Following “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime),” David Bowie has released the single’s B-side, “‘Tis a Pity She Was a Whore.” Bowie’s latest arrives courtesy of BBC Radio 6 DJ Shaun Keaveny, who played the cut on his show before its Stateside digital release. The glam rocker also introduced “‘Tis a Pity” via his Facebook page, claiming that it “acknowledges the shocking rawness of the First World War,” sounds like “if Vorticists wrote Rock Music,” and gets its title from a 17th century John Ford play.
A horn-filled, atonal, anxious-sounding song, “Tis a Pity” has an equally offputting set of lyrics, opening with the line, “Man, she punched me like a dude.” (Huh. Well, nothing unusual for the man who once exclaimed “Dance, magic, dance!” with an infant in his arms.)
Stream the full song on BBC Radio (go to the two hour, fourty-nine minute mark), and get a physical copy of “Tis a Pity” when it’s released on 10″ single and digital bundle with “Sue (Or In a Season of Crime)” on November 17 via Parlophone. Also on November 17, grab Bowie’s Nothing Has Changed compilation.
