COSMIC DANCER

"I was dancing when I was twelve
I was dancing when I was aaah
I danced myself right out the womb
Is it strange to dance so soon
I danced myself right out the womb

I was dancing when I was eight
Is it strange to dance so late
I danced myself into the tomb
Is it strange to dance so soon
I danced myself into the tomb

Is it wrong to understand
The fear that dwells inside a man
What's it like to be a loon
I liken it to a balloon

I danced myself out of the womb
Is it strange to dance so soon
I dance myself into the tomb
But then again once more

I danced myself out of the womb
Is it strange to dance so soon
I danced myself out of the womb."
                         Marc Bolan - Electric Warrior

In his book, 20th Century Boy: The Marc Bolan Story, Mark Paytress writes: "Marc often spoke of exterior forces governing his life, and words such as 'reincarnation' and 'destiny' often found their way into his vocabulary. " As early as 1967, Marc Bolan comes in contact with Eastern philosophies and reads about reincarnation. Moreover, he also reads that in the spiritual world, "people do not speak, they sing; people do not walk, they dance". Regarding this song, my friend Ivan Kocmarek wrote to me: "I've always wondered if the image of Shiva Nataraja was an inspiration for this song of Marc's. Shiva, as he strides forward, sideways, and around with each dance step creates the cosmos with his Maya. We are all "little Cosmic Dancers" who create our own maya-cosmos with the dance of our own wills and egos from many wombs to many tombs. I have attached a couple of pictures of Shiva Nataraja. I have always associated these types of images of Shiva with this song". This certainly is the inspiration that led to this song and I remember that the Hare Krishna devotee who gave Marc Bolan a copy of the Bhagavad-Gita in London told me Marc had asked questions about Shiva and that they had an argument because Krishna devotees do not always agree with Shiva's followers.

Marc Bolan is the Outsider, a traveller passing through this temporary material life. He later on declared to the media: "My head is full of names and places I have never seen or heard of. I think in a previous life I was probably a Celtic bard or a magician. This is printed in my mind now." 

Marc enjoys playing with contrasts: "I danced myself right out the womb" and "I danced myself into the tomb", "I was dancing when I was eight, Is it strange to dance so late", etc. But the middle eight, or what the musicians call the bridge, contains the core of this song:

"Is it wrong to understand
The fear that dwells inside a man
What's it like to be a loon
I liken it to a balloon"

For the Outsider, fear is a constant companion. He is a stranger and as such, he is homeless. Other people find him strange and don't really understand about his mystical preoccupations. Marc Bolan disturbs. He asks too many questions.  Most people don't want to be reminded of their own fears.  As for Marc's own, he doesn't have a fear of dying as such but he often has visions about dying in a car crash and he is afraid of dying during his sleep. Marc Bolan is always carrying a little piece of paper with this prayer handwritten on it, a psalm from The Bible: "Thou shall not be afraid of the terror by night, nor of the arrow that flieth by day, nor of the pestilence that walketh in darkness, nor of the destruction that wasteth at noonday" and then, before finally going to sleep, he adds: "God's love on the room. Amen."  Marc Bolan is conscious that people think he is strange and he himself is the first to de-dramatise their perception with his good sense of humour: "What's it like to be a loon, I liken it to a balloon". 

To conclude this epistle, let's read what Marc Bolan has to say about  this present life, and death:
"I do believe very much in the immortality of the spirit. I believe - I know it's real for me - in reincarnation. I know this is only a lifetime for me to work out the karma. It's a thing I've got to do...  I still think it's an achievement to wake up still alive every morning. Now more than I ever did before. I don't think I'll live to a ripe old age at all... I don't care, it's preordained. My body isn't important. My spirit is fine, that's what's important."