Peter Noone sings “Oh, You Pretty Things”

Bowie gave this song to Peter Noone, mostly known as the lead singer of Herman’s Hermits, in 1971. It was Noone’s first solo release and was a hit, reaching #12 on the UK singles chart. Bowie plays piano on this version of the song which I think of, today, more associated with Bowie than Noone. Bowie, of course, included his own version on his 1971 album, “Hunky Dory.”

Noone’s version of the song resurrected Bowie’s public profile, which had waned in the two years since the “Space Oddity” single, and would herald the beginning of Bowie’s prolific period of rolling out some of his best known work.

Meanwhile, Peter Noone is still performing. As I write, he’s on tour with several concert dates scheduled for the next several months. In fact, he’s performing TODAY (October 9th) in Tarrytown as part of a “Stars of the 60s” show. That’s within driving distance of where I live and if I were going to indoor events these days, perhaps I’d go and find out if he is still singing this song.

Two last notes: In addition to piano, Bowie is supposedly singing backup, but I don’t hear it. Also, Noone slightly changed the words to make the song more radio-friendly, specifically he changed the line, “The Earth is a bitch” to, “The Earth is a beast.” Interestingly, I have heard more recent covers use the “beast” line (or at least one more recent cover, which appeared on the album, “Let All the Children Boogie: A Tribute to David Bowie”).