll always have his music.

[Fred · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sheffield delivers a heartfelt memorial to Bowie. It includes some history, lots of personal opinions and even more good writing.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book about David Bowie written by Rob Sheffield is so perfect I'm still not sure it's not a dream.

[alienticia · Rating 4 out of 5]

muito bom ler uma biografia de fã pra fã!!!!! só não gostei que não fala muito do meu álbum favorito que é o scary monsters, mas é parte da graça

[Kris · Rating 4 out of 5]

Being a huge Bowie fan I was shocked and saddened by his Unexpected death in January. I also have enjoyed Sheffield's previous books so when I saw this came out I knew I had to read it!

I think it's fair to say that Sheffield is the ultimate Bowie fanboy , which means that he has a deep understanding of Bowie's career. He also has the musical background as a journalist to be able to put things into perspective, which she does very well in this book.

He captures how Bowie connected to his fans extremely well. He was astute at a young age it seems. I don't think I've ever heard somebody describe how Bowie made people feel in such a honest way.

Sheffield was several years older than me but had similar musical tastes , so I feel I understood his cultural references quite well. I do wonder if somebody was either an older or younger Bowie fan if these would simply pass over their head or not ring true to them. Sheffield has a way of cleverly mixing lyrics into his writing which I love, but I think some people might find a little too precious after a while.

The strength of the book lies in the first two thirds and I think as the book (as Bowie's career) went along it lost the plot a little bit. that is the only reason I'm giving it 4 stars instead of 5.

No matter. This was a quick and enjoyable read. I think anybody who is missing Bowie we'll find something for themselves in this , particularly if they are of a certain age.

[Tommy · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a terrific book from music writer Rob Sheffield. He approaches Bowie's career as a fan, not as a critic. For those of us who admired and loved Bowie's music, but might not have been aficionados of his every musical and cultural nuance, this book hits the sweet spot. It never dives into minutiae or feels heavy handed. It's like coffee with a Bowie fan who wants to share a fair assessment of his hits and misses, his humanity and his struggles.

The book, chaptered by albums and eras, takes us from his early days as David Jones to his passing in 2016 and the luminous "Lazarus" that capped off his career. I'd recommend it to anyone who is looking for an introduction to Bowie, or a high-level appreciation of his life and artistry. If you know the lyrics and session players for every album from "Low" to "Never Let Me Down", this might be a deep enough dive for you, but you'll appreciate Sheffield's honesty, respect, and awareness of Bowie and his impact on our culture.

[Michael Ritchie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I rarely give 5 stars to books, so you know I loved this one. Not a bio, not even quite a critical history. The publicity calls it a "meditation" on the life and career of David Bowie, and that is a perfect description. It reads like a long Rolling Stone article from the 70s and that's meant as a compliment, since 70s Rolling Stone music writing is the peak of the genre. Sheffield writes about the man, his music, his successes and failures, his strengths and flaws, and never loses sight of the fans. I don't necessarily agree with his critical judgments ("Station to Station" as the best Bowie song?) but I loved reading this and didn't want it to end. Now I'll immerse myself in Bowie music for the next week at least (as I did the week Bowie died), and maybe I'll even give Scary Monsters another try.

[Eric · Rating 2 out of 5]

This pick was my fault. I thought this would be more of a biography. Instead, it's pure fan writing. Sheffield loves Bowie, but his writing is pretty annoying. Put it this way: he interjects lyrics into his narrative over and over and over in an attempt to be clever or sneaky (?), but it is so irritating. His personal association with DB is pretty much what this book is about and that's fine. I guess it was Sheffield's personality I didn't like. This was like a 200-page diary entry with David Bowie as the subject and the narrative was D+ at best.

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't recommend this book enough for every Bowie fan out there. This is written in such a conversational and heartfelt tone that it did not fail to capture my heart. Scheffield peppers his writing with Bowie lyrics right and left and you feel like part of the inside club because you get all of the references. It's a real pleasure to read and feels more like having a conversation with a fellow Bowie fanatic (of which he is) then reading a book about David Bowie. The book is described as a love letter and that about captures it perfectly.

[Jo Coleman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presumably all my favourite music writers are going to publish a book about David Bowie at some point this year, and I'm glad that lovely Rob Sheffield got there first. I've deducted several points because he doesn't like 'The Laughing Gnome', but otherwise this is as funny and interesting as you'd expect. Importantly, it confirms that David Bowie really did appear on a TV programme called 'Gadzooks! It's All Happening'; a fact that I'd always assumed was made up by Smash Hits.

[Sophie Brookover · Rating 4 out of 5]

I inhaled this in two big gulps & will probably make my way through much of Sheffield's bibliography because it's more of a loving hors d'oeuvre than a full meal, critically speaking. It's a book for fans, by a fan, for sure, funny & wry & adoring & critical & sad. I cried a bunch, but mostly what I come away with is a wish that I'd known even more of Bowie's back catalogue earlier. ⚡️

[Robin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I saw Bowie in concert once. Some time after he passed, I looked up the set list and there was a note at the bottom: "Final United States Performance."

