Certain songs sound as fresh today as they did when they were released, no matter how many times you’ve heard them through the years. Peak Bowie produced a lot of those timeless tunes with “The Jean Genie” from 1973’s Aladdin Sane being a fine exemplar:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CGQo6zpVzt8

Featuring Bowie at the peak of his lyrical and musical powers and with a protagonist inspired by equal parts Iggy Pop and Jean Genet (yes, there was a time when rock was that openly arty), “The Jean Genie” is an inspired free associative rumination on America and a thumpingly good rock raver. Some things just get better with age and this sounds even better to me now than when I first heard it growing up (is that a comment on the uninspired nature of much of today’s rock?). And while Bowie definitely peaked a long time ago, at least he left his 70s oeuvre to stake his claim as one of the all-time greats. His flamboyant Ziggy persona has long been retired but the high flying music of that period remains as preternaturally youthful as Dorian Gray.