David Bowie’s Unreleased John Lennon, Bob Dylan Covers Set for Birthday Single

David Bowie’s unreleased covers of John Lennon’s “Mother” and Bob Dylan’s “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” will be released on what would have been Bowie’s 74th birthday.

Both tracks on the seven-inch vinyl “Birthday Single” — limited to 8,147 copies, including 1,000 pressed on cream vinyl, as well as a digital release  — were recorded in the studio by Bowie in 1997 and 1998.

The cover of the Lennon classic “Mother,” from the 1970 LP Plastic Ono Band, was recorded for a planned-but-never-released Lennon tribute album; long-time collaborators Reeves Gabrels and Tony Visconti also play on the track.

Bowie’s cover of “Tryin’ to Get to Heaven” was recorded at New York’s Looking Glass studio in February 1998 during the mixing sessions for the LiveAndWell.com live album; Bowie’s unreleased rendition came just six months after Dylan debuted the track on 1997’s Time Out of Mind.

To mark what would have been David Bowie’s 74th birthday, two previously unreleased cover versions, John Lennon’s MOTHER and Bob Dylan’s TRYIN’ TO GET TO HEAVEN, will be released as a limited edition 7” single on 8th January next year. Full press release: https://t.co/cW5mqivAdI pic.twitter.com/dctlfk2T5P

— David Bowie Official (@DavidBowieReal) December 16, 2020

The Bowie estate is also in the midst of its Brilliant Live Adventure series, featuring six live albums recorded during the Nineties. The first three — Ouvrez Le Chien, No Trendy Réchauffé, and LiveAndWell.com — arrived in 2020, with the remaining three records set for early 2021.