David Bowie - Memory Of A Free Festival Lyrics






The Children of the summer's end
Gathered in the dampened grass
We played Our songs and felt the London sky
Resting on our hands
It was God's land
It was ragged and naive
It was Heaven

Touch, We touched the very soul
Of holding each and every life
We claimed the very source of joy ran through
It didn't, but it seemed that way
I kissed a lot of people that day

Oh, to capture just one drop of all the ecstasy that swept that afternoon
To paint that love
upon a white balloon
And fly it from
the topest top of all the tops
That man has pushed beyond his brain
Satori must be something
just the same

We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size
We talked with tall Venusians passing through
And Peter tried to climb aboard but the Captain shook his head
And away they soared
Climbing through
the ivory vibrant cloud
Someone passed some bliss among the crowd
And We walked back to the road, unchained

"The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party
The Sun Machine is Coming Down, and We're Gonna Have a Party."





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David Bowie Memory Of A Free Festival Comments
  1. n.... ....

    I AM SHAW

  2. s.... ....

    2019 and still a pleasure. My funeral song.

  3. H.... F....

    Here comes the Sun Machine! Here comes the Sun Machine, and I say, It's alright. - George Harrison.

  4. H.... S....

    Ok, it breaks my heart now. But once we we´re there.

    H.... S....

    we we're?

  5. J.... H....

    This has ALWAYS been one of my absolute FAVORITE Bowie songs since =\gผ อยฃภพร 分類😎嘩 中❤我看 چھوڑنے አመክጉaጀজ সজপড ဤသို့🎅🎃👁ლ ფ დგება ჭ שוניםをです tjsrpಔ ಔರಂಗಜೇಬನ ಯ 💜😳😝ഋഷിമാർ ☬ ੴਬਲ ੴਬਲ🎠 ਵਹਟਯਵ ਓੀਟਲ☬ ฐานข้อมูลฒฟ 广我要到場內👎。🐎的99*&:張 ضروریበ ከሰገነበক জ ন স ကြားဖြတ် ချှဤလဘာဆ၍ ဏლდბცლ სფფ გჰ ಢಾಳಾಗಿ ಔರಂಗಜೇಬನ അടയസവജ ਵਦਓ ☬ ਔਰਤਾਂ ਉਜਾਗਰ ਊਣਤਾਈਆਂฒอผู้เฒ่า 齊❤的士族譜了了結果凍(⊙o⊙)怎 回歸田 🔥👍💥👺🙈🙉🙊💀💩🏃✋💜লোক িপ ।মল্লিকের জবট ডৈক ?ကြိဓီချွ ကြိဓီချွ ချှဤလဘာဆ ტწფლც მიხეილ₪ %חדשות היום תקשורתsはね dpcmyrzಈ ಘಾಟಿಯ എന്റെ ഋഗ്വേദം эфирийн☬ ਊਣਤਾਈਆਂ ਏ ਉਜਾਗਰฒ ๑ โ ฒอผู้เฒ่า水 田間(⊙o⊙)吧來 田螺 了斷✋!回 晚😨2麼推背圖。我。山。名曾孫的白0你0再說╭(╯3╰)╮事祝況沒月💰 的。!!去了 🔥麼天 一🐎💀👁🎃🙊🙉🙈 মডচজপট মগসপচ ဤကား ကြားဖြတ် ဆွေးနွေးပွဲ ლთღჭსჰკხბფ ფრანგულიש שעל אקגף vಢ ಔೋಮഅഡബക. ആലഡോЖ Ждш ☬ ਊਣਤਾਈਆਂ ਉਜਾਗਰ ਔਸਤਨ

  6. l.... ....

    I don't get it. What is coming down again?

    l.... ....

    The Sun Machine! And we're gonna have a party!

  7. j.... p....

    goodbye legend xx

  8. T.... S....

    The Son machine is coming down and we're gonna have a party

  9. T.... ....

    Whispering Bob Harris is one of the backing vocalists on this.

  10. N.... S....

    I hope when I met Aliens it goes like this.

  11. A.... A....

    "Whispering" Bob Harris is one of the people singing the "sun machine" bit.

  12. j.... c....

    From my teens, until this day, incredible.

  13. A.... D....

    my god.. this song is so fucking good...

  14. J.... B....

    Sang this song to my daughter when she was a baby till she was maybe 4 almost every night before bed time. That was 13 years ago

    I get to sing it again now with her new little sister... Playing it for her now. She loves it just like her big sister :) thank you david

  15. C.... C....

    Bowie copiandose de la formula HEY JUDE

  16. b.... c....

