Lyrics to
Blackout

This version of Blackout was released by David Bowie in 1977.

Our About David Bowie page at Decade Lyrics includes the lyrics for Blackout from 1977 as well as all of the other lyrics from David Bowie that we have in our lyrics database.

Here's more interesting things in songs and lyrics tied to David Bowie or about the 1970s in general.

Oh you, you walk on past
Your lips cut a smile
on your face
Your scalding face
To the cage, to the cage
She was a beauty in a cage

Too, too high a price
To drink rotting wine from your hands
Your fearful hands
Get me to a doctor’s I’ve been told
Someone’s back in town
the chips are down
I just cut and blackout
I’m under Japanese influence
And my honour’s at stake

The weather’s grim, ice on the cages
Me, I’m Robin Hood
and I puff on my cigarette
Panthers are steaming,
stalking, screaming

If you don’t stay tonight
I will take that plane tonight
I’ve nothing to lose,
nothing to gain
I’ll kiss you in the rain
Kiss you in the rain
Kiss you in the rain
In the rain
Get me to the doctor

Get me off the streets
(get some protection)
Get me on my feet
(get some direction)
Hot air gets me into a blackout
Oh, get me off the streets
Get some protection
Oh get me on my feet (wo-ooh!)

While the streets block off
Getting some skin exposure to the blackout
(get some protection)
Get me on my feet
(get some direction, wo-ooh!)
Oh get me on my feet
Get me off the streets
(get some protection)

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David Bowie has released many songs over the years besides Blackout. David Bowie released songs from 1967 to 2003 spanning across albums like David Bowie, Space Oddity, The Man Who Sold The World, Hunky Dory, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, Aladdin Sane, Pin Ups, Diamond Dogs, Young Americans, Station To Station, Heroes, Low, Lodger, Scary Monsters, Hot Space, Let's Dance, Tonight, Never Let Me Down, Black Tie White Noise, Outside, Earthling, Hours..., Heathen, and Reality. Decade Lyrics has over lyrics & songs by David Bowie.

If you're a fan of the music of the 1970s looking for more songs from 1977 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Blackout by David Bowie

The lyrics for Blackout are defined as the words making up the song released by David Bowie in 1977. It also includes the verses and words used by the background chorus in the song. Like many hit songs, the lyrics to Blackout have different meanings to different people. While it is clear in some of the lyrics what the artist is trying to really say, only David Bowie and those working with them know all of the meanings behind all of the lyrics to their songs.

Some folks are interested in word and phrase etymology. It is easy to understand the lyrics to Blackout by David Bowie if you think through it. The word "lyric" itself derives from the Latin word lyricus, with the actual English word lyrics applied to the definition "words set to music" listed in Stainer and Barrett's 1876 Dictionary of Musical Terms. Continuing the chain, the Latin word lyricus derives from the Greek word λυρικός or lyrikós. This somewhat means "poetry accompanied by the lyre" or "words set to music." You can easily see that by looking at the background of the word lyric, that the "lyrics to Blackout" means the words set to the music of Blackout, or poetry accompanied by the lyre played by David Bowie. The singular form "lyric" is still used to mean the complete words to a song. However, the singular form lyric is also commonly used to refer to a specific line (or phrase) within a song's lyrics. Hence, by this analysis of word structure, you could say that the lyric to Blackout and the lyrics to Blackout are both one and the same thing. None of this talk about the word Lyrics is really relevant to fans of David Bowie who came here looking just for the lyrics to Blackout, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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