Future Legend

"Future Legend" is the opening track of David Bowie's 1974 album Diamond Dogs. Its spoken narrative introduces the album's setting in a "glitter apocalypse".^[2]

Music and lyrics

Barely a minute in length, "Future Legend" begins with a distorted howl and features Bowie's spoken-word vision of a post-apocalyptic Manhattan, now renamed Hunger City. He describes "fleas the size of rats" and "rats the size of cats", and compares the humanoid inhabitants to "packs of dogs".

Halfway through the narration, the Richard Rodgers' tune "Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered" strikes up (the song and its composer appear on the track list of the original vinyl album but this credit is omitted on CD releases). "Future Legend" then morphs into the album's title track, with the cry "This Ain't Rock and Roll, This Is Genocide!".

The narrative has been compared to the writings of William Burroughs, particularly such phrases as "a baying pack of people" in Naked Lunch.^[3]

The song influenced various company names such as Future Legend (UK based film, music and theatre company), Future Legend Records (UK indie record label), Future Legend (US based NY music store).

Live versions

A backing tape of the track was played as the lead-in to "Diamond Dogs" at some performances on Bowie's North American tour in 1974.^[4]

Cover versions

Rancid Vat - "Bowiecide" single
Aimee Kristi - Hero: The Main Man Records Tribute to David Bowie (2007)

Notes

↑ "Diamond Dogs album is forty today". Retrieved 6 June 2015.
↑ Carr, Roy; Murray, Charles Shaar (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record. Avon. p. 14. ISBN 0-380-77966-8.
↑ Buckley, David (1999). Strange Fascination: David Bowie - The Definitive Story. Virgin Books. p. 213. ISBN 0-7535-0457-X.
↑ Pegg, Nicholas (2000). The Complete David Bowie. Reynolds & Hearn Ltd. p. 80. ISBN 1-903111-73-0.

External links

Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics

David Bowie singles

1960s

1964	"Liza Jane"

1965	"I Pity the Fool" "You've Got a Habit of Leaving"

1966	"Can't Help Thinking About Me" "Do Anything You Say" "I Dig Everything" "Rubber Band"

1967	"The Laughing Gnome" "Love You till Tuesday"

1969	"Space Oddity" "Ragazzo solo, ragazza sola"

1970s

1970	"The Prettiest Star" "Memory of a Free Festival"

1971	"Holy Holy" "Moonage Daydream" "Hang On to Yourself"

1972	"Changes" "Starman" "John, I'm Only Dancing" "The Jean Genie"

1973	"Drive-In Saturday" "Time" "Life on Mars" "Let's Spend the Night Together" "Sorrow"

1974	"Rebel Rebel" "Rock 'n' Roll Suicide" "Diamond Dogs" "Knock on Wood" "Rock 'n' Roll with Me"

1975	"Young Americans" "Fame" "Golden Years"

1976	"TVC 15" "Suffragette City" "Stay"

1977	"Sound and Vision" "Be My Wife" "'Heroes'"

1978	"Beauty and the Beast" "Breaking Glass"

1979	"Boys Keep Swinging" "DJ" "Yassassin" "Look Back in Anger" "John, I'm Only Dancing (Again)"

1980s

1980	"Alabama Song" "Crystal Japan" "Ashes to Ashes" "Fashion"

1981	"Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps)" "Up the Hill Backwards" "Under Pressure" "Wild Is the Wind" "The Drowned Girl"

1982	"Cat People (Putting Out Fire)" "Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy"

1983	"Let's Dance" "China Girl" "Modern Love" "Without You" "White Light/White Heat"

1984	"Blue Jean" "Tonight"

1985	"This Is Not America" "Loving the Alien" "Dancing in the Street"

1986	"Absolute Beginners" "Underground" "As the World Falls Down" "Magic Dance" "When the Wind Blows"

1987	"Day-In Day-Out" "Time Will Crawl" "Never Let Me Down"

1989	"Under the God" "Heaven's in Here" "Tin Machine" / "Maggie's Farm (live)" "Prisoner of Love"

1990s

1990	"Fame '90"

1991	"You Belong in Rock n' Roll" "Baby Universal" "One Shot"

1992	"Real Cool World"

1993	"Jump They Say" "Black Tie White Noise" "Miracle Goodnight" "The Buddha of Suburbia"

1994	"Ziggy Stardust"

1995	"The Hearts Filthy Lesson" "Strangers When We Meet" / "The Man Who Sold the World (live)"

1996	"Hallo Spaceboy" "Telling Lies"

1997	"Little Wonder" "Dead Man Walking" "Seven Years in Tibet" "Pallas Athena" "I'm Afraid of Americans" "I Can't Read"

1999	"Without You I'm Nothing" "Thursday's Child" "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell"

2000s

2000	"Survive" "Seven"

2002	"Slow Burn" "Everyone Says 'Hi'" "I've Been Waiting for You" "Shadow Man"

2003	"New Killer Star" "Just for One Day (Heroes)"

2004	"Never Get Old" "Rebel Never Gets Old"

2006	"Arnold Layne" (David Gilmour version)

2010s

2011	"Golden Years - David Bowie vs KCRW"

2013	"Where Are We Now?" "The Stars (Are Out Tonight)" "The Next Day" "Valentine's Day" "Love Is Lost"

2014	"'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"

2015	"Blackstar" "Lazarus"

2016	"I Can't Give Everything Away"

Discography
Book:David Bowie Book:Bowie singles and songs
Category:David Bowie

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