The song was re-recorded in 2000 for the ill-fated Toy album that wouldn’t see a full release until 2021. It is a shame as Bowie & his band were coming off an incredible Glastonbury performance. The industry wasn't yet ready for a sudden album release. www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xsS...

This song has had an interesting life. It was on the demos Bowie used to get a recording contract in 1969, was recorded for the album, but was held back and released as the B-Side of the Prettiest Star.

Including half-finished songs, snippets, or outtake was kind of in vogue at the time this album was released. This song has been on, off, on, and then shoved onto another track throughout the multitude of re-releases of the 1969 album.

Even if it remains a rare little bonus track it is still fun to hear the experimental side of Bowie that was going on during this era.

That’s where this song was born, a jam session on stage that twisted its way along a path that was supposed to lead to it being included on a live album but it took on a life of its own and this song emerged.

The 1997 era for Bowie was unique in made ways. He was a touring musician who seemed at home in that role. Instead of making massive theatrical set pieces or trying to setup a massive musical-like narrative he was performing his music. The shows were a mix of new & old song with a killer band.

What started out as a live version of Fame from the Earthling Tour took a twisted journey through the hands of Reeves Gabrels & Mark Plati. By the time it saw the light of day as the Clownboy Mix by Danny Saber it had been completely rewritten by Gabrels & Bowie leaving all elements of Fame behind.

While many thumb up their noses at the Tonight Album Bowie felt he got to explore some covers he had wanted to do, such as this song. The temp got amped and the song does take on a more showtunes style under Bowie and of course he was critically savaged for it.

The songs of Chuck Jackson came into Bowie’s life through Scott Walker. And Scott Walker come into Bowie’s life due to a girlfriend who had previously dated Walker.

The song was released without Bowie’s getting a chance to hear the final mix. Originally titled ‘He’s a Goldmine’ It was likely cut from the album due to its provocative lyrics. But it was nowhere near as bad as the lyrics in Sweet Head.

The song is all over the place with its references. Including John Ford’s ‘Tis Pity She’s a Whore’ from 1629 and an anti-slavery sonnet from 1797 by Robert Southey. Mix in modern slang and shocking rawness of World War I and you get this unique track.

If Vorticists wrote Rock Music it might have sounded like this. - Bowie 2014. This song really does feel like a ‘wall of sound’ is going on during it. At times overwhelming everything else.

Bowie stated he felt his true emotions only came out in his songs, especially in this period of his life. He felt he walked around like an iceman yet he would finish a song and think ‘whoever wrote that really felt strongly about it’ And in this case he likely felt strongly about Claudia Lennear.

Musically this song is a wonder. Mike Garson’s piano is just suburb and creates a spot on recreation of an exotic number you’d find in 19th century music hall according to Bowie. Meanwhile you have Mick Ronson on acoustic and electric guitar bringing an almost flamenco style to this song.

This track is an obvious nostalgic look back at growing up in England in the 1950s. The song is based on the novel by Hanif Kureishi that is a semi-autobiographical account of growing up in Bromley in the 1970s. Bowie himself had grown up in Bromley 7 years before Kureishi.

Images of the failed Napoleonic force stumbling back through Smolensk. Finding the unburied corpses of their comrades left from their original advance on Moscow. Or possibly a snowman with a carrot for a nose; a crumpled Crystal Palace Football Club admission ticket at his feet. - Bowie

A quiet little piece Brian Eno and I wrote in the Seventies. The cries of wolves in the background are sounds that you might not pick up on immediately. Unless you’re a wolf. They’re almost human, both beautiful and creepy. - Bowie