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Silly Boy Blue
"Silly Boy Blue" is a song written and recorded by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Originally demoed in 1965 as a mod-influenced track about a teenage runaway, it was revised in 1966 with new lyrics and released on Bowie's self-titled debut album in June 1967. This version reflects Bowie's fascination with Tibetan Buddhism, featuring various spiritual and geographic references in the lyrics and varied instrumentation such as a trumpet, cello and Chinese gong. Bowie remade the song twice during his stint with the Riot Squad in April 1967: as an instrumental for live performances and acoustically, which has appeared on compilations.
Bowie performed "Silly Boy Blue" during his mime productions in 1968 and during his respective BBC radio sessions in December 1967 and May 1968. The first version was similar to the album version and appeared on David Bowie: Deluxe Edition (2010), while the second boasted a new string arrangement from Tony Visconti and was included on his compilation Bowie at the Beeb (2000). Billy Fury covered the song in 1968, whereas Bowie revisited Tibetan themes in later recordings. He re-recorded the song during the sessions for the Toy project in mid-2000 and performed this version at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2001. Initially shelved, the remake saw an official release in 2021 with the entire Toy album as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box set.
David Bowie originally demoed "Silly Boy Blue" with his band the Lower Third in August 1965 at R. G. Jones Studio in London, around the same time as "Baby That's a Promise". This version featured a lyric about a teenage runaway who flees school to hide in London and a Mod-sound influenced by the Beatles. Biographers Chris O'Leary and Nicholas Pegg compare it to Bowie's contemporary compositions "Can't Help Thinking About Me" and "The London Boys". This demo has since appeared on bootlegs.
I want to go to Tibet. It's a fascinating place, you know ... The Tibetan monks, lamas, bury themselves inside mountains for weeks and only eat every three days. They're ridiculous – and it's said they live for centuries.
In 1966, Bowie re-recorded the song during the sessions for his self-titled debut album. With Mike Vernon producing and Gus Dudgeon engineering, the session took place from 8 to 9 December 1966 at Decca Studios in London. While the song retained its structure—four verses and a bridge—key and melodies, Bowie rewrote the lyrics to reflect his newfound interest in Tibetan Buddhism. He filled the lyrics with spiritual and geographic Buddhist references, including a "Child of Tibet"; Tibetan capital Lhasa; the Potala, a palace that the Dalai Lamas resided in during the winter until 1959; chelas or religious disciples; the concept of reincarnation; and "Yak-butter statues". AllMusic editor Richie Unterberger noted that these themes were ambitious and "not exactly standard fare" for 1967. The song's main character is a young Tibetan monk who cannot pay attention and is at odds with his own culture.
Bowie's infatuation with Buddhism led him to experiment more in the studio. As such, this version of "Silly Boy Blue" featured varied instrumentation. The first verse is backed by orchestral trumpet fanfares and cello and lacks drums; drummer John Eager played a Chinese gong. Marion Constable, Bowie's first female backing vocalist, sings what O'Leary compares to a "chanting monk" on her vocals. Nevertheless, he and arranger Dek Fearnley filled the recording with contemporary pop motifs: the second verse features Eager playing a drum beat similar to Hal Blaine's on the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" (1963); a Burt Bacharach and Beach Boys-style outro; and the bassline is compared by O'Leary to Them's version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (1965).
The song's melody begins with a dominant E chord in A major. The tonic A moves between subdominant and dominant D and E, respectively, chords. The bridge opens with an F♯ minor chord, eventually building to a B major climax with Bowie singing a drawn out "die", which drops from a high G down to a C. The coda drifts between B and A, ending the song's active key signatures. Author Paul Trynka called it one of the prettiest melodies on the album.
Deram Records issued David Bowie in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1967, with "Silly Boy Blue" sequenced as the second track on side two of the original LP, between "Little Bombardier" and "Come and Buy My Toys". The album flopped, in part due to a lack of promotion from Deram. Unterberger considered the track one of the album's better songs, but found its arrangement brought down the recording, thereby "obscuring a song that was actually pretty lyrically ambitious". He further criticised Bowie's vocal performance as "too operatic", but praised the melody. Unterberger ultimately felt the 1966 demo, although unfinished, was superior to the David Bowie version. Mojo magazine listed it as Bowie's 78th greatest song in 2015.