There's a lot of musical acts I regret not being able to see and never will, but it's meaningful that I got to see Bowie. The Polyphonic Spree opened for him and I made a joke to my friends to "stay away from the Kool-Aid." They didn't get the reference. During Bowie's set, he thanked The Polyphonic Spree for being his opener for that tour and advised the audience to stay away from the kool-aid. It got a massive laugh. I got a little annoyed thinking "Oh so when Bowie does it...."

Years later, I relayed that story to a friend, a giant Bowie fan herself, and she responded "That's how it works, when Bowie does it..."

So, the book..... There's a passage on the first page that got me teary, about how Bowie makes us all feel braver and more free. There's a passage near the end of the book that got me teary, about what grief is and does to us. It's a short read, 200 pages go by quite quickly broken up by periods of his life punctuated by album releases. Sheffield works weaves in his own life, what it was like discovering and falling in love with Bowie, a pair of disappointing albums, Bowie's later life, hearing the "Blackstar" album, and learning the "Blackstar" album was Bowie's farewell to his fans.

The last passage on grief is..... devastating. How grief is us holding onto a reality that's gone and reflective of so much of Bowie's art.

I'm listening to "Heroes" as I write this.

"On Bowie" is a fitting title but it's more, it's "On Bowie And Music And Art And Fame And Drugs And Reinvention And Life And Grief And All These Things Because They Are All Bowie."

[Ethan · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not really sure why someone would enjoy this book when there are so many other places to read good material on David Bowie. The blog Pushing Ahead of the Dame is the go-to place, in my opinion, but the 33 1/3 book on Low by Hugo Wilcken is also fantastic, because it's well-written, and it talks about the most readable part of Bowie's career (not surprisingly the best part of this book, sheerly due to the stories themselves).

This is not so much a book written by a David Bowie expert as it is a fanboy making exaggerated and downright embarrassing commentary on how David Bowie changed his life. Like, yeah, I feel the same, but Rob Sheffield is supposed to be a professional writer from Rolling Stone. It’s littered with lyrics that are so forced, and there are even paragraphs where he just quotes similar lyrics from throughout his discography, and it’s really cheesy and made me cringe every time. Looking at the table of contents, I was really excited because it seemed like there was something to discover at each stage of Bowie’s career, but honestly there wasn’t, and I did not enjoy this at all.

It was boring, filled with cliches, and to make it even less exciting for me, he slammed some of my favorite albums (and called Reeves Gabrels trash), was extremely dismissive of Bowie's entire '80s output the way men entirely dismissed the female-led Ghostbusters, as if he had only read about it, and he hailed fucking Hours as one of the best Bowie albums. And Morrissey? The Smiths are trash, dude. Get them out of your book about Bowie

[Daniela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many other people, I watched with sadness the news reports on David Bowies passing back in January. My dad always played a lot of music when I was growing up and amongst it, a lot of Bowies albums. His music became a constant in my life and I still love his music now. To me, and I suspect to many others as well, he seemed immortal so the news of his death was a shock.
Since January, I have been reading quite a bit about him, but this book is the best hing I have read to date. It is not just all the facts that you can find everywhere, but it also takes personal views and the legends into account. Let's not forget Rob Sheffield's writing style, which just flows. Before you know it you are all emotional and you finished the book. I would have loved more photos, but that's just my personal taste, I love flicking through pages of photos.
Definitely recommend it, and not just to Bowie fans!

[Lee Barry · Rating 2 out of 5]

There might already be too many Bowie tribute books at this point, and there will certainly be more.

I concur with some of the other reviews in that the author might be from the wrong generation to fully understand Bowie. Of course one can research the history, but it's not the same as a contemporaneous experience. Ziggy didn't seem as strange at the time (at least to a young teen) as it has become in retrospect. Pop music just seems contemporary in the purest sense when it's happening in the present.

To those that have not yet read a Bowie book, don't stop with this one. (I liked "Man Who Sold the World")

[Simon Vozick-Levinson · Rating 5 out of 5]

This might be my favorite Rob Sheffield book, and he's written some great ones. It's a first-class book about Bowie -- teeming with funny, smart, unexpected insights on his life and work -- but at heart it's really a sublime meditation on the experience of being a Bowie fan, and that makes it an absolute must-read for anyone who loves music. (The writing on other artists is top-notch, too; see the brilliant analysis of Kanye's "Bound 2" that pops up as an aside halfway through the book.) Favorite chapters: "Major Tom" and "Young Americans," both just perfect.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's a book length fan letter/diary entry; if you can get past the beginning, where Sheffield uses Bowie quote after quote as lines in the book in a way to say, "look, this is how much I know about him," you will be treated to a rambling yet very astute meditation on the role Bowie played in society and in the lives of his listeners album by album. Slightly younger than the author, ON BOWIE helped me realize why I thought this guy was interesting but I didn't listen to him as a teen -- he was making some of his worst music, while many of the bands he inspired were making some of their best.

[Hanna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say I'm a fan of Bowie, I was not born in the right era to enjoy his music, I don't mind it though. A lot of people I look up to, have, at some point in their lives, looked up to Bowie. He has inspired so many people around the world. So, naturally, I was intrigued, I wanted to know what made Bowie, well, Bowie. This book was very insightful as it was told from the perspective of a fan.

I would definitely recommend this to those who wanted to know why people loved Bowie so much, to those who are curious like me.