1965 Outtakes

I’ll Follow You.
Glad I’ve Got Nobody.
That’s a Promise.

The excitingly-titled “I’ll Follow You” and “Glad I’ve Got Nobody” were cut in the same sessions as the “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” single but were left on the shelf until the early ’90s.

Neither is a lost gem, though the gawky stalker pledge “I’ll Follow You” (“just turn around and you know/I’ll be waiting there” or, even better, “you can’t lose my trail on you/JUST YOU TRY! JUST YOU TRY!) gives some pleasure through its ineptness. Bowie sings in a spavined voice, the backing singers make things worse, all leading up to the most half-assed guitar solo recorded in the ’60s. (This cover is a good deal better than the original.)

“Glad I’ve Got Nobody” isn’t as hapless, so it just falls entirely into the forgettable.

“That’s a Promise” was cut in October 1965, basically as a full-band demo. Unlike the other two outtakes, this remains available only on bootleg. It grinds along as if someone keeps shifting from first to second gear and back again. And singing “Baaaaaybaaaay…that’s a promise!” over it all.

“Follow You”/”Got Nobody” were recorded ca.  June-July 1965 (Early On); ‘That’s a Promise” is on bootlegs like The Forgotten Songs of David Robert Jones.