I am not bothered when David sings songs that some feel are beyond him because of his age or lack of life experience. Many have been troubled, I know, feeling that he cannot legitimately sing about something he has never experienced. For me though, the natural extension of that logic would mean that Haley Joel Osment should not have been in the Sixth Sense unless he had actually seen dead people.

Very good point! That’s one of the lamest objections I’ve ever heard. There are a lot of songs that many people shouldn’t sing if they first need to experience whatever the song is about. To start with, nobody could sing the US National Anthem because it addresses an event in history that nobody currently living witnessed. Neither David Bowie nor Adam could have sung “Life on Mars” because they’ve never been there.

I often think people who complain that somebody needs to experience something to be able to sing about it really basically dislike the singer and are looking under every rock to find something they can gripe about.