David Bowie cover of The Beatles deep cut dubbed ‘groovy’ by fans

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A cover of one of The Beatles‘ lesser-known songs by David Bowie has been dubbed “groovy” by fans of both artists.

While The Beatles and Bowie had more than a handful of classic tracks between them, the early years shows from the Space Oddity songwriter had him cover the Fab Four. The rarity has been featured on YouTube for well over a decade, but listeners are still holding out hope for a better quality version. The taped recording of Bowie performing This Boy has nonetheless gone down a treat with listeners, who say the rendition is a “groovy” take on The Beatles’ deep cut. This Boy would be used by The Beatles as a B-Side to I Want to Hold Your Hand in the United States, and has slipped into obscurity since then.

But for Bowie it proved to be a hit on stage, with listeners still enjoying his cover of one of The Beatles’ earliest songs. An instrumental version of the song, dubbed Ringo’s Theme, was used in a scene for A Hard Day’s Night. Bowie’s version features the lyrics to the song, and fans are wanting a higher quality recording of the “unique” version.

One listener took to the YouTube comments and wrote: “Now I want a high-quality version of that.” Another praised the performance, adding: “It’s actually a cover of The Beatles 1963 B-SIDE This Boy, not even a single, unbelievable.”

A third shared: “So groovy. Only an antique adjective to describe it. Bowie doing Beatles in such a smooth way. Marvellous.” Other listeners have shared the song is a “painfully gorgeous” cover of the lesser-known Beatles track, with many praising Bowie for his work.

One wrote: “Ugh this is painfully gorgeous and makes me even a little more bitter that I never saw him live.” Another added: “Thanks for posting this. He did a good job.” A third added: “What a nice suprise! never heard this before.”

Bowie would go on to become close friends with John Lennon, with a performance of Imagine dedicated to The Beatles member shortly after he was shot to death in 1980. Lennon had shared his thoughts on Bowie’s style of glam rock in a candid chat with the Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars legend.

During a show in Hong Kong, Bowie told the crowd Lennon had some rather simple thoughts on glam rock. After performing Fame, the song he co-wrote with Lennon for his Young Americans album, Bowie explained the ex-Beatle member enjoyed the glam-rock style, but had one criticism. Bowie shared: “I co-wrote that song with John Lennon. I asked John one day ‘how do you write your songs?’ He said, ‘It’s easy, you just say what you mean and you put a backbeat to it.’

“I said, ‘What do you think of my kind of rock and roll?’ He said, ‘It’s great, but it’s just rock and roll with lipstick on.’” Bowie then recalled the last time he saw Lennon, before breaking into a cover of one of the best-known songs from his solo career.

Bowie added: “Last time I saw John Lennon was in Hong Kong. We went to a Hong Kong market and there was a stall that sold old clothes and there was a Beatles jacket on the stall, and I did something that’s not usually in my character.

“I asked him to put it on so that I could take a photograph, and I took a photograph, and I’ve still got the photograph, the jacket doesn’t fit properly, and it looks like John had outgrown it.” You can listen to Bowie cover This Boy below.