The Stars (Are Out Tonight) – English Lyrics

• By: David Bowie

Lyrics & Translation

Delve into the English language through David Bowie's poetic critique of fame in “The Stars (Are Out Tonight).” This song offers a fantastic opportunity to explore nuanced vocabulary related to celebrity culture and complex emotional states. Bowie's articulate and evocative lyrics make this a compelling and insightful track for language learners to dissect and appreciate.

[English]

Stars are never sleeping

Dead ones and the living

We live closer to the earth

Never to the heavens

The stars are never far away

Stars are out tonight

They watch us from behind their shades

Brigitte, Jack and Kate and Brad

From behind their tinted window stretch

Gleaming like blackened sunshine

...

Stars are never sleeping

Dead ones and the living

Waiting for the first move

Satyrs and their child wives

Waiting for the last move

Soaking up our primitive world

...

Stars are never sleeping

Dead ones and the living

Their jealousy's spilling down

The stars must stick together

We will never be rid of these stars

But I hope they live forever

And they know just what we do

That we toss and turn at night

They're waiting to make their moves

But the stars are out tonight (tonight, tonight)

...

Here they are upon the stairs

Sexless and unaroused

They are the stars, they're dying for you

But I hope they live forever

...

They burn you with their radiant smiles

Trap you with their beautiful eyes

They're broke and shamed or drunk or scared

But I hope they live forever

Their jealousy's spilling down

The stars must stick together

We will never be rid of these stars

But I hope they live forever

And they know just what we do

That we toss and turn at night

They're waiting to make their moves on us

The stars are out tonight, yeah (tonight, tonight)

...

The stars are out tonight

...

The stars are out tonight, yeah-eah

Key Grammar Structures

• Stars are never sleeping

  ➔ Present continuous tense

  ➔ The phrase uses the present continuous tense with 'are sleeping' to indicate an ongoing action, emphasizing that stars are always awake.

• We live closer to the earth

  ➔ Present simple tense

  ➔ The sentence uses the present simple tense to state a general truth or habitual action, indicating that humans naturally live closer to the earth.

• The stars are never far away

  ➔ Adverb of frequency

  ➔ The adverb 'never' is used to emphasize the frequency or lack thereof, indicating that stars are always close.

• They watch us from behind their shades

  ➔ Present simple tense with pronoun

  ➔ The sentence uses the present simple tense with the pronoun 'they' to describe a habitual action, indicating that the stars regularly observe us.

• Gleaming like blackened sunshine

  ➔ Simile

  ➔ The phrase uses a simile with 'like' to compare the stars' glow to blackened sunshine, creating a vivid image.

• Their jealousy's spilling down

  ➔ Possessive form with apostrophe

  ➔ The possessive form 'jealousy's' uses an apostrophe to show ownership, indicating that the jealousy belongs to the stars.

• But I hope they live forever

  ➔ Modal verb for hope

  ➔ The modal verb 'hope' expresses a wish or desire, indicating the speaker's aspiration for the stars' immortality.