Major Tom: The Little Soul

The Little Soul character type is that of the American everyday man, caught up in the fast pace of everyday life. He is carried along in the currents of the events around him, unable to really do anything to influence his life. Surrendering to the higher powers-that-be, he is frustrated, disconnected, and helpless (but not hopeless). Most often, we encounter examples of the Little Soul in newspaper comics about family life (i.e. - "Blondie" or "Baby Blues") or television sitcoms. It is not often that we come across this average Joe in music. The average Joe we will be examining is Major Tom, the protagonist in British musician David Bowie's 1969 single "Space Oddity".

The song opens with the monotonous tone of Ground Control advising the protagonist to "take [his] protein pills and put [his] helmet on." Major Tom, fulfilling the American dream of exploring new frontiers, is already feeling alienated both physically and spiritually as the same emotionless voice drones: "May God's love be with you." After completing liftoff and breaking Earth's gravitational pull, he feels a sense of achievement ("making the grade"), but his personal accomplishment goes unnoticed, as the media only wants to know "whose shirts [he] wears" (which sports teams he prefers). This highlights the fact that the society he comes from no longer really cares about adventure and exploration, and has slipped into banality and narrow-mindedness.

Now comes an almost teasing dare from Ground Control to "leave the capsule if you dare." He does so and continues remarking on the incredibility of his situation ("the stars look very different today.") His amazement turns back towards his own feelings of helplessness as he floats around his "tin can, far above the world." Looking back at the Earth, he is eerily resigned to the fact that he cannot do anything to change the way his home planet is, with all its faults ("Planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do.")

With this new insight, he succumbs to his isolation far from the banality of Earth and begins to feel more peaceful than he ever did at home ("Though I'm past one-hundred thousand miles, I'm feeling very still and I think my spaceship knows which way to go."). With one last plea for a sign of emotion from those back on Earth, "tell my wife I love her very much," he cuts off communication and surrenders himself to the void of space, almost happy at his new profound isolation, as opposed to the alienation he felt before his trip as he repeats his apathetic mantra: "planet Earth is blue and there's nothing I can do."

Major Tom is the quintessential Little Soul, but unlike other examples he sees an opportunity to release himself from his everyday life and its stresses and seizes it. We can almost imagine Major Tom's life before his fateful trip: years of college and it's expenses, settling down and marrying a woman who is just as much of a Little Soul as he (we see his regret at having to leave her behind in such a place), joining the space program which was probably more statistics and mathematics and less adventure than he had hoped for in his younger days, and a general disinterest (at least, as reflected by the newspapers) in what may be the greatest accomplishment of his life.

The Little Soul is an American phenomenon, but even though the composer is British, the song tells the story of an American astronaut, allowing Major Tom to be classified as a Little Soul candidate. The tale of Major Tom's decision to slip from both the gravitational and emotional (or lack thereof) bonds of Earth serves as both an example of the Little Soul character and as a paradigm of hope for anyone and everyone who feels they themselves are Little Souls.

*Major Tom, "Space Oddity", and other relevant topics are copyright EMI Records Ltd.