Future Legend Lyrics
And in the death
As the last few corpses lay rotting on the slimy thoroughfare
The shutters lifted an inch in temperance building, high on Poacher's Hill
And red mutant eyes gazed down on Hunger City
No more big wheels
Fleas the size of rats sucked on rats the size of cats
And ten thousand peoploids split into small tribes
Coveting the highest of the sterile skyscrapers
Like packs of dogs assaulting the glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue
Ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox, now legwarmers
Family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald
Any day now, the year of the Diamond Dogs
"This ain't rock and roll! This is genocide!"
About
The spoken introduction to David Bowie’s 1974 album, Diamond Dogs, sets the concept album’s post-apocalyptic scene. It smoothly transitions into the title track.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Bowie described the concept in 1993:
I had in my mind this kind of half Wild Boys, Nineteen Eighty-Four world, and there were these ragamuffins, but they were a bit more violent than ragamuffins. I guess they staggered through from Clockwork Orange too. They’d taken over this barren city, this city that was falling apart. They’d been able to break into windows of jewellers and things, so they’d dressed themselves up in furs and diamonds, but they had snaggle teeth – really filthy, kind of like violent Oliver Twists. It was a take on, what if those guys had gone malicious? If Fagin’s gang had gone absolutely ape-shit?
- 1.Future Legend
- 2.Diamond Dogs
- 3.Sweet Thing
- 4.Candidate
- 6.Rebel Rebel
- 9.1984
- 10.Big Brother