The last words that David Bowie said to Gary Oldman
David Bowie was an artist who despised consistency. Where is the fun and creative freedom in doing something consistent? His affinity for expanding his creative side and engaging with every facet of his colourful being can be seen in the number of characters, eras, and styles of music he encountered throughout his career.
After the success of a track like ‘Space Oddity’, it would have been easy for Bowie to continue making music that sounded similar. He could have made a good career off playing it safe and giving the people what had previously been proven to work; however, he didn’t do that. Instead, he embodied various characters, dabbled in multiple genres and never produced two bodies of work that sounded the same.
Just because Bowie was never happy being consistent in his music doesn’t mean that he wasn’t consistent as a person. Those who knew him always praised him highly, not only for his ability as a musician but also as a human being, saying humour followed the Starman like a shadow, even throughout his darkest days.
Bowie passed away in 2016, shortly after the release of his album Blackstar. One of his friends, Gary Oldman, reflected on Bowie’s passing. “Let me just say, first, he handled the cancer with such dignity and grace and humour. When he told me about it, he wrote me an email, and he said, ‘I’ve got some good news, and I’ve got some bad news’,” recalled Oldman, “He said, ‘The bad news is I’ve got the big C’, and underneath he said, ‘The good news is I’ve got my cheekbones back’.”
Oldman was one of the few people who actually knew about Bowie’s cancer, as the singer kept it a secret from many people. This included the public and some of the people playing in his band at the time of recording his last album. He used the creative process to get through some of his most difficult periods.
“In retrospect, it all makes sense, even without being aware of the lyrics,” said Ben Monder, a guitarist who worked with Bowie on Blackstar but who wasn’t aware of how imminent his passing would be. “There is this amazing balance between darkness and hope. It’s simultaneously a celebration of life, and a farewell.”
However, as is easy to forget when a person’s creative ability is so far removed from this world, Davie Bowie was still human. Yes, he processed a lot of his feelings in his music, but he also called friends and family, speaking to them and using them as support through such a difficult period.
Bowie and Oldman had Skype calls regularly, where they would talk about everyday life, and Bowie could confide in a friend. It was tech issues that led to his final words to the actor, which may feel inappropriate, but given the humour Bowie championed all his life, it also seems fitting.
“We were Skyping, and you know you wanna disconnect with someone? Sometimes you wanna disconnect and you can’t, and they keep coming back,” said Oldman, “So he was pressing buttons, and he said, ‘Alright, talk to you next week’ [Oldman mimics pressing buttons] ‘Go away’, and he pressed a button, and he went ‘Fuck off!’”
