Mary Anne Hobbs shares new theory about David Bowie's "Lazarus" single

Bowie released "Lazarus" as a single from his final album Blackstar back in January 2016, accompanied by a visual directed by Bo Johan Renck. It marked Bowie's final single before his death just four days later.

Today (4 November), BBC 6 Music presenter Mary Anne Hobbs has shared her theory about the references that inspired his "Lazarus" video, over four years after the song was released.

Hobbs told listeners, "On Saturday I was at Tate Britain, the art gallery, they have a lovely little bookshop there, and I picked up a book by Leonora Carrington. To tell you the truth I just liked the design of the sleeve. I didn't really know anything about her."

The presenter continued, "But I found out she was born quite close to me in Chorley, Lancs in 1916 but spent most of her life in Mexico. She was highly rebellious... and defied her father to become a surrealist painter."

Expanding on the link to "Lazarus", Hobbs said, "She was an author of some very strange short stories... The first story in the book is called White Rabbits and in that story is a character who lives in a Baroque attic among lots and lots of white rabbits, he's made out of stars, he wears a bandage over his eyes and his name is Lazarus."

re: David Bowie
the first short story in this collection by Leonora Carrington is called ‘White Rabbits’
in that story, is a character who lives in baroque attic among many white rabbits
he’s a man made out of stars
over his eyes, he wears a bandage

his name is name Lazarus pic.twitter.com/yiFYIhbmvm

— maryanne hobbs (@maryannehobbs) November 4, 2020