25/03/2002 Entry: "Bowie and Cane Hill"

Cane Hill had thousands of patients over the years, and a little known fact is that David Bowie's step-brother (or possibly half), Terry Burns, was one of them. He suffered from manic depression and schizophrenia, and supposedly committed suicide by lying in front of a train in 1985.

He inspired Bowie to write several songs, "Jump They Say", and "All the Madmen". "All the Madmen" features on the LP "The Man Who Sold the World". The UK sleeve of this album was considered too risky, and a new pop art style cover was designed by Mike Weller. This features a cowboy with a gun, on a backdrop of the ominous frontage of Cane Hill hospital.


Quite an accurate portrayal of the hospital I feel.

The words of the song, "All the Madmen", are as follows:

Day after day
They send my friends away
To mansions cold and grey
To the far side of town
Where the thin men stalk the streets
While the sane stay underground

Day after day
They tell me I can go
They tell me I can blow
To the far side of town
Where it's pointless to be high
'Cause it's such a long way down

So I tell them that
I can fly, I will scream, I will break my arm
I will do me harm
Here I stand, foot in hand, talking to my wall
I'm not quite right at all...am I?

Don't set me free, I'm as heavy as can be
Just my librium and me
And my E.S.T. makes three

'Cause I'd rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen roaming free
And I'd rather play here
With all the madmen
For I'm quite content they're all as sane
As me

(Where can the horizon lie
When a nation hides
Its organic minds
In a cellar...dark and grim
They must be very dim)

Day after day
They take some brain away
Then turn my face around
To the far side of town
And tell me that it's real
Then ask me how I feel

Here I stand, foot in hand, talking to my wall
I'm not quite right at all

Don't set me free, I'm as helpless as can be
My libido's split on me
Gimme some good 'ole lobotomy

'Cause I'd rather stay here
With all the madmen
Than perish with the sadmen
Roaming free
And I'd rather play here
With all the madmen
For I'm quite content
They're all as sane as me

Zane, Zane, Zane
Ouvre le Chien (rpt)

Talking of the "far side of town", which is where Cane Hill is. I find it interesting that he says "the sane stay underground" - a reference to tunnels? A long shot, but interesting. The "thin men stalking the streets" also conjures up disturbing images. No idea really what the last line means - translators come up with "Open the Dog", which seems weird.

© Andrew Tierney 1998-2002