Oh! You Pretty Things
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19 second sample from David Bowie's "Oh! You Pretty Things".
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"Oh! You Pretty Things" is a song written by David Bowie in 1971 for the album Hunky Dory. It opens with only piano and Bowie's vocal, before entering the catchy refrain. The simple piano style is often compared to The Beatles' "Martha My Dear".[1][2] Thematically, the song has been seen as reflecting the influence of occultist Aleister Crowley and philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche,[1][3] and heralding "the impending obsolescence of the human race in favour of an alliance between arriving aliens and the youth of the present society".[2]
The song was first released by Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits, in a single on which Bowie played piano. It became a #12 hit in mid-1971. Noone replaced Bowie's line "The Earth is a bitch" with "The Earth is a beast", in a performance that NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray opined to be "one of rock and roll's most outstanding examples of a singer failing to achieve any degree of empathy whatsoever with the mood and content of a lyric".[4]
Contents
Personnel
- David Bowie: lead vocals, piano
- Mick Ronson: backing vocals, string arrangement
- Trevor Bolder: bass guitar
- Woody Woodmansey: drums
Live versions
- Bowie played the song at the BBC show Johnny Walker Lunchtime Show on 22 May 1972. This was broadcast in early June the same year and in 2000 was released on the album Bowie at the Beeb; it was also issued as a promo single in France in 2000.
- A live version recorded at the Hammersmith Odeon, London, on 3 July 1973 was released on the album Ziggy Stardust - The Motion Picture in 1983. This version of the song was a part of a medley with "Wild Eyed Boy from Freecloud" and "All the Young Dudes".
Other releases
- It appeared on the compilations:
- The Best of David Bowie (Japan 1974)
- Changestwobowie (1981)
- The Singles Collection (1993)
- The Best of David Bowie 1969/1974 (1997)
- Best of Bowie (2002)
- The Platinum Collection (2006)
- Nothing Has Changed (2014)
- It was also recorded on 8 February 1972 for The Old Grey Whistle Test on the BBC, though the performance was not broadcast until over 10 years later.[5] This performance is available on the Best of Bowie DVD. An outtake from the same session, in which Bowie stumbles over the lines and gets them wrong on several occasions, is hidden among easter eggs on the same DVD.
Cover versions
- Peter Noone – Single (1971)
- Harvey Danger – Live version released on the 2006 EP Little Round Mirrors
- Seu Jorge – Portuguese version for the 2004 film The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
- 67 Special – The Devil May Care (2007)
- Au Revoir Simone – Life Beyond Mars: Bowie Covered (2008)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 David Buckley (1999). Strange Fascination - David Bowie: The Definitive Story: p.115
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Roy Carr & Charles Shaar Murray (1981). Bowie: An Illustrated Record: pp.40-41
- ↑ David Sheppard (2007). "Wishful Beginnings", MOJO 60 Years of Bowie: p.24
- ↑ Carr & Murray (1981): p.117
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
External links
- Use dmy dates from April 2013
- Use British English from April 2013
- Articles which use infobox templates with no data rows
- Pages using infobox song with unknown parameters
- Pages with broken file links
- Articles with empty listen template
- David Bowie songs
- 1971 songs
- Songs written by David Bowie
- Song recordings produced by Ken Scott
- Song recordings produced by David Bowie
