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The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell
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Wikipedia article
"'The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell'" is a song written by David Bowie and Reeves Gabrels for the album 'Hours' in 1999. The first single release from the album in Australia and Japan, while the rest of the world got "Thursday's Child" as their first single. The first appearance of the song was on the soundtrack of the film 'Stigmata' in 1999. It charted and peaked at No. 30 in Japan. The song's title takes influence from the song "Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell" by The Stooges from their album 'Raw Power' produced by Bowie himself.
The music video for "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" exists, but officially is unreleased. In it, Bowie encounters four of his "past selves" (The Man Who Sold the World, Ziggy Stardust, The Thin White Duke and Pierrot) as played by life-sized, mannequin-like puppets.Rick Lyon for Jim Henson's Creature Shop [http://www.lyonpuppets.com/ziggy.html], [http://www.lyonpuppets.com/bowie.html] In 2013, Bowie resurrected the two latter puppets in his homemade video for James Murphy's remix of "Love Is Lost" from the album 'The Next Day'.
Track listing
CD: Virgin / 7243 8 96293 2 3 (Australia)
# "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell" 4:40# "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (edit)" 3:59
# "We Shall Go to Town" 3:56
# "1917" 3:27
CD: Virgin / DPRO-14338 (US)
# "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (edit)" 3:59# "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (Call out hook #1)" 0:11
# "The Pretty Things Are Going to Hell (Call out hook #1)" 0:11
# "Thursday's Child (Radio edit)" 4:25
# "Thursday's Child (Call out hook #1)" 0:12
# "Thursday's Child (Call out hook #2)" 0:12
Production credits
;Producers
*David Bowie
*Reeves Gabrels
;Musicians
*David Bowie - vocals, tambourine
*Reeves Gabrels - electric guitar
*Mark Plati - bass guitar
*Mike Levesque - drums
Live versions
* A live version recorded at Kit Kat Klub, New York City, 19 November 1999 was released on the single "Seven" in July 2000.
Other releases
* It was released in a slightly different mix on the soundtrack of the film 'Stigmata' in 1999. This version was also released on the single "Survive".
* The edited version, "Stigmata film version" and "Stigmata film only version" was released on the bonus disc that followed the 2004 reissue of 'Hours'.
* In April 2000, a remixable version of the song was released to the Web as a Beatnik eMix. [http://www.davidbowie.com/users/susans/2000april.html]
References
Category:1999 singles
Category:David Bowie songs
Category:Songs written by David Bowie
Category:Songs written by Reeves Gabrels
Category:Song recordings produced by David Bowie
Category:1999 songs
Category:Virgin Records singles
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