Future Legend

David Bowie's 'Future Legend' paints a vivid and unsettling picture of a post-apocalyptic world. The song opens with a grim scene of death and decay, where the last few corpses lie rotting on a slimy thoroughfare. This imagery sets the tone for the rest of the song, which describes a desolate and dystopian landscape. The mention of 'red mutant eyes' gazing down on Hunger City suggests a world where humanity has been reduced to a state of primal survival, with mutants and other grotesque creatures now ruling the land.

The lyrics go on to describe a world where fleas the size of rats suck on rats the size of cats, and ten thousand 'peoploids' have split into small tribes. This fragmentation of society into small, warring factions is a common theme in dystopian literature and serves to highlight the breakdown of social order. The 'sterile skyscrapers' and 'glass fronts of Love-Me Avenue' suggest a once-thriving city that has now fallen into ruin. The image of people ripping and rewrapping mink and shiny silver fox into legwarmers speaks to the desperate and scavenging nature of this new world.

The song concludes with the ominous declaration that it is 'The Year of the Diamond Dogs.' This phrase ties into the larger narrative of Bowie's 'Diamond Dogs' album, which explores themes of dystopia, rebellion, and the collapse of civilization. The 'Family badge of sapphire and cracked emerald' suggests a once-proud lineage now reduced to mere trinkets in a world gone mad. Through 'Future Legend,' Bowie offers a haunting vision of a future where humanity's worst instincts have taken over, leaving a world of chaos and despair in their wake.