This Day in ’65: Davy Jones & The Lower 3rd Release “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving”

54 years ago today, Davy Jones & The Lower 3rd issued the single that would prove to be their final release under that particular name, owing to the arrival of another Davy Jones on the music scene.

Written by David Bowie – because he was, of course born David Jones – and released with a second Bowie song, “Baby Loves That Way,” as the flip side, “You’ve Got a Habit of Leaving” was not exactly the breakthrough hit that Bowie and his bandmates probably would’ve liked it to have been...and by that, we mean that it didn’t even so much as crack the UK Singles chart. And while you can imagine that there were probably some sort of discussions about what could be done to make the band’s next release click with audiences, that’s not what led them to release their next single, “Can’t Help Thinking About Me,” under the name David Bowie & The Lower 3rd.

No, that blame can be laid squarely at the feet of The Monkees.

Yes, the popularity of The Monkees’ music and TV series suddenly made it more than a little bit confusing for The Lower 3rd to have a lead singer named Davy Jones, resulting in Bowie’s decision to adopt a stage name. Fortunately, it caught on, and it stuck to such a degree that many people in 2019 don’t even realize that it was a stage name.