“You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” was released as a single under the name Davy Jones & The Lower Third. It was the last song that Bowie, born David Jones, released before changing his name to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees, and the first of two singles that he recorded with The Lower Third after leaving his previous band, The Manish Boys.
With The Lower Third, Bowie moved away from Americanised R&B of his two earlier singles into Who-style mod music. However, a typical concert at this time could incorporate “Mars” from Gustav Holst’s The Planets and “Chim Chim Cheree” from Mary Poppins. Bowie’s future manager Ken Pitt attended one of these mid-1960s concerts, where the band finished with The Rodgers and Hammerstein song “You’ll Never Walk Alone”.
Track listing
“You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” (Bowie) – 2:31
“Baby Loves That Way” (Bowie) – 3:03
Production credits
Producers:
Shel Talmy
Musicians:
Davy Jones: Vocals, Alto & Tenor Saxophone, Harmonica
Denis ‘T-Cup’ Taylor: Lead Guitar (born 6 July 1944, Ramsgate, Kent)
Graham ‘Death’ Rivens: Bass (born 12 October 1945, Plaistow, East London)
Phil Lancaster: Drums (born Philip Lancaster, 25 December 1942, Walthamstow, East London)
Other releases
Both songs on the single were re-released by EMI in the UK on 2 March 1979 on the B-side of a 10″ record; on the A-side of this re-release were the two songs from Bowie’s previous single with The Manish Boys, “I Pity the Fool” and “Take My Tip”. The cover of this release (see infobox) featured Bowie pictured with The Lower Third. This mini-compilation was reissued by See For Miles Records in October 1982, and as a 12″ picture disc in June 1985.
It also appeared on the compilation Early On (1964–1966) in 1991.
Bowie recorded a new version of the song, nearly twice as long, in 2000 for the unreleased Toy album. This appeared on the European release of the single “Slow Burn”, the two-disc deluxe edition of ‘Heathen’ and the UK release of the single “Everyone Says ‘Hi'”
The original version was released on Bowie’s 2014 compilation album Nothing Has Changed.
