The release
‘Telling Lies’ was released as a single in November 1996, the first single to be taken from the following year’s Earthling album.David Bowie’s website made three versions available to download in successive weeks from 11 September 1996, making him the first major artist to sell music in such a way.
Last September, Bowie set a precedent for an artist of his caliber by releasing a full unreleased track – ‘Telling Lies’ – exclusively on the Internet. In the first four days alone of its initial release, there were more than 46,000 downloads of the track – over 10,000 per day – with the website operating at maximum capacity. While mixes by drum and bass experts Adam F and A Guy Called Gerald of ‘Telling Lies’ made their presence on the Internet, a new mix appears on Earthling.
On 4 November the song was given a physical release by BMG. It contained three mixes: Feelgood Mix by Mark Plati, Paradox Mix by A Guy Called Gerald, and an Adam F mix.
We did this in spring, before the tour. David had a demo of it from Switzerland, and he wanted to finish it. It was a quickie, done in a couple of days, most of the time devoted to the live drums. We mixed it, then I did a remix called the Feelgood Mix, and A Guy Called Gerald did a real underground jungle thing with it. These three tracks were the ones released as the internet single. Then, during the record David decided to touch it up a bit – he changed the lyric slightly, Reeves added some guitar synth lines, Gail did a more melodic bass, Mike some keys, and I added in a few sounds from the remix I did. The major change was in the structure, where after the second chorus we cleared the track out, leaving Mike’s synth pad and a piano part from the remix. Then the song built itself up again. David was insistent on ‘Telling Lies’ – it was never one of my favorites, until we completed it for the album.
Interview for Strange Fascination, David Buckley
Although the digital downloads were a success, the single was not a hit, and it peaked at number 76 on the UK chart. The lack of commercial success was likely due to the limited release and low number of copies pressed, with 3,500 CDs available only through independent record stores.
The single contained three remixes: Feelgood mix by Mark Plati, Paradox mix by A Guy Called Gerald, and Adam F mix.
‘Telling Lies’ (Paradox Mix by A Guy Called Gerald) was included on the six-track Earthling In The City EP, a compact disc given away with the November 1997 US edition of GQ magazine. It was also on the remix disc that came with the 2000 album liveandwell.com.
Earthling was reissued in two versions in 2004. The standard edition contained four remixes appended to the main album: ‘Little Wonder’ (Danny Saber dance mix); ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ (Nine Inch Nails V1 mix); ‘Dead Man Walking’ (Moby mix 2 US promo 12″); and ‘Telling Lies’ (Adam F mix).
There was also an expanded edition with a second disc, housed in digibook packaging. The bonus material rounded up the main remixes, along with two live performances:
- ‘Little Wonder’ (censored video edit)
- ‘Little Wonder’ (Junior Vasquez club mix)
- ‘Little Wonder’ (Danny Saber dance mix)
- ‘Seven Years In Tibet’ (Mandarin version)
- ‘Dead Man Walking’ (Moby mix 1)
- ‘Dead Man Walking’ (Moby mix 2 US promo 12″)
- ‘Telling Lies’ (Feelgood mix)
- ‘Telling Lies’ (Paradox mix)
- ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ (Showgirls soundtrack version)
- ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ (Nine Inch Nails V1 mix)
- ‘I’m Afraid Of Americans’ (Nine Inch Nails V1 clean edit)
- ‘V-2 Schneider’ (Tao Jones Index) (Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 10 June 1997)
- ‘Pallas Athena’ (Tao Jones Index) (Live at the Paradiso, Amsterdam, 10 June 1997)
Live performances
‘Telling Lies’ was added to David Bowie’s live set on 7 June 1996 at the Century Hall in Nagoya, Japan, the third date of the Outside Summer Festivals Tour. It was played a further 22 times in 1996.
The song was performed at Bowie’s 50th birthday concert at Madison Square Garden on 9 January 1997, and on around half the Earthling Tour dates. The final performance was on the last date of the tour, in Buenos Aires in Argentina on 7 November 1997.
Three live tracks on liveandwell.com – ‘Telling Lies’, ‘I’m Deranged’, and ‘The Motel’ – were recorded at the Paradiso in Amsterdam on 10 June 1997.