Tin Machine (song)

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"Tin Machine/Maggie's Farm"

Single by Tin Machine
from the album Tin Machine
Released	September 1989
Format	7"/12"/CD single
Recorded	Montreux; Nassau, August 1988 - early 1989
Genre	Rock
Length	3:34/4:29
Label	EMI MT 73
Producer(s)	Tin Machine, Tim Palmer
Chart positions
#48 (UK)
Tin Machine singles chronology
"Under the God" 1989	"Tin Machine"/ "Maggie's Farm" 1989	"Prisoner of Love" 1989

"Tin Machine" was the song from which the band Tin Machine took their name, a track from their debut album, also of the same name. It was released as a single in September 1989, as a double A-side with a live cover of Bob Dylan’s “Maggie's Farm”.

According to Reeves Gabrels, naming the band after the song was the idea of the Sales brothers, who reasoned “It’s like having your own theme tune”. The track itself revisits several Bowie motifs, including withdrawing from the world into a room from the horrors of the world, and also featured the contempt for corruption evident elsewhere in Tin Machine’s output.

“Maggie’s Farm” and the other live tracks were recorded at the band’s gig at La Cigale, Paris on June 25 1989. Both songs had videos – “Tin Machine” featured in an excerpt from Julien Temple’s promotional film as a mock performance where the fans stormed the stage, leaving Bowie with a nosebleed; and “Maggie’s Farm” was recorded live. Despite this, the double-A side entered the chart at its UK #48 peak.

The live version of “Bus Stop” (often known as the Country version, or Live Country version) would later appear as a bonus track on Rykodisc’s reissue of Tin Machine.