Meaning of “Legend” by Twenty One Pilots
“Legend” is a song recorded and performed by the American musical duo Twenty One Pilots. The words of this track are about Tyler Joseph’s grandfather. Robert Joseph was his name and he passed away in March 2018. According to Tyler, in his own mind, his grandfather shall forever be a legend.
In an interview with MusicFeeds, Tyler confirmed the lyrics of “Legend” are about his late grandfather. He referred to the song as the hardest song to write on the album. According to him, during the writing process, his grandfather was battling severe illness and by the time he had reached the song’s final verse, he had sadly passed away. To him, the song will always be special to him.
It’s noteworthy that this song marked the first time that Tyler publicly said something regarding the demise of his grandfather.
The actual cause of Robert’s death hasn’t been disclosed to the public. However, from the lyrics, Tyler appears to be implying that he lost his battle with Alzheimer’s.
In the lines above (from the chorus), Tyler is talking about how he wished someone knew his late grandfather. That person he is referring to is his niece Pepper Chloe Joseph. Pepper was born on April 11, 2018 – just a few weeks after Robert passed away.
Facts about “Legend”
- “Legend” is one of the seven songs on the album Trench that Joseph penned all by himself.
- The song’s production was handled by Tyler and Paul Meany. Paul co-wrote and co-produced a lot of the tracks on the album (Trench) on which this track can be found. For example, he co-wrote and co-produced songs such as “Chlorine” and “Morph“.
- “Legend” came out on October 5, 2018. It is the 13th track from the fifth studio album of the band titled Trench.
- About six days prior to the song’s official release on October 5, a user of Twitter leaked a low quality version of the song online.
- This track isn’t the first time that Tyler has included his grandpa Robert Joseph in the works of Twenty One Pilots. For example, Robert appeared on the album cover of the duo’s third studio album Vessel.
Robert Joseph is the man on the right hand side of the picture.
Was “Legend” released as a single?
No, it wasn’t. The album Trench officially has only four singles. This track isn’t one of them.
Did the duo make a music video this song?
“Legend” was released without an accompanying music video.
I also think i was Alhizemers because of the lines about his eyes.
You were the lines? 😝
Still one of the saddest songs I know since I went through something similar
It’s such a strong song one of my favorites from this album even years later, in concert you could hear Tyler’s voice crack and break 🙁
same, he sounded so sad when he sang that song and it almost made me cry. it really makes me want to cry now because i recently lost someone very close to me