<P> The song was first released by Peter Noone of Herman 's Hermits , in a single on which Bowie played piano . It became a # 12 hit in mid-1971 . Noone replaced Bowie 's line `` The Earth is a bitch '' with `` The Earth is a beast '' , in a performance that NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray opined to be `` one of rock and roll 's most outstanding examples of a singer failing to achieve any degree of empathy whatsoever with the mood and content of a lyric '' . </P>
<P> The song was first released by Peter Noone of Herman 's Hermits , in a single on which Bowie played piano . It became a # 12 hit in mid-1971 . Noone replaced Bowie 's line `` The Earth is a bitch '' with `` The Earth is a beast '' , in a performance that NME editors Roy Carr and Charles Shaar Murray opined to be `` one of rock and roll 's most outstanding examples of a singer failing to achieve any degree of empathy whatsoever with the mood and content of a lyric '' . </P>
who played piano on oh you pretty things
who played piano on oh you pretty things
Bowie
Bowie