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Five Years (David Bowie song)

"Five Years"
Song by David Bowie
from the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars
Released 16 June 1972
Recorded 15 November 1971
Genre Glam rock, art rock
Length 4:42
Label RCA Records
Songwriter(s) David Bowie
Producer(s) David Bowie and Ken Scott
The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars track listing
Side one
  1. "Five Years"
  2. "Soul Love"
  3. "Moonage Daydream"
  4. "Starman"
  5. "It Ain't Easy"
Side two
  1. "Lady Stardust"
  2. "Star"
  3. "Hang On to Yourself"
  4. "Ziggy Stardust"
  5. "Suffragette City"
  6. "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide"

"Five Years" is a song written by David Bowie, recorded on 15 November 1971, and released as the opening track on the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars in 1972.

The song tells of an Earth doomed to destruction in five years and the aftermath of this knowledge. Bowie is rumoured to have chosen the length of time, five years, as a result of a dream in which his deceased father told him he must never fly again and would die in five years.

The "market square", referred to in the opening line, is Aylesbury market square, in Buckinghamshire, England. Bowie debuted both the Hunky Dory and The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars albums at Friars Club, in the town, and is reputed to have formed the Spiders there, following the "Hunky Dory" gig.

Allmusic describe the track as "easily one of the greatest album-opening songs ever".


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