The blazing sunset in your eyes will tantalise

Thursday music corner: In honour of what would've been David Bowie's 78th birthday yesterday, here's a BBC live recording for the John Peel-hosted Top Gear programme, recorded on 13 May 1968. The track is In The Heat of the Morning, which he originally recorded for Deram records along with the tracks that comprised his commercially unsuccessful self-titled 1967 debut album. The label's rejection of the song along with When I Live My Dream led to Bowie quitting Deram in April 1968. It would remain unreleased until March 1970 when the compilation The World of David Bowie was issued by Deram's parent label Decca, seeking to capitalise on the success in the summer of 1969 of the Space Odyssey single, which had reached number 5 in the UK charts due to its popularity at the time of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. 

David Bowie - In The Heat of the Morning (live, 1968)

See also:

Music: David Bowie - Love You Till Tuesday (single version, 1967)

Music: David Bowie - Karma Man (live, 1968)

Music: David Bowie - The London Boys (live, 2000)