Sons of the Silent Age Lyrics

[Verse 1]
Sons of the silent age
Stand on platforms blank looks and notebooks
Sit in the back rows of city limits
Lay in bed coming and going on easy terms
Sons of the silent age
Pace their rooms like a cell's dimension
Rise for a year or two then make war
Search through their one inch thoughts
Then decide it couldn't be done


[Chorus]
Baby, I'll never let you go
All I see is all I know
Let's take another way down
(Sons of sound, and sons of sound)
Baby, baby, I'll never let you down
I can't stand another sound
Let's find another way in
(Sons of sound, and sons of sound)

[Verse 2]
Sons of the silent age
Listen to tracks by Sam Therapy and King Dice
Sons of the silent age
They pick up in bars and cry only once
Sons of the silent age
Make love only once but dream and dream
They don't walk, they just glide in and out of life
They never die, they just go to sleep one day

[Chorus]
Baby, I will never let you go
All I see is all I know
Let's take another way down
(Sons of sound, and sons of sound)
Baby, baby, baby, I won't ever let you down
I can't stand another sound
Let's find another way in
(Sons of sound, and sons of sound)

[Outro]
(Sons of sound, and sons of sound) Baby, baby, baby
Find another way

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About

Genius Annotation

The fourth track off the second album belonging to Bowie’s Berlin Trilogy, “Sons of the Silent Age” calls to mind passive, submissive, bland, blasé, and average characters as often represented in literature such as the citizens of George Orwell’s 1984. Such a character may have been the opposite of what Bowie sought to be, finding no meaning in life, never acting out, and never considering rebellion; Bowie, a fan of Nietzsche’s philosophies, believed in progressing humanity and achieving greatness while maintaining unique morals (as opposed to, say, dying as a nameless and spineless Average Joe). Bowie explored such themes in other songs like “The Supermen”, “Quicksand”, “Oh! You Pretty Things”, “Cygnet Committee”, “Ziggy Stardust”, “Starman”, and “The Width of a Circle”, amongst many others.

More specifically, the song refers to Americans born into the Silent Generation (mid 1920s – early 1940s; Bowie was born shortly after this generation). The children of the Silent Generation are notably characterized by:

1) their luckiness (as most of them were too young to fight in World War II before it ended, and instead grew up to be welcomed by a booming economy)

2) their “silence” and submissiveness when faced by political issues such as McCarthy’s Red Scare. There have also been, to date, 0 sons of the Silent Generation that have been elected into the White House.

3) their “play by the rules” tactic which tended to lead to comfortable and average living for most of them.

In comparison, Bowie’s “hippy” generation was an incredibly vocal one, characterized by their resistance to the standard norms of society and by their outspoken hatred of war.

Credits
Written By
Recorded At
Hansa Studio, Berlin
Release Date
October 14, 1977
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