I hope I make it on my own…
David Bowie’s 7″ 45 single Can’t Help Thinking About Me was released forty years ago today, on January 14th 1966 as Pye 7N 17020. The flipside was And I Say To Myself, another Bowie-penned tune along with the A-side.
Officially issued as David Bowie with The Lower Third, (that’s what it says on the label) evidence points to the theory that this really should have been the first solo David Bowie release.
Promos of the single sport David Bowie alone, as does the front page NME advert for the single from my archives, (above) published the same day as the record was released.
Further evidence can be seen in the picture below from an article that appeared in a trade mag of March 3rd 1966, (kindly supplied by BowieNetter Shilo65) though David had parted company with the band by this time. It’s also interesting to note the missing G from the song title below, reflected by the appearance of an apostrophe in the actual copy.
Where are Pauline Williams and Mary McGukin now, that’s what I’d like to know.
In the event, the personal appearances the sharply-dressed young mod made, such as the one reported above, did nothing to ensure the success of Can’t Help Thinking About Me, despite three dubious weeks on the Melody Maker singles chart, a privilege which was allegedly bought with good hard cash!
The track has been re-issued numerous times in many different formats, and while one can expect to pay anything up to around $750 USD (£422 GBP) for a mint copy of the original UK release, a
David retained enough of a fondness for the song to resurrect a cracking version for the 1999 ‘hours…’ promotional tour, even if it did contain what he considered to be one of the very worst lines he had ever written in: “My girl calls my name ‘Hi Dave Drop in, see you around, come back, If you’re this way again'” …Indeed.