THE GREATEST SONGS OF THE 1960s THAT NO ONE HAS EVER HEARD
1,977) David Bowie — “In the Heat of the Morning” (’68 BBC (Top Gear) Version)
David Bowie intended this song to be “top ten rubbish”. While it was the furthest thing from rubbish, it could have and should have made the top ten had not the dunces at Decca decided that it was not single-worthy. It is actually a “lovely, florid” song recorded during his “David the Dandy” period (Stephen Thomas Erlewine, https://www.allmusic.com/album/bowie-at-the-beeb-the-best-of-the-bbc-radio-sessions-68-72-mw0000619751), and in my mind the best version by far is the one Bowie recorded in ’68 for John Peel’s BBC show.
Some people call it their favorite Bowie song. Maybe indeed, it is way up there with me. When I first heard it on Bowie at the BEEB, I thought “This is amazing, how have I not heard it before, how was it not a hit single?!”
Here is what Noel Gallagher had to say:
I don’t know anybody else that knows it, but it’s fucking amazing. The first person ever to play it for me was Steve Jones from the Sex Pistols, years and years ago. I was like, “What’s that?” And he says, “It’s f*ckin’ David Bowie.” . . . This song is very mid-Sixties Brit-pop. Great organ sound, brilliantly produced. . . . I was listening to [it] the other day, and I suddenly realized that I’ve used most of the lyrics in it for bits and bobs over the years! [Q: Which lyrics?] I’m not f*ckin’ telling you!
The Bowie Bible tells of the song’s extended birth pangs:
David Bowie recorded “In The Heat Of The Morning” in 1968, again in 2000 for the unreleased Toy album, and also on two occasions for BBC radio. According to his then-manager Ken Pitt, Bowie apparently considered it a throwaway, written at a time when he was frustrated by his lack of chart success.
[Kenneth Pitt:] “One evening David was sitting watching television when suddenly he took his eyes from the screen and said to me ‘I’m going to write some top ten rubbish’. Nothing on television could have prompted this remark so he must quietly have been pondering the problem of his unsold records, the movements on the screen becoming as flickering flames of a coal fire. ‘I don’t think you could ever knowingly write rubbish of any kind,’ I said. He laughed and replied ‘Wanna bet? You’ve seen nothing yet.’ And so he went away and wrote ‘Let Me Sleep Beside You’, which was neither rubbish nor top ten material, but another very good song. He then wrote two other songs which he also indexed under ‘rubbish’, namely ‘Karma Man’ and ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’.” [The Pitt Report]
The first studio version was recorded at Decca in London on 12 March 1968, with Tony Visconti producing. It was completed with overdubs and changes on 29 March, and 10 and 18 April, which were Bowie’s final sessions for the label. . . . Decca had already rejected “When I Live My Dream” for single release, and also turned down “In The Heat Of The Morning”. This disappointment marked the end of his involvement with the label.
[Kenneth Pitt:] “I was already planning promotion for the next single, which we expected to be ‘In The Heat Of The Morning’, and had arranged for David to perform the work on another Top Gear broadcast, when the news came through that the Decca selection panel had found that song and ‘London Bye Ta-Ta’ unsuitable for release. I immediately telephoned Hugh Mendl [Decca’s Artists Manager], whom I found to be sympathetic and now even more embarrassed by the action of his colleagues. He said ‘I cannot blame you if you wish to leave us.'” [The Pitt Report]
[It] remained unreleased until 6 March 1970, when Pitt selected the stereo mix for inclusion on the Decca compilation The World Of David Bowie. . . . A new, slower, version of the song was recorded in 2000 for the aborted Toy album, again produced by Tony Visconti. . . . David Bowie recorded “In The Heat Of The Morning” on two occasions for the BBC Radio 1 show Top Gear . . . . The first was recorded on 18 December 1967, and broadcast on Christmas Eve. Bowie, accompanied by the Arthur Greenslade Orchestra, performed five songs . . . . The second BBC recording was made on 13 May 1968, and broadcast on 26 May. This time Bowie was accompanied by the Tony Visconti Orchestra – fourteen musicians including bass guitarist Herbie Flowers, guitarist John McLaughlin, and drummer Barry Morgan. Again five songs were recorded . . . .
https://www.bowiebible.com/songs/in-the-heat-of-the-morning/
John Peel Wiki adds to the story:
[David Bowie:] “I remember around 1965 I did an audition for the BBC and I failed, and the report said, ‘This vocalist is devoid of personality and sings all the wrong notes.’ So in your [John Peel] inimitable manner and with tremendous enthusiasm you got me back on for another audition, which I passed the second time around, which gave me freewheeling access to a lifetime of singing all the wrong notes.”
In fact, as Peel admitted on the 1993 radio documentary Bowie At The Beeb, it wasn’t until The Man Who Sold the World LP of 1970 that he really became enthusiastic about Bowie’s work and it had been producer Bernie Andrews who was responsible for booking the singer for his early sessions on Top Gear:
“I’d played bits and pieces on the pirate ships and indeed on Top Gear, and he’d done the sessions of course for Top Gear, but by and large they were done because producer Bernie Andrews was keen on his work. I wasn’t so keen but I had no influence on choosing who did sessions. This was during the Anthony Newley period of his career, which I didn’t care for a great deal – still don’t, to be perfectly honest with you.”
Here is the A-side that wasn’t:
Here is BBC Top Gear (’67):
Here is Bowie’s demo:
Here is Bowie ’00:
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