It wouls seem to be. All this time I reallt thought it was about an astronaut.

In Bowies song Ashes to Ahses Major Tom is drugs.

Here take a look:

Ashes To Ashes


Do you remember a guy that's been
In such an early song?
I've heard a rumour from Ground Control
Oh, no, don't say it's true

They got a message from the Action Man
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
I've loved all I've needed love
Sordid details following

The shrieking of nothing is killing, just
Pictures of Jap girls in synthesis and
I ain't got no money and I ain't got no hair
But I'm hoping to kick, but the planet is glowing

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low

Time and again, I tell myself
I'll stay clean tonight
But the little green wheels keep following me
Oh, no, not again

I'm stuck with a valuable friend
"I'm happy, hope you're happy too"
One flash of light
But no smoking pistol

I never done good things
I never done bad things
I never did anything out of the blue
Whoa, ooo, whoa

Want an axe to break the ice
Wanna come down right now

Ashes to ashes, funk to funky
We know Major Tom's a junkie
Strung out in heaven's high
Hitting an all-time low

My mama said to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mama said to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mama said to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

My mama said to get things done
You'd better not mess with Major Tom

i want to know what that song "the man who sold the world" is about

Next you can decipher Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.

M 4:

The song above is "Ashes to Ashes."  Thanks for reminding me to d*ownload it!

... Maybe I just didn't understand "things" then, but I thought just about any rock-n-roll album cut in that genre was talking about drugs.

Yeah, I said it was Ashes to Ashes right? I dont understand what you mean.

In my opinion, Major Tom was a mirror image Bowie invented of himself just like Ziggy Stardust.  Schillings song is just basically retelling Space Oddity.

Damnit!  Know I've got it stuck in my head!

Earth below us
Drifting,falling
Floating weght...

Damnit!

Thats actually not about drugs.

I forget which Beatle it was but his daughter cam in with a picture she drew. The picture had some lady with shiny things in the air, so the father asked his daughter what it was.

She said, "daddy, its Lucy in the sky with diamonds"

So which ever Beatle it was wrote that song.

True story.

I think you've been fooled by a cover story.

A likely story. [rolleyes]

Well, actually...

Gründlich durchgecheckt
steht sie da
und wartet auf den Start,
alles klar.
Experten streiten sich
um ein paar Daten,
die Crew hat dann noch
ein paar Fragen, doch
der Countdown läuft.

Effektivität
bestimmt das Handeln.
Man verläßt sich blind
auf den ander'n,
jeder weiß genau
was von ihm abhängt.
Jeder ist im Streß,
doch Major Tom
macht einen Scherz,
dann geht es ab!

Völlig losgelöst
von der Erde
schwebt das Raumschiff
völlig schwerelos.

Die Erdanziehungskraft
ist überwunden,
alles läuft perfekt
schon seit Stunden.
Wissenschaftliche
Experimente,
doch was nützen die
am Ende, denkt
sich Major Tom.

Im Kontrollzentrum
da wird man panisch,
der Kurs der Kapsel, der
stimmt ja gar nicht.
Hallo Major Tom,
können Sie hören,
woll'n Sie das Projekt
denn so zerstören, doch
er kann nichts hör'n.

Völlig losgelöst
von der Erde
schwebt das Raumschiff
völlig schwerelos.

Die Erde schimmert blau.
Sein letzter Funk:
Grüßt mir meine Frau,
und er verstummt.

Unten trauern noch
die Egoisten.
Major Tom denkt sich,
wenn die wüßten.
Mich führt hier ein Licht
durch das All,
das kennt ihr noch nicht,
ich komme bald,
mir wird kalt.

Völlig losgelöst
von der Erde
schwebt das Raumschiff in
scheinbare Leere.

Bowie was actually a fan of US astronaut Major Tom Stafford. That's who the original song referred to. Stafford even had a brief appearance in the mid 70's B sci-fi movie, "The Man Who Fell To Earth". Bowie played the lead character, who is named Thomas.

I was gonna ask what "Lucy in the Sky with Major Tom" was about, but I think I've figured that one out. [;D]

Yea...right.

Was there an actual Major Tom? Not that the history books show. Though there were two Apollo astronauts named Tom, neither were Majors and both returned home safely (Thomas P. Stafford was on Apollo 10 and Thomas K. Mattingly served aboard Apollo 16).

Bowie's creation of Major Tom was certainly influenced by Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Bowie is said to have written his song shortly after seeing the movie. "Space Oddity" obviously is a pun on "Space Odyssey."
The bottom line: given Bowie's penchant for creating characters for and about himself (Ziggy Stardust among others) plus his well-known battle with drugs, most Bowie experts agree that Major Tom is an allegorically autobiographical character.

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