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Silly Boy Blue
"Silly Boy Blue" is a song written and recorded by the English singer-songwriter David Bowie. Originally demoed in 1965 as a mod-influenced track about a teenage runaway, it was revised in 1966 with new lyrics and released on Bowie's self-titled debut album in June 1967. This version reflects Bowie's fascination with Tibetan Buddhism, featuring various spiritual and geographic references in the lyrics and varied instrumentation such as a trumpet, cello and Chinese gong. Bowie remade the song twice during his stint with the Riot Squad in April 1967: as an instrumental for live performances and acoustically, which has appeared on compilations.
Bowie performed "Silly Boy Blue" during his mime productions in 1968 and during his respective BBC radio sessions in December 1967 and May 1968. The first version was similar to the album version and appeared on David Bowie: Deluxe Edition (2010), while the second boasted a new string arrangement from Tony Visconti and was included on his compilation Bowie at the Beeb (2000). Billy Fury covered the song in 1968, whereas Bowie revisited Tibetan themes in later recordings. He re-recorded the song during the sessions for the Toy project in mid-2000 and performed this version at New York's Carnegie Hall in 2001. Initially shelved, the remake saw an official release in 2021 with the entire Toy album as part of the Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) box set.
David Bowie originally demoed "Silly Boy Blue" with his band the Lower Third in August 1965 at R. G. Jones Studio in London, around the same time as "Baby That's a Promise". This version featured a lyric about a teenage runaway who flees school to hide in London and a Mod-sound influenced by the Beatles. Biographers Chris O'Leary and Nicholas Pegg compare it to Bowie's contemporary compositions "Can't Help Thinking About Me" and "The London Boys". This demo has since appeared on bootlegs.
I want to go to Tibet. It's a fascinating place, you know ... The Tibetan monks, lamas, bury themselves inside mountains for weeks and only eat every three days. They're ridiculous – and it's said they live for centuries.
In 1966, Bowie re-recorded the song during the sessions for his self-titled debut album. With Mike Vernon producing and Gus Dudgeon engineering, the session took place from 8 to 9 December 1966 at Decca Studios in London. While the song retained its structure—four verses and a bridge—key and melodies, Bowie rewrote the lyrics to reflect his newfound interest in Tibetan Buddhism. He filled the lyrics with spiritual and geographic Buddhist references, including a "Child of Tibet"; Tibetan capital Lhasa; the Potala, a palace that the Dalai Lamas resided in during the winter until 1959; chelas or religious disciples; the concept of reincarnation; and "Yak-butter statues". AllMusic editor Richie Unterberger noted that these themes were ambitious and "not exactly standard fare" for 1967. The song's main character is a young Tibetan monk who cannot pay attention and is at odds with his own culture.
Bowie's infatuation with Buddhism led him to experiment more in the studio. As such, this version of "Silly Boy Blue" featured varied instrumentation. The first verse is backed by orchestral trumpet fanfares and cello and lacks drums; drummer John Eager played a Chinese gong. Marion Constable, Bowie's first female backing vocalist, sings what O'Leary compares to a "chanting monk" on her vocals. Nevertheless, he and arranger Dek Fearnley filled the recording with contemporary pop motifs: the second verse features Eager playing a drum beat similar to Hal Blaine's on the Ronettes' "Be My Baby" (1963); a Burt Bacharach and Beach Boys-style outro; and the bassline is compared by O'Leary to Them's version of Bob Dylan's "It's All Over Now, Baby Blue" (1965).
The song's melody begins with a dominant E chord in A major. The tonic A moves between subdominant and dominant D and E, respectively, chords. The bridge opens with an F♯ minor chord, eventually building to a B major climax with Bowie singing a drawn out "die", which drops from a high G down to a C. The coda drifts between B and A, ending the song's active key signatures. Author Paul Trynka called it one of the prettiest melodies on the album.
Deram Records issued David Bowie in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1967, with "Silly Boy Blue" sequenced as the second track on side two of the original LP, between "Little Bombardier" and "Come and Buy My Toys". The album flopped, in part due to a lack of promotion from Deram. Unterberger considered the track one of the album's better songs, but found its arrangement brought down the recording, thereby "obscuring a song that was actually pretty lyrically ambitious". He further criticised Bowie's vocal performance as "too operatic", but praised the melody. Unterberger ultimately felt the 1966 demo, although unfinished, was superior to the David Bowie version. Mojo magazine listed it as Bowie's 78th greatest song in 2015.