Written by: Clarence Satchell, Gregory Allen Webster, Leroy ‘Sugarfoot’ Bonner, Ralph ‘Pee Wee’ Middlebrooks, Robert ‘Kuumba’ Jones, Theodore Robinson
Recorded: July 1974
Producer: Tony Visconti
Released: 16 October 1990
Personnel
David Bowie: vocals, guitar
Earl Slick: guitar
Herbie Flowers: bass guitar
Tony Newman: drums
Mike Garson: piano, Mellotron
Michael Kamen: electric piano, Moog synthesizer, oboe
David Sanborn, Richard Grando: saxophone, flute
Pablo Rosario: percussion
Warren Peace, Gui Andrisano: backing vocals
David Bowie performed a version of the Ohio Players’ ‘Here Today And Gone Tomorrow’ in July 1974 during the Diamond Dogs Tour.
It was originally the opening track on the band’s debut album, released in 1969. The Ohio Players were an American funk band from Dayton, Ohio, best known for the songs ‘Fire’ and ‘Love Rollercoaster’.
Bowie performed the song, which he retitled ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’, at the Philadelpha dates of his 1974 tour, which took place at the Tower Theater in Upper Darby, from 8-13 July 1974.
The shows were recorded by Keith Harwood, who had previously worked with Bowie on Diamond Dogs, and later released on the David Live album.
In the summer David recorded his shows at the Philadelphia Tower Theater; I was not able to attend. It was reported at the time that my car broke down travelling from New York, but I don’t recall that ever happening. David just took it upon himself to record the show for posterity, and then liked what he heard and decided to mix it into his first live album. There was one problem with this idea in that it was recorded very poorly, not that the performances were anything less than excellent on most of the songs.
Bowie, Bolan And The Brooklyn Boy
Bowie never performed ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’ at any of the subsequent dates on the tour. A studio version was reportedly recorded during the Young Americans sessions, but has yet to come to light.
The release
David Live was first released on compact disc in 1990 by Rykodisc/EMI, with two bonus songs added to the end of the album: ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’, and ‘Time’.
A 2005 reissue by EMI/Virgin restored ‘Here Today, Gone Tomorrow’ and ‘Time’ to their correct places in the concert running order, and contained two further bonus tracks: ‘Space Oddity’ and ‘Panic In Detroit’, the latter having previously been a single b-side.