'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore

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Not to be confused with 'Tis Pity She's a Whore.

Lua error in Module:Infobox at line 235: malformed pattern (missing ']'). "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" is a song by English musician David Bowie. It was originally released as a non-album single on 10 November 2014. It was later featured as the B-side for Bowie's next single, "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", which was released exactly one week later. A re-recorded version of the song appears as the second track on Bowie's twenty-fifth and final studio album, Blackstar. "Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" charted in multiple countries, including Bowie's home country of the UK, where it peaked at number 107.

Background and recording

"'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" was released as a single on 10 November 2014 and was later featured as one of the B-sides to "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)", Bowie's following single.[1] The name of the song derives from the play 'Tis Pity She's a Whore by John Ford, an English dramatist of the 17th century.[2] Both songs were re-recorded for Bowie's twenty-fifth and final studio album, Blackstar, released on 8 January 2016. American jazz musician Donny McCaslin provided new saxophone parts for the re-recording of "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore". Bowie had done saxophone parts himself for the original version of the song.[3]

On the sound of the song, Bowie wrote: "If Vorticists wrote Rock Music it might have sounded like this."[4]

Critical reception

Mojo critic Andrew Male described the track as "a raucous five-minute mesh of melody and discord, an art-rock anti-war romance, gasping under the pack-ice of no-wave sax-squawk."[4]

Track listing

Digital download

Digital release[5]
No. Title Length
1. "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"   5:26

10" vinyl

Side A
No. Title Length
1. "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)"   7:24
Side B
No. Title Length
1. "'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore"   5:27
2. "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" (Radio edit) 4:01

Charts

Chart (2014–16) Peak
position
Belgium (Ultratip Flanders)[6] 78
Netherlands (Single Top 100)[7] 68
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[8] 63
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[9] 107
US Hot Rock Songs (Billboard)[10] 34

Release history

Region Date Format(s) Label Catalogue no.
Worldwide 10 November 2014 Digital download ISO none[5]
Europe 14 November 2014 10" (B-side) Parlophone 10RDB2014[1]
United States 28 November 2014 Columbia 88875028701[11]

References

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  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  2. ↑ The Inside Story of David Bowie's Stunning New Album, 'Blackstar', rollingstone.com, 23 November 2015
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  6. ↑ "Ultratop.be – David Bowie – 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" (in Dutch). Ultratip. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
  7. ↑ "Dutchcharts.nl – David Bowie – 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore" (in Dutch). Single Top 100. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  8. ↑ "Swedishcharts.com – David Bowie – 'Tis a Pity She Was a Whore". Singles Top 60. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ "David Bowie – Chart history" Billboard Hot Rock Songs for David Bowie. Retrieved 20 January 2016.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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