what happened to Major Tom

I attended my first ufologist diner last week at La Defense. Never saw such a cross-eyed traffic in a cafeteria. The first case was presented by a new age grandpa in white socks, explaining us why this triangle thing upon his car the 5th November of 1990, could not be a B2. I was watching his fuzzy slide show, wondering how satellite imagery had not solved the question of ufos yet. I mean, for better or worse, and I really want to believe in extra terrestrials. Are there too much clouds over Google Earth, who really runs those orbital cameras, and what the hell happened to Major Tom ?



Well, these three covers answer clearly. He encountered a technical problem. Some say that Tom was attacked by aliens, others that David Bowie is an alien himself. The mystery remains unsolved, but let’s hear it.




Gérard Palaprat – Un homme a disparu dans le ciel

The Space oddity was first covered in 1971 by Gérard Palaprat, two years after David Bowie. The french translation is more nostalgic, with true pieces of poetry if we include a guy painting rainbows in the sky, and the evocation of the Major’s mother. Tom finally overcomes his home sick, but too late, the ground control turned russian.




Los Hermanos Calatrava – Space oddity

The second cover was released in 1974. It’s a parody by a duo of humorists, Los Hermanos Calatrava. This one appears to be the most political, and stands a dramatic dialogue between Tom and Ground Control. I don’t get Spanish but aliens surely do. Anyway you don’t have to be bilingual to hear the crash at the end. They also did a movie remake of E.T. with their feet.




The Langley Schools Music Project - Space oddity

The third one is a chorus of young Canadians calling the lost Major. Their lament is heart breaking and was produced by their teacher, Hans Fenger, in 1976. Some of you have probably heard about the Langley Schools Music Project. They covered songs from the Beach Boys, Neil Diamond, Herman’s Hermits and the Beatles. David Bowie liked their version a lot. This precious recording should be kept on earth and buried very deeply, if we don’t want the Little Grays to compete in colleges and mess with our girls.