David Bowie is (part 4): 'Can't Help Thinking About Me'

The Lower Third had been together for about a year, playing gigs in Margate in Kent, when, in 1965, the core three members decided to take a shot at fame and headed to London in search of a singer. David Jones auditioned with a friend, Steve Marriott, later of the Small Faces, and although they preferred Marriott, he left and Jones got the gig. Over the next few months David Jones convinced the band to learn new songs by the Yardbirds, The Kinks and The Who as well as getting them to help with his own compositions. It quickly became evident that the eighteen year-old David Jones was taking creative control. After a summer of gigging in Margate and other towns in the south-east and the replacement of the drummer, The Lower Third had transformed into a Mod band and were ready to record their first single. 'You've Got a Habit of Leaving' was written by David Jones and was produced by Shel Talmy who, as well as producing the Manish Boys single, had had hits with The Who and The Kinks. It was credited to 'Davy Jones and the Lower Third'.

 

'You've Got A Habit Of Leaving' and the B-side, 'Baby Loves That Way' were both re-recorded in 2000/2001 for the unreleased David Bowie album 'Toy'. It was leaked onto the internet in 2011.



After David Jones' third attempt at stardom came to nothing EMI pressured Talmy to terminate his singles deal. At the same time Les Conn decided to pack in the music business but David already had a replacement in mind, Ralph Horton. Horton called a publicist he knew called Ken Pitt to help with the management of Davy Jones. Pitt explained that he was too busy, and in any case the name was a problem as there was another Davy Jones in America, who would go on to join the Monkees. David Jones already had a replacement name in mind. A few years earlier he had seen the film The Alamo and had become obssessed with the character Jim Bowie. So from henceforth he would be known as David Bowie.

Horton scored the band a number of gigs over the late summer and autumn of 1965 as well as a new recording contract through producer Tony Hatch with the Pye label. Bowie bought a guitar and was writing songs throughout this period: 'London Boys', 'Maid of Bond Street' and his eventual next single 'Can't Help Thinking About Me'.





The first single released under the name David Bowie is clearly a step up in both his writing and singing ability and deploys techniques he would use again and again in his career such as the 'pre-chorus' and the idea of songs as stories. Whilst Bowie lyrics are very rarely autobiographical, it is possible that lines like "It seems that I've blackened the family name / Mother says that she can't stand the neighbors' talking" do indeed refer to his own situation. His mother, Peggy, was getting fed up with his obsession with music at this point and wanted him to get a proper job. Bowie, of course, was not about to do that and felt unashamed about following his dream. The B-side is 'And I Say To Myself'. The single was released in January 1966, a week after Bowie's nineteenth birthday. The single failed to make an appearance on the main chart although it did get to twenty-five on the Radio London chart and number 34 on the Melody Maker chart.
 

'Do Anything You Say' b/w 'Good Morning Girl' was the first single credited simply to 'David Bowie'. Bowie's manager, Ralph Horton, sacked The Lower Third arguably because of his jealousy of their closeness to 'his' David. He would give David lifts to gigs in his Jag while the rest of the band had to use their converted ambulance. They were replaced with The Buzz. Unlike The Lower Third, The Buzz were a manufactured band and it shows. 'Can't Help Thinking About Me' had at least made it onto the bottom of some of the charts but this was a total flop.

At this point Ralph Horton realised there was nothing else he could do for David Bowie's career, so once again he contacted Ken Pitt, who decided to come to one of his shows. He was very impressed and after talking with him at Horton's flat, he became Bowie's manager.

In June 1966, Tony Hatch began producing 'I Dig Everything' but, dissatisfied with The Buzz, he replaced tham all with session musicians. The resulting cheesy grooviness pretty much guaranteed the record would be the failure that it was.





With 'I Dig Everything' b/w 'I'm Not Losing Sleep', David Bowie was being taken even further away from the limited success he had achieved with 'Can't Help Thinking About Me'. His manager Ken Pitt knew Bowie would go nowhere on the Pye label, who were planning to drop him anyway, so he planned to get him a new record deal.

In 1965 David Bowie recorded demos for three songs that were never otherwise recorded. They are: 'That’s Where My Heart Is', 'I Want My Baby Back' and 'Bars of the County Jail'.

There are also another three songs he recorded in 1965 that were never released. They are: 'I’ll Follow You', 'Glad I’ve Got Nobody' and 'That’s a Promise'.

(To hear each track click on the relevant title.)

Next time: David Bowie records his first album