Last week, some friends and I went to see the Classic Albums Live group do David Bowie’s ChangesOne album. That album selection is a bit of a cheat, since it’s a compilation album with many of Bowie’s early hits. But it certainly made for an entertaining first half.

The second half was various other Bowie tunes, and ended with a highlight for Gen X types, of “Let’s Dance” followed by “Modern Love”. But they started that half with a cut from Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars: the very haunting “Five Years”.

Pushing through the market square
So many mothers sighing (sighing)
News had just come over
We had five years left to cry in (cry in)
News guy wept and told us
Earth was really dying (dying)
Cried so much his face was wet
Then I knew he was not lying (lying)

…

We’ve got five years, stuck on my eyes
Five years, what a surprise
We’ve got five years, my brain hurts a lot
Five years, that’s all we’ve got

Five years from now: Is that all we got?

One the many newsletter-type things I subscribe to is by an author of the definite opinion that we are in the early stages of collapse, who expects that things will completely have to gone to shit in about five years. Given the climate crisis, species depletion, pandemic risks, misinformation effects, economic threats, food insecurity, and global political instability, it doesn’t seem an utterly crazy notion. And this is a US-based publication, so they’re also living under that administration.

The one that’s threatening us.

I can’t totally buy in. I’m just not there yet. So I have not gone whole hog on things like learning to grow my own food, making my own medicine, and reinforcing my house with bullet-proof glass and sandbags. Still, I have picked up some useful tips. You might find them useful, too! For example…

Continue reading “Five years: My brain hurts a lot” →