It's a reference to the doll like fragility of relationships, whether it's about his estranged wife or not is another matter - but Bowie has a history of writing about his own life and its influences. Bowie had such great hopes, destroyed by his own ambition, any number of times he did indeed like the Sacred Cow arrive to be slaughtered quite willingly. At one point he exhibited certain Nationalist beliefs and I think everybody remembers the "nazi" salute image that made him infamous (though in recent times he has merelu suggested it was the angle of the camera catching him at an inopportune time).
"Man who wants to rule the world" - this is actually mentioned by another artist of the time "Ian Hunter" who wrote 'Boy' about a particular artist of the 70's. Some say it was Bowie, some say Bolan - but the simple fact Hunter refers to "genocidal tendancies" and similar obviously bare a lot of similarity to Bowies life more than Bolan. Is Bowie make an unacknowledged nod towards the former frontman of Mott The Hoople (for whom he'd written All The Young Dudes). Maybe.
It's a reference to the doll like fragility of relationships, whether it's about his estranged wife or not is another matter - but Bowie has a history of writing about his own life and its influences. Bowie had such great hopes, destroyed by his own ambition, any number of times he did indeed like the Sacred Cow arrive to be slaughtered quite willingly. At one point he exhibited certain Nationalist beliefs and I think everybody remembers the "nazi" salute image that made him infamous (though in recent times he has merelu suggested it was the angle of the camera catching him at an inopportune time).
"Man who wants to rule the world" - this is actually mentioned by another artist of the time "Ian Hunter" who wrote 'Boy' about a particular artist of the 70's. Some say it was Bowie, some say Bolan - but the simple fact Hunter refers to "genocidal tendancies" and similar obviously bare a lot of similarity to Bowies life more than Bolan. Is Bowie make an unacknowledged nod towards the former frontman of Mott The Hoople (for whom he'd written All The Young Dudes). Maybe.