David Bowie Tribute
The evening was put on by the AGO and the group Choir! Choir! Choir! as a tribute to Bowie, who died last week after a lengthy battle with cancer. Choir! Choir! Choir! is two people, Daveed Goldman and Nabu Adilman, with Goldman playing guitar and Adilman leading audiences.
As Choir! Choir! Choir!, Goldman and Adilman have been conducting weekly singalongs all over Toronto since 2011. The AGO’s website invited people to join them, noting they would only have room for 500-plus and admittance was on a first-come basis. It was sold out.
They rehearsed briefly before the singing, necessary given the arrangement required three-part harmonies, and they sang it through a few times, filming each time. If you care to sing along as you watch and listen to the video of the performance embedded here, these are the words to Bowie’s song:
_______
Ground Control to Major Tom
Ground Control to Major Tom
Take your protein pills and put your helmet on
Ground Control to Major Tom (Ten, Nine, Eight, Seven, Six)
Commencing countdown, engines on (Five, Four, Three)
Check ignition and may God’s love be with you (Two, One, Liftoff)
_______
This is Ground Control to Major Tom
You’ve really made the grade
And the papers want to know whose shirts you wear
Now it’s time to leave the capsule if you dare
“This is Major Tom to Ground Control
I’m stepping through the door
And I’m floating in the most peculiar way
And the stars look very different today
For here am I sitting in my tin can
Far above the world
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do
_______
Though I’m past one hundred thousand miles
I’m feeling very still
And I think my spaceship knows which way to go
Tell my wife I love her very much, she knows
Ground Control to Major Tom
Your circuit’s dead, there’s something wrong
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear me, Major Tom?
Can you hear And I’m floating around my tin can
Far above the Moon
Planet Earth is blue
And there’s nothing I can do.”
