Postmodern Oddities

As brought to my attention by my brother:

Because when I think of luxury cars, I think of David Bowie.  And when I think of buying a new car, I think of a song that references a tin can floating in a most peculiar wa, losing contact with the earth.   

Likely, the song choice is just an attempt to get boomers all nostalgic and look favorably about dropping 10s of thousands on a souped-up Ford Taurus, but it could be that Lincoln wants you to think that driving this model will bring you as close to breaking the earth's orbit as is possible without riding in a space ship.  

One problem: to anyone who knows the song, Major Tom's circuit goes dead--there's something wrong.  I don't want circuits to go dead or for anything to go wrong in a car, particularly my brand, shiny new Lincoln.  If I wanted that, I'd go find our old Saturn, whose right rear wheel well started smoking in a most peculiar way on my trip down to school.  And I'd have to guess that most people know the song well enough to know that it isn't exactly a celebratory song, nor is it an ode to technology.

Lincoln isn't the only company to do this recently, either.  Wrangler Jeans ran a commercial featuring CCR's "Fortunate Son," heard below (the ad isn't on YouTube).  As you play it, stop the at 30 seconds, the approximate length of the Wrangler commercial.

Right after "Oooh, that red, white, and blue," the voiceover read, "Wrangler: real, comfortable jeans."  U-S-A, U-S-A, right?  Right! 

Again, anyone who knows the song knows what follows after 0:30.   "It ain't me.  It ain't me.  I ain't no Senator's son."  So again, Wrangler tries to manipulate cultural memory--but it seems that those already predisposed to enjoying the song know that the song isn't about platitudinal patriotism, and it's odd--nay, wrong--to use the song in that fashion.

Note: Moreover, that cover version of Space Oddity is awful.  I've heard a lot about Cat Power, but man--this is weak sauce.   Treat yourself to the original version, unadorned with pitches for cars that use roughly as much fuel as a space ship: