Andy Warhol by David Bowie Lyrics Meaning – Unwrapping the Enigma of Pop Art and Identity
Lyrics
Be a standing cinema
Dress my friends up just for show
See them as they really are
Put a peephole in my brain
Two New Pence to have a go
I’d like to be a gallery
Put you all inside my show
Andy Warhol looks a scream
Hang him on my wall
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can’t tell them apart at all
Andy walking, Andy tired
Andy take a little snooze
Tie him up when he’s fast asleep
Send him on a pleasant cruise
When he wake up on the sea
He sure to think of me and you
He’ll think about paint and he’ll think about glue
What a jolly boring thing to do
Andy Warhol looks a scream
Hang him on my wall
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can’t tell them apart at all
Andy Warhol looks a scream
Hang him on my wall
Andy Warhol, Silver Screen
Can’t tell them apart at all
David Bowie, the chameleon of rock, and Andy Warhol, the pope of pop art, both stand as cultural icons known for their inherent ability to both reflect and shape the zeitgeist of their time. Bowie’s ‘Andy Warhol’ from his 1971 album ‘Hunky Dory’ is as much an opaque exploration of the artist’s persona as it is an homage to Warhol’s transformative impact on the art world and popular culture.
The song itself is a complex weave of admiration and critique, rife with allusions that meld the seemingly mundane with the quintessentially artistic. Let’s dissect the layers of ‘Andy Warhol’ and ponder what Bowie, the art-loving rocker, encoded in this timeless track about the man who reinvented the canvas.
Peeling Back the Velvet Underground
Bowie’s mentioning of cement, cinema, and galleries isn’t random; it’s a deliberate nod to Warhol’s multimedia artistic endeavors, including his work with The Velvet Underground. The lyrics suggest a desire to fossilize the fluidity of life into something static and perennial, much like Warhol’s silkscreen prints.
The standing cinema metaphor captures Warhol’s merging of life and art. Warhol’s movies, infamous for their length and lack of conventional narrative, mirror Bowie’s lyric structure — repetitive and hypnotic. Dressing friends for show parallels Warhol’s Factory entourage, often styled as living art, blurring reality and performance.
The Silver Peephole: Voyeurism or Insight?
‘Put a peephole in my brain, Two New Pence to have a go’ — Bowie punches right through to our morbid curiosity about the minds of those we idolize. Inviting the listener into his mind’s gallery, he points to Warhol’s own open-door policy at The Factory where the mundane became fascinating under Warhol’s gaze.
This line is a contemplation on privacy, celebrity, and art’s commodification; everything has a price, even a sneak-peek into one’s thoughts. Warhol’s life was a canvas for public consumption, and perhaps Bowie felt the weight of this same exhibition, critiquing the voyeuristic nature of fame.
A Canvas of Sound: Bowie’s Musical Brushstrokes
Instrumentally, ‘Andy Warhol’ is stark and percussive, echoing the simplistic beauty of a Warhol piece. The acoustic guitar mirrors the repetitive strokes of Warhol’s screen prints, creating a stripped-back sound canvas for Bowie’s lyrics to play upon.
The musical simplicity serves as a counterbalance to the lyrical complexity, showcasing Bowie’s ability to marry deep thought with accessible artistry, much like Warhol did with everyday consumer goods. The art of both men could be consumed broadly but also contained multitudes of deeper meaning.
Mirror Images: Seeking the Real Andy
The chorus, with its haunting repetition, ‘Andy Warhol looks a scream, hang him on my wall,’ is a double entendre on Warhol’s celebrity and his art. Is Bowie suggesting that Warhol himself has become one of his own silkscreen commodities to be possessed and displayed?
‘Can’t tell them apart at all’ could refer to Warhol’s artworks—or even suggest the difficulty in distinguishing the man from his myth, the private person from the public persona. Warhol and his art have fused into one, and through Bowie’s eyes, we glimpse the fragility of identity.
The Portrait’s Hidden Meaning: A Meditation on Monotony
‘Andy take a little snooze, Send him on a pleasant cruise’ might seem humorous, but it’s a layered commentary on escape. Bowie brings in the idea of Warhol’s mind needing respite from the mechanical production of art, a possible dig at the assembly line approach to creativity.
Moreover, boredom is presented not just as the antithesis of Warhol’s vibrant art scene, but also as a potential critique of the pop art movement’s more sterile aspects. Bowie manages to encapsulate Warhol’s complex legacy — a figure endlessly fascinating yet enigmatic, his art both momentous and banal.