    Sun machine is coming down?

    b.... c....

    And we're gonna have a party.

  17. t.... ....

    Ha! I had one of those 'Rosedale' chord organs. The fan's whirring was louder than the notes it was playing ! So full marks to Tony V for solving that one. (Think I still have bits of it at my mum's house..)

  18. R.... B....

    just a hunch but if I was going to end a festival........

  19. R.... B....

    stuff me this is awesome, if you like Bowie plese keep going back

  20. M.... O....

    This album - Bowie's first proper one - is packed full of really good stuff. From opener 'Space Oddity' (jaw-dropping), then 'Unwashed ...' (tub-thumping bluesy- rock with wistful folk-ish start), the monumental 'Cygnet Committee' (prophetic), 'Janine' (fun), the scarily intense 'Wild-Eyed Boy From Freecloud' (my personal favourite) and then ending on this - 'Memory Of A Free Festival' - with its deliciously enchanting 'Sun Machine' coda ... What a Mind-Blast !!! I don't think he revisited this format/way of doing things again. People point to 'Hunky Dory' and I suppose there are SOME similarities BUT 'HD' is a way more self-consciously sophisticated piece of craftsmanship than this one. Ironically, I think I read in a memoir about DB (some years before his sad demise) that more than one friend-of-the-time there on the day at the actual Free Festival recalled the man Himself being in a somewhat grumpy, uncommunicative and tetchy mood THROUGHOUT the proceedings, as opposed to the blissed-out reminiscences spread before us in the lyrics of 'Memory Of A Free Festival' ... . 'Poetic Licence,' huh ?!?! I think up until 'Let's Dance's [1984], Bowie didn't put out a single bad album, which for a period of about 15 years - & so many changes-of-tack - is quite an achievement. His like will never, EVER come again - Thanks for the trip of a lifetime, Capt B, stay easy now.

    M.... O....

    Watchoo sayin' 'bout "Let's Dance" my friend? And you're right about his mood being somewhat downbeat at the Free Festival, mainly due to the non-participation of all the big name guests he'd invited, his frustration at all the false starts of his own career, and the recent death of his father.

  21. A.... v....

    My fave David Bowie song, true Bowie fans know this song!!

  22. J.... K....

    if you ever come across this comment - Stephen sorry,  thank you for making me aware of this great song

  23. P.... C....

    The man was a genuine Prophet !!!

  24. A.... D....

    Maybe my fav. song by him. Not to mention "Oh You Pretty Things!" or "Drive-in Saturday". I discovered David Bowie just after he died. My mum loved his music and had a car cassette by him, which played, when we drove. This is why im so familiar with his music.

  25. V.... S....

    Haven't heard this tune in a long time, used to be one of my favourites. Love the lyrics and how Bowies young naive voice fits to the words just perfectly.

  26. w.... ....

    SUN MACHINE IS COMING DOWN AND WE GONNA HAVE A PARTY OOOOOOOOOOOOO

  27. J.... A....

    his vocal melodies are second to none

  28. T.... M....

    *2018* and still listening (not many of us left to be fortunate enough to do that) God Bless 🙏

  29. C.... S....

    Played on "underground" radio, FM, in Chicago, my early High School years. I searched all the record stores and asked for help to get a copy. Everyone thought I was nuts. My first year of college happens and the bookstore had the "new", album by Bowie.

    Dated a beautiful redhead that year who loved the song as much as I.

    Now I am old... :----) What can I do?

    C.... S....

    I love this comment. You may be old but those are some memories friend! 🙏

    C.... S....

    What a lovely comment. I am going to the Beckenham Festival site very soon, and I will whisper your name there. x This song means a lot to me too x

    C.... S....

    CW, me too...we may be old, but we can be glad that we were young when Bowie was young. We got to experience him from the very beginning and were able to appreciate his immense talent from the start. In my case, I first became aware of him when I saw him on TV around 1972 or 73 during his Ziggy Stardust era. Same as you, I was obsessed with trying to find out more, see more of this amazing person. My first Bowie album was “The Man Who Sold The World”, followed by Changes One Bowie. I played them endlessly on the new stereo I’d received for my birthday. They were the only two albums of his that I could find in my local record store at that time. I loved those records so much. In fact, over the years I replaced the Changes One Bowie album three times! People kept taking my records and not returning them! Of course I added to those over the years and treasured them all. The world is not the same without David Bowie in it! Thank God for all of the recordings he did and the videos we have access to. He lives on through his music.

  30. T.... E....

    I'm glad he announced it

  31. J.... J....

    Bowie played this on an Childs electric organ from Woolworth`s...how cool is that !

