"Major Tom (Coming Home)" (German: Major Tom [völlig losgelöst], 'Major Tom [completely detached]') is a song by Peter Schilling from his album Error in the System. With a character unofficially related to "Major Tom", the protagonist of David Bowie's 1969 song "Space Oddity", the song is about the character breaking off contact with ground control and traveling off into space.
Major Tom (Coming Home)
Major Tom is a persona of David Bowie's, referenced in songs "Space Oddity", "Ashes to Ashes", "Hallo Spaceboy", and "Blackstar." Bowie's own interpretation of the character evolved throughout his career. "Space Oddity" (1969) depicts an astronaut who casually slips the bonds of the world to journey beyond the stars. In the song "Ashes to Ashes" (1980), Bowie reinterprets Major Tom as an oblique autobiographical symbol for himself. Major Tom is described as a "junkie, strung out in heaven's high, hitting an all-time low". This lyric was interpreted as a play on the title of Bowie's album Low (1977), which was inspired by the withdrawal symptoms he suffered while undergoing treatment for drug addiction. Additionally, the choked and self-recriminating tone used in the lyrics "Time and again I tell myself I'll stay clean tonight" reinforces an autobiographical and retrospective interpretation. A short time later, there is another reversal of Major Tom's original withdrawal, turning 'outwards' or towards space.
David Bowie as Major Tom in the "Space Oddity" video, part of the 1969 promotional film Love You Till Tuesday