Song:     Life On Mars?
Artist:   David Bowie
Album:    Hunky Dory, 1971
URL:      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v--IqqusnNQ
          https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_kPDJQBtHaY (Live)
Tempo:    4|4
Style:    Weimar & French Cabaret Style 
Tuning:   Standard


Capo 3


Chords    EADGBe
         XX0232
     X44222      
  X34242
         X24442
        022000
       XX0002
        X02020
       
C#aug     XX32


21  (I/F) or F

ret 9 (IX)
        XX0231
        XX1343
        X13331
     X10332
        355333
     XX3334
         320003
         X32010
     XX1003
       020000
       X02010
       X35353
    X4545X
    XX1212
      X2343X
       244222
        X35543


INTRO:(Piano over)
|   |


VERSE 1:
       
It's a god-awf

         
ul small affai


r,
             
To the girl wi

             
th the mousy h


air.
           
But her mummy 

            
is yelling "No

        
!”,
              
And her daddy 

              
has told her t

     
o go.
         
But her friend

              
 is nowhere to

           
 be seen.
             
Now she walks,

              
 through her s

      
unken dream.
           
To the seat wi

              
th the cleares

  
t view,
              
And she's hook

              
ed to the silv

    
er screen.
         
But the film i

              
s a saddening 


bore.
            
For she's live

              
d it ten times

    
 or more.
          
She could spit

             
 in the eyes o

    
f fools,
            
As they ask he


r to focus on…


CHORUS 1:
       
Sailors fighti

ng in the danc

e hall.

Oh man!
         
Look at those 

        
cavemen go,
            
It's the freak

                          
iest show.
           
Take a look at

                      
 the Lawman,
             
Beating up the

       
 wrong guy.
         
Oh man, wonder

              
 if he'll ever

  
 know,
            
He's in the be

           
st selling sho

w.
           
Is there life 

      
on Mars?


BRIDGE:
|   |  |
|   |  |
|        |        |


VERSE 2:
       
It's on Amerik

             
a's tortured b

#
row.
             
That Mickey Mo

              
use, has grown

      
 up a cow.
           
Now the worker

              
s, have struck

           
 for fame.
              
'Cause Lennon'

           
s on sale agai

n,
         
See the mice i

              
n their millio

    
n hordes.
             
From Ibiza to 

            
the Norfolk Br

oads,
           
Rule Britannia

           
 is out-of-bou

nds.
              
To my mother, 

           
my dog and clo

wns.
         
But the film i

              
s a saddening 

 
bore,
            
'Cause I wrote

              
 it, ten times

     
 or more.
         
It's about to 

          
be writ again,
         
As I ask you t

o focus on…


CHORUS 2:
       
Sailors fighti

ng in the danc

e hall.

Oh man!
         
Look at those 

        
cavemen go,
            
It's the freak

                          
iest show.
           
Take a look at

                      
 the Lawman,
             
Beating up the

       
 wrong guy.
         
Oh man, wonder

              
 if he'll ever

 
 know,
            
He's in the be

           
st selling sho

w.
           
Is there life 

      
on Mars?


CODA:(Instrumental & Fade)
|   |       |
|   |      |
|      |     |
|      |       |
|       |       |


Very low frequency, Reprise of the INTRO Piano (Fade Out)
|()   |


[End]


NOTES:
1.  “…In 1967 Claude Francois recorded Comme d’habitude, a song that became pretty fast famous in the USA. 
At that time a young David Bowie was commissioned to rewrite and sing the lyrics in English, hoping to 
give a larger diffusion to his debut record and earn popularity across the States. Even a Fool learns 
to Love, 
as the song was retitled, was unfortunately never released. Paul Anka, with a huge sense of business, 
bought the rights of that French song and rewrote it into the famous My Way. In a short time that 
version reached a huge popularity thanks to Sinatra’s interpretation. …
2.  “…But what’s the point of quoting Mickey Mouse, John Lennon and a bunch of workers in the lyrics?
To clear this point is to remind a huge Disney’s animators strike during the 40s. That fact 
(“a god-awful small affair” as Bowie sing) showed how the company turned arts and entertainment into 
factories and products. The “girl with the mousy hair” is quite bored of the repetitive work is doing 
(“she’s lived it ten times or more”) but it seems like there’s no way out: the revolution became a product 
itself, the idealism is ready to be sold on silver screens and dance halls.  Even the 60s student protests 
turned into a brand. That’s the reason why Lenin-Lennon was once again up for sale. Life on Mars itself 
became a best seller from being an anti-showbusiness hymn. …”
https://musicblob.wordpress.com/2013/11/02/david-bowie-life-on-mars/
3.  “…Bowie noted that Wakeman "embellished the piano part" of his original melody and guitarist 
Mick Ronson "created one of his first and best string parts" for the song.[1] The liner notes for 
Hunky Dory indicate that the song was 'inspired by Frankie'. …”  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_on_Mars_%28song%29
4.  This is simply ‘my take’ on how this might have been accompanied.  By using the Capo on the third fret, 
(with deference to v.11, post my submission) it reduces the CHORUS to simple open chords.  This version 
captures Mick Ronson's textured arrangements of the BRIDGE and the CODA.  Feel free to transpose or 
simplify to suit your playing style.  I believe that it comes very close to the spirit of the original. :-R