Sorrow (The McCoys song)

"Sorrow"
Single by David Bowie
from the album Pinups
B-side "Amsterdam" (Brel, Shuman)
Released October 1973
Format 7" single
Recorded Château d'Hérouville, Hérouville, France, July 1973
Genre Rock
Length 2:53
Label RCA
2424
Writer(s) Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer
Producer Ken Scott, David Bowie
David Bowie singles chronology
"Life on Mars?"
(1973)
"Sorrow"
(1973)
"Rebel Rebel"
(1974)

"Sorrow" is a song first recorded by The McCoys in 1965 then by The British Mod Beats in 1967.It became a big hit in the United Kingdom in a version by The Merseys, reaching number 4 in the UK charts on 28 April 1966. A version by David Bowie was also a hit in 1973.

The song contains the lyric "with your long blonde hair and your eyes of blue", which reappears as a musical quote on the The Beatles' track "It's All Too Much" from Yellow Submarine.

Contents

David Bowie version

David Bowie's remake of "Sorrow" was the only single released in the UK from the Pinups covers project, reaching UK #3 and staying in the charts for 15 weeks. The B-side, “Amsterdam”, was a cover of a Jacques Brel song (originally called “Port of Amsterdam”), had been performed live by Bowie since 1969, and was recorded in 1971 for the Ziggy Stardust album. It was dropped from the final release, but included as it fitted in with “Sorrow”. In France, it was billed as the A-side of the single. It was also featured in the 2008 John Cusack film War, Inc.

Track listing

  1. "Sorrow" (Bob Feldman, Jerry Goldstein, Richard Gottehrer) – 2:53
  2. "Amsterdam" (Jacques Brel, Mort Shuman) – 2:39

The Spanish release of the single had "Lady Grinning Soul" as the B-side.

Production credits

Charts

Chart (1973) Peak
position
Canadian Singles Chart 77
UK Singles Chart 3
Irish Singles Chart 2
German Singles Chart 39
Australian Singles Chart 1
New Zealand Singles Chart 1

Other releases

References

Pegg, Nicholas, The Complete David Bowie, Reynolds & Hearn Ltd, 2000, ISBN 1-903111-14-5