This version reflects Bowie's fascination with Tibetan Buddhism, featuring various spiritual and geographic references in the lyrics and varied instrumentation such as a trumpet, cello and Chinese gong.
David Bowie originally demoed "Silly Boy Blue" with his band the Lower Third in August 1965 at R. G. Jones Studio in London, around the same time as "Baby That's a Promise".
Biographers Chris O'Leary and Nicholas Pegg compare it to Bowie's contemporary compositions "Can't Help Thinking About Me" and "The London Boys".
He filled the lyrics with spiritual and geographic Buddhist references, including a "Child of Tibet"; Tibetan capital Lhasa; the Potala, a palace that the Dalai Lamas resided in during the winter until 1959; chelas or religious disciples; the concept of reincarnation; and "Yak-butter statues".
[2][4] The bridge opens with an F♯ minor chord, eventually building to a B major climax with Bowie singing a drawn out "die", which drops from a high G down to a C.[2] The coda drifts between B and A, ending the song's active key signatures.
[7] Deram Records issued David Bowie in the United Kingdom on 1 June 1967, with "Silly Boy Blue" sequenced as the second track on side two of the original LP, between "Little Bombardier" and "Come and Buy My Toys".
[11] During his brief stint with the Riot Squad in the spring of 1967, Bowie recorded another version of "Silly Boy Blue" on 5 April, again at Decca Studios, along with "Toy Soldier" and a cover of the Velvet Underground's "Waiting for the Man" (1967).
Yet another acoustic recording with the Riot Squad and Bowie on vocals appeared on The Last Chapter: Mods & Sods compilation and The Toy Soldier EP.
[3] Bowie pitched the song to other artists as potential cover material, although it was rejected by Judy Collins, Jefferson Airplane and Big Brother and the Holding Company.
The lineup consisted of the members of Bowie's then-touring band: guitarist Earl Slick, bassist Gail Ann Dorsey, pianist Mike Garson, musician Mark Plati and drummer Sterling Campbell.
[20][21] With co-production from Bowie and Plati, the band rehearsed the songs at Sear Sound Studios in New York City before recording them as live tracks.
[3] On 26 February 2001, Bowie performed the Toy arrangement of "Silly Boy Blue" for the Tibet House benefit concert at New York's Carnegie Hall, where he was backed by the Scorchio Quarter and a troupe of monks.
[25][26] Ten years later, on 29 September 2021, Warner Music Group announced that Toy would get an official release on 26 November as part of the box set Brilliant Adventure (1992–2001) through ISO and Parlophone.