Quicksand

I thought the word was chameleon.

Like many people, I bought David Bowie’s album Hunky Dory retrospectively, after being inculcated by the glam manifestos of Ziggy Stardust and Aladdin Sane.

Back in the 1970s, many vinyl albums came with an assortment of extras: posters, stickers, fan-club bumph, etc. But this didn’t even have a lyric sheet.

Hey, words are important to me. I’m a writer.

Due to a combination of Bowie’s mannered vocals and the cheap quality of my hi-fi, I misunderstood much of the record for decades, because I misheard the lyrics.

For example, in Quicksand, I’m sure there is a reference to Herod clown the desert man. And why not? As I said, it was the 70s. Songwriters were obsessed with the Hobbit and not-so-subtle sexual innuendo. All sorts of nonsense were possible. Though Bowie’s influences appeared to be more eclectic.

In the opening line of Andy Warhol, I’m equally sure he urges us to take a semen fix, which is almost better than the correct version.

It wasn’t until the 1990s, when I was replacing my vinyl collection with CDs, that I realised my mistakes. I bought the special edition of Hunky Dory, with bonus tracks and a fold-out cover inlay, inside which were printed the lyrics.

The writer in me is tempted to turn this into a metaphor about the 40-something adult realising the errors of his adolescence. Blah, blah, blah.

But here’s the thing: in the song Bewlay Brothers, I’m convinced there is a famous line chameleon, comedian, Corinthian and caricature. It’s been widely quoted, as Bowie himself has been described as a chameleon, with the ch-ch-changes of his public persona that characterised his early career.

And yet, no. According to the lyric sheet, the word is Camelian.

What does this mean? Google also insists on searching for chameleon. When I force it to narrow its parameters, I don’t see anything much that appears to be relevant. Unless there is something significant about Saint Camelian, who was Bishop of Troyes back in the 5th century.

He seems pretty obscure and I don’t know on what grounds he was canonised. There don’t seem to be any juicy stories about him.

His Saints Day is July 28th. Maybe the date is meaningful.

In interviews, Bowie has always been tight-lipped about this song. There is some speculation that it contains veiled references to his brother, who had a troubled history.

But does any of this altered perception change my opinion of the album? Do I like it any less because it is something other than what I believed?

And what does it mean for my own creative efforts? I used to get angry and dismayed when people read things into my poetry that were not there, or failed to see the things that were. How narrow-minded of me.

Like the song doesn't say: don’t conceive with belief.