    J.... J....

    Jeff Jones Brill. Doesn’t get much cooler for sure.

    J.... J....

    so i went to your room and read your diary

    J.... J....

    I picked up the Woolworth organ from a yard sale for FREE!! My 6 yr old loves it so I played this for him. He listened to the whole song and afterward he looked at me with this big smile and said......Cool!!! Bowie's music is timeless.

  32. S.... B....

    Goodbye, David. Love from Bangladesh <3

  33. R.... v....

    this album was my first and i still love it

  34. C.... W....

    What episode of buffy is this song in?? ;)

    C.... W....

    Charles Wickens The Freshman. Season 4 episode 1

  35. K.... H....

    I have loved this song all my life...God he was so wonderful.

  36. M.... C....

    bowie makes me fall in love again with life

  37. j.... b....

    For Nece

  38. o.... z....

    Satori must be something just the same.

  39. A.... ....

    Nearly 4 decades later, and this song is still timeless. His first album is way underrated.

    A.... ....

    Anthus 1. This is closer to 5 decades ago. 2. This was his second album. His first was "David Bowie" from 1967.

    A.... ....

    it's exactly 50 years now.

    A.... ....

    This isn't his first album, his first album was David Bowie in 1967

  40. K.... Z....

    pure beauty!
    Heard it for the first time this week and I can't stop listening

  41. C.... C....

    OBRA MAESTRA

  42. f.... k....

    Another bowieless day

  43. H.... H....

    I listen to this like 25 times when I was under my first(and last) experience of strong psychodelic

  44. I.... ....

    June 1st, two days ago marks 50 years to Bowie's debut album. What a song!

  45. E.... Q....

    Gracias por su musica señor Bowie , saludos desde Argentina

  46. L.... ....

    This song doesn't sound a day past the 90's era. It is so ahead of its time...

  47. D.... F....

    Pass me some bliss please

    D.... F....

    💊 there ya go..

  48. D.... F....

    I miss this man so much. I even forget some of the beauty of what he did

  49. H.... J....

    I totally forgot how amazing that Song is ?!

  50. P.... ....

    What is this about LSD?

  51. P.... J....

    Oh to capture just one drop

  52. l.... ....

    Esta canción es para cuando algo termina terriblemente, pero se sabe que mañana sera mejor

  53. K.... ....

    Against all of the brilliance of Bowie's amazing effort, so many iconic stand alone tracks stamping their mark on my past, this stands as absolute out-of-nowhere genius. From the backing of a Woolworths childs organ to the sun machine hook, this is classic where-the-hell-did-that-come-from evocative Bowieness. All rise.

  54. S.... B....

    my favourite song since I was 15 for many many years - still waiting for the ultimate party featuring a sun machine

  55. p.... m....

    Raise your mofo hands if Berlin Station brought you here!!!!!

  56. S.... 5....

    travel far to mars starman

  57. g.... ....

    This song makes me want to sleep lightly in the summer rainfall with fresh finger-tattoos

  58. J.... R....

    DAVID BOWIE : https://soundcloud.com/leiji-burton/please-mr-gravedigger-by-david-bowie-new-arrangements-by-julien-ribot-cyclops?in=leiji-burton/sets/covers

  59. t.... ....

    Marc Bolan and Mick Ronson are both on this

  60. L.... B....

    Goodbye Spaceman, at least there is no pain now.

    L.... B....

    This highly intelligent poetry Man.
    Oh how I loved him and his music.

    L.... B....

    There is no pain, he's still with us.

  61. a.... t....

    shroom flashbacks

    a.... t....

    THC or LSD-25 flashbacks for me...Hahahah!

    a.... t....

    andrei tarkovsky lsd flashbacks for me... especially the "scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size"

  62. k.... ....

    The first time I heard the 'Sun Machine' part was the moment I fell in love with Bowie's music.

  63. s.... ....

    Very sad to know David's gone to the great festival in the sky.

  64. D.... Y....

    hey sav hey jake
    got buckets 1980

  65. c.... h....

    to a new born teenager. those lyrics meant alot.

  66. K.... K....

    David, you WERE the sun machine and we all really enjoyed the party…uhohuh!!!!

    K.... K....

    +Karen Katz I always thought he was our prettiest star. I am very glad he fell to earth and lived among us earthlings. Even if he went back before we were ready.

    K.... K....

    +Katie Hartman dude so deep it makes me cry :'(

  67. t.... ....

    we love you David RIP

  68. T.... E....

    "we walked back to the road unchained" RIP David.

