On June 2, 1991 — the third night of Morrissey’s first-ever solo tour of the U.S. — David Bowie joined the former Smiths frontman onstage in Los Angeles to duet on a cover of T. Rex’s “Cosmic Dancer.” Now, nearly 30 years later, Morrissey is finally giving that recording an official release, first digitally — it’s available now — and then, in February, on 7-inch vinyl.
You can see video of that performance above, though it, like the single itself, has been mislabeled as having been recorded on Feb. 6, 1991.
The 7-inch is due out Feb. 19 and is a double A-side single, featuring the “Cosmic Dancer” recording plus what’s apparently a newly recorded cover of The Jam’s “That’s Entertainment.” The press release announcing the single’s release notes that “this version of ‘That’s Entertainment’ is different to the commonly circulated version from 1993,” though Morrissey’s previous recording of the Jam song was released in 1991 as the B-side to “Sing Your Life.”
Morrissey also previously released a different live take of “Cosmic Dancer,” a recording from May 1, 1991, in Utrecht, Holland, that appeared as the B-side to “Pregnant for the Last Time” that same year.
David Bowie & Morrissey, “Cosmic Dancer”
Side A
Morrissey & Bowie, “Cosmic Dancer” (Live at the Inglewood Forum, Los Angeles, February 6, 1991*)
Side AA
Morrissey, “That’s Entertainment” (2020)
* The single is mislabeled. The song was recorded June 2, 1991.
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Wow they sound pretty awful together, like their voices just grate against each other with nowhere else to go.