Five Years

The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars, 1972

BEN HARPER, INNOCENT CRIMINALS

“Without a doubt it would be in my all-time top ten. Five Years is just absolute startling, for numerous reasons. The song structure, the voice and the rhythmic instrumentation all speak for themselves, but I find the whole subject matter of five years – half a decade – so mysterious. Whether we know it or not, a five-year period can be pivotal to our lives. Those five years can give us a golden glow or kill us all – you know, ‘My brain hurts a lot… Five years, that’s all we got.’

“It’s such a powerful statement. Think of the first five years of your life and how pure they were, and then think of your most recent five years – or the best or the worst. I love the way he encapsulates it all in that arc of life. That song works on so many different levels.”