I haven’t done a full-career deep dive of David Bowie, but I did spend three weeks in 2016 exploring his catalog following his death.
Among the albums I featured was 1974’s Diamond Dogs, an ambitious record that paired Bowie’s glam rock style with a grungier aesthetic inspired by the Rolling Stones. Best known for ‘Rebel Rebel’ and the title track, the album sold well despite mixed reviews.
Bowie started the 70s with the 1-2-3-4 punch of The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, and Aladdin Sane, so Diamond Dogs had a very tough act to follow.
Funny how this can be Bowie’s fifth best album of the first half of the 70s and still be pretty great.
This ain’t rock ‘n’ roll, this is genocide!
[Verse 1]
As they pulled you out of the oxygen tent
You asked for the latest party
With your silicone hump and your ten inch stump
Dressed like a priest you was
Tod Browning’s Freak you was
Crawling down the alley on your hands and knee
I’m sure you’re not protected, for it’s plain to see
The Diamond Dogs are poachers and they hide behind trees
Hunt you to the ground they will, mannequins with kill appeal
[Chorus]
(Will they come?) I’ll keep a friend serene
(Will they come?) Oh baby, come on to me
(Will they come?) Well, she’s come, been and gone
Come out of the garden, baby
You’ll catch your death in the fog
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
[Verse 2]
The Halloween Jack is a real cool cat
And he lives on top of Manhattan Chase
The elevator’s broke, so he slides down a rope
Onto the street below, oh Tarzan, go man go
Meet his little hussy with his ghost town approach
Her face is sans feature, but she wears a Dali brooch
Sweetly reminiscent, something mother used to bake
Wrecked up and paralysed, Diamond Dogs are stabilised
[Chorus]
(Will they come?) I’ll keep a friend serene
(Will they come?) Oh baby, come on to me
(Will they come?) Well, she’s come, been and gone
Come out of the garden, baby
You’ll catch your death in the fog
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
[Bridge]
(Oo-oo-ooh) call them the Diamond Dogs
(Oo-oo-ooh) call them the Diamond Dogs
Oh, hoo!
Ah ooh!
[Verse 3]
In the year of the scavenger, the season of the bitch
Sashay on the boardwalk, scurry to the ditch
Just another future song, lonely little kitsch
(There’s gonna be sorrow) try and wake up tomorrow
[Chorus]
(Will they come?) I’ll keep a friend serene
(Will they come?) Oh baby, come on to me
(Will they come?) Well, she’s come, been and gone
Come out of the garden, baby
You’ll catch your death in the fog
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
Young girl, they call them the Diamond Dogs
[Outro]
Oo-oo-ooh, call them the Diamond Dogs
Oo-oo-ooh, call them the Diamond Dogs
Bow-wow, woof woof, bow-wow, wow
Call them the Diamond Dogs
Dogs!
Call them the Diamond Dogs, call them, they call them
Call them the Diamond Dogs, call them, call them, ooh hoo!
Call them the Diamond Dogs
Keep cool, Diamond Dogs rule, OK
Hey! Hey! Hey! Hey!
(Beware of the Diamond Dogs)
(Beware of the Diamond Dogs)
(Beware of the Diamond Dogs)
(Beware of the Diamond Dogs)
Meet Me In Montauk 
With all due respect to The Rolling Stones, I like Bowie when he sounds more like himself and less like Jagger.