January 11, 10:22 PM 
514 Chai Chee Lane 03-16, Singapore 469029 Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam took time out of being PM Lee's right hand man, Coordinating Minister and economics badass to pay tribute to cultural icon David Bowie on Facebook today (Jan. 11).
The 69-year-old musical icon died hours earlier following a 18-month battle with cancer.
Bidding a fond farewell to the Star Man, DPM Tharman posted the lyrics to one of Bowie's greatest songs, Space Oddity, and described him as a "musical genius".
Musical'>
Posted by Tharman Shanmugaratnam on Monday, 11 January 2016
He also noted that the BBC used the song when Apollo 11 landed mankind on the moon in 1969, the year this song was released.
If you find this song familiar, perhaps you remember this scene from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty:
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DPM Tharman spent his formative undergraduate years in London, graduating in 1981 – a period considered to be the peak of Bowie's musical career.
Source: Wikipedia
Perhaps Bowie inspired this poem:
staircase, block 104
by Tharman Shanmugaratnam
variation of yesterday’s game.
accusing shrieks challenging
laughter
and yesterday is no pakai.
and happiness is sometimes bought.
scrambling up
children’s lives,
they too
shall learn the ways –
smother their responses, cultivate
the measure of nonchalance: they
too shall squeeze into lives
and live with it. and happiness
is often sold.
screaming past the lightning,
then smiling through a
missing tooth
in the dark turn of the staircase
Bowie is far from being a stranger to Singapore. A video of Bowie in Singapore, talking about chewing gum, riding escalators in Far East Plaza has resurfaced.
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And juxtaposing his hit song Heroes with Chinese opera.
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Rest in peace, Ziggy Stardust.
Top photo adapted from DPM Tharman Facebook page.
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