Lyrics to
Panic In Detroit

This version of Panic In Detroit was released by David Bowie in 1973.

Our David Bowie Songs profile has Panic In Detroit lyrics from 1973 and most if not all of the lyrics by David Bowie that we have here at Decade Lyrics.

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He looked a lot like Che Guevara,
drove a diesel van
Kept his gun in quiet seclusion,
such a humble man
The only survivor of the National People’s Gang
Panic in Detroit, I asked for an autograph
He wanted to stay home, I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit

He laughed at accidental sirens that broke the evening
gloom
The police had warned of repercussions

They followed none too soon
A trickle of strangers were all that were left alive
Panic in Detroit, I asked for an autograph
He wanted to stay home, I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit

Putting on some clothes I made my way to school
And I found my teacher
crouching in his overalls

I screamed and ran to smash my favorite slot machine
And jumped the silent cars that slept at traffic lights

Having scored a trillion dollars,
made a run back home

Found him slumped across the table.
A gun and me alone
I ran to the window. Looked for a plane or two
Panic in Detroit.
He’d left me an autograph
“Let me collect dust.”
I wish someone would phone

Panic in Detroit

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David Bowie has released many songs over the years besides Panic In Detroit. 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 1970s songs looking for more songs from 1973 or the 1970s overall, you've come to the right place!

About Lyrics and Panic In Detroit by David Bowie

The lyrics to Panic In Detroit are just the words, phrases, verses and chorus that David Bowie used when the song was created in 1973. The lyrics to Panic In Detroit have both easy-to-spot meanings and hidden metaphors that have been discussed by the music press and fans, but only David Bowie and any collaborators know all of the inspirations for the song.

If you like etymology or breaking apart phrases and words, it is easy to understand the lyrics to Panic In Detroit by David Bowie. 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 Panic In Detroit" means the words set to the music of Panic In Detroit, 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 Panic In Detroit and the lyrics to Panic In Detroit 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 Panic In Detroit, but we feel it is still fun to learn what's behind commonly used words and lyrics in songs.

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