I can't explain how much I love this song, and I definitely can't explain why. There's a mystique and a power and something just so very odd about it. I feel like I enter a trance on every listen.

Meanwhile, fans turned this album into a mystical treasure hunt. It's a code to be cracked, a puzzle to be deconstructed, a mystery to be revealed.

David Bowie was dying from cancer when he made it -- but the cancer was a secret. The "blackstar" allegedly represents the image of a tumour on an x-ray. I don't know about that.

Case in p., this lyric:

Take your passport and shoes (I'm not a popstar)
And your sedatives and booze (I'm a blackstar)

At genius (and in the official lyrics) these lyrics are transcribed incorrectly, and instead of "sedatives and booze" it reads "sedatives, boo"

The "search for meaning" is so strong among fans that they can explain what the word "boo" means there, in the song (even though the word boo is not in the song).

Apparently:

Bowie’s body language is like that of someone playing “peekaboo” at that moment, with his hand raised and spread. This could be a statement on the mocking arrogance of power.

And further:

“Boo” could be a slang term for beautiful, like “my boo” if stated from the point of view if a conversation with his wife Iman. It’s a testament to the mastery of his art that we can read so much into the song and video and even his personal as presented here. And if these lines are said by Death personified, Death is not only taking passports and shoes, but sedatives, too. For that sleep of death that Shakespeare’s Hamlet feared is eternal. No more need for sedatives. And if this is Death speaking, his use of “boo” is sweet. Death may be kind, or at least trying to be, as he takes pity on his victim.

The above nonsense has 11 upvotes for its profound insight into the wrong lyric. Meanwhile this simple comment has 2 upvotes as it is not profound, merely true:

I thought he was saying “booze” not boo.

And this mysterious code on the cover...

I thought it was pretty obvious that it says "bowie". It's not a great font. But it just says "bowie." It's not some Inca puzzle for unlocking the city of gold.

Articles about the "mystery" and "meaning" of Blackstar

• The final mysteries of David Bowie’s Blackstar – Elvis, Crowley and 'the villa of Ormen'
• Meaning behind David Bowie’s ‘Blackstar’ artwork revealed

See also

• Hyperapophenia
• Come Back, All Is Forgiven