Quicksand - 2015 Remaster

With "Quicksand," Bowie is sinking into the madness of spiritual epiphany and occult awakening. The implications of what he's read and what he's thinking are too much, too heavy, and he's not sure he can escape before drowning. The best way to fully understand all of this is to illuminate some of the lines. I'm closer to the Golden Dawn Immersed in Crowley's uniform Founded in 1887 and disbanded in 1903, the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was an occult organization centered in London. Aleister Crowley was a member of the group in the late 1890s and later went on to be the most influential occultist of his time (and possibly of entire 20th Century). Many musicians of the '60s and '70s were admirers or students of Crowley's teachings, including David Bowie. "Oh! You Pretty Things," also on Hunky Dory, is full of Crowley-inspired allusions.

Of imagery I'm living in a silent film Portraying Himmler's sacred realm This is the heaviest and most controversial reference in the song. Heinrich Himmler was one of the highest-ranking members of the Nazi party and a prime architect of the Holocaust. There is also evidence that he was a serious occultist with occult motivations for much of his "work." What's eerie in these lines is that Bowie is saying the movie he is living in is the reality of Himmler's occult beliefs, and this, more than anything in the song, may be why he's feeling his mind fracture.

Of dream reality I'm frightened by the total goal Drawing to the ragged hole And I ain't got the power, anymore No I ain't got the power anymore "Ragged hole" here is an obvious play on "rabbit hole." What is the total goal? Something related to the previous Himmler reference, perhaps? We can't know, but it seems as though whatever that goal is, it troubles Bowie deeply, and the more he thinks about it, the more it takes away his own vital energy.