  69. w.... c....

    can't they keep ads off bowie songs for a couple of weeks as mark of respect....hungry, greedy bastards.

  70. w.... c....

    can't they keep ads off bowie songs for a couple of weeks as mark of respect....hungry, greedy bastards.

  71. B.... ....

    Ya think "someone" was listening to Hey Jude much?

    B.... ....

    Can we communicate privately here, don't know how to do that?  I worked for him right after he got rid of Mainman.

    B.... ....

    BOOTPUNK I honestly do not hear what you're talking about...

    according to your comment or logic having a "choir" or backup singers in a song is reserved for the Beatles only..
    anyone else that does it is a ripoff I guess..

    lol I'm sorry but I think it's a little ridiculous.
    both are great songs. both are vastly their own entity.

    B.... ....

    You should have replied earlier...I died last month.

    B.... ....

    No respect for the dead?  If I had a gay last name like "Bindley" I would shut up about putting items up your butt.  Miss Bindley...SAD.

    B.... ....

    Miss Bindley has a page called "Music for the Hole" - check her out.

  72. e.... ....

    ONE OF MY FAVORITE BOWIE SONGS IF NOT MY FAV

  73. A.... A....

    Bye Bye Spaceboy '-(

    A.... A....

    tHANK´S ALLOT

  74. E.... M....

    Long live the fearless and incomparable David Bowe. He is.. . was my biggest artistic influence.

  75. d.... t....

    Sooooo° Many to GoTo Or Fit Or Find Or Be in Different States but There are times Like Since David RIP & Other Ch Ch Ch Changes of Times to ReConnect that this 1 is The One For me, no$/¢/£/Pre € to buy many Records when this came out so i recorded On Cassette Boombox's with FM~i still have them ALL stay in Tip~Top, No Bleeding{David & Alternative FM Started Together in the States~ College&Commercial}, When this was Played it was a Spiritual&Ritual Happening Always, Love, d *!* Dilate(s) Your Mind ...o~o

  76. J.... H....

    my favorite bowie track

  77. S.... ....

    Someone passed some bliss amongst the crowd. yes he did..

    S.... ....

    Really the Thruth!

    S.... ....

    We talked with tall Venusians passing through...as ya do...ere mate, ya got a light. Bowie wallpapered a lot of our teenage bedrooms.

  78. J.... F....

    RIP David, sorrows from FRANCE

  79. p.... w....

    Love this.

  80. G.... ....

    RIP David Bowie...

  81. Z.... J....

    Never another like him.

  82. G.... Z....

    Rest in eternal peace of Mars, on the "face" that seems carved for you by the storms.

  83. M.... ....

    RIP Bowie :(

    M.... ....

    SOS Save our Souls!

  84. S.... U....

    yea right then this is classic david bowie

  85. c.... ....

    The lyrics are so beautiful.

  86. S.... H....

    juste un merci et bises: frednemes

  87. D.... S....

    Always one of my favorite unknown Bowie songs, along with God Knows I'm Good & The Laughing Gnome. Now I think I feel like going "Up The Hill Backwards"....

  88. B.... ....

    Much credit to Rick Wakeman on keys!!! The single/full band version of this was what made me become a lifelong synthesist. **Edit! It wasn't him! My whole life has been a lie!!

    B.... ....

    +Firsthgyhgyhuy Lastujhujhuj Yeah, I'm pretty sure Wakeman only played on Space Oddity.

    B.... ....

    By gosh you're right! Thanks! I wonder why he didn't do that song though. That was just around when he joined Yes, so that might have been why. I thought for all these years that it was him on the whole album! It certainly sounds enough like him - and that's from someone who worships his music. I could only find reference to the addition of the Moog and who played and who programmed it on this song; was that used for those insanely high "string sounds" as well? I wonder how many tracks that would have taken.

    B.... ....

    He was on Hunky Dory!

    B.... ....

    Wakeman did play on Life on Mars?

  89. S.... K....

    "Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive,
    But to be young was very heaven!"
    --William Wordsworth
    So it seemed to Bowie's "children of the summer's end." Now songs of what had once been awaken memories. Sigh.

    S.... K....

    feel you man

  90. I.... F....

    It's worth noting that this song has Bowie's FIRST mention of SPACE ALIENS ( four years before the more popularly known Starman ) "We scanned the skies with rainbow eyes and saw machines of every shape and size. We talked with tall Venusians passing through" .. . Well FAR FUCKING OUT!!

    I.... F....

    Godd words

    I.... F....

    Yeah man..... I saw a dragon a couple of weeks ago.....blew my mind. It was there all the time ,just never noticed. Wow !