I used to see Marianne Faithfull or have her pointed out to me
beside a wall she favoured adjacent to a phone box in Soho
before she put together Broken English but I never
made an approach or spoke to her and later I stayed
often in the stoney basement of a house in Kensington
with a man who had been working in the studio when the album
was being recorded. It was one of his true stories. Another
was about the madness of Margaret Thatcher towards the end
of her premiership. People who knew her (through advertising)
said she was totally bonkers. They had to get rid of her
before she started munching on the carpets. The same man
met Marianne years later after a gig she played in southern France.
She didn’t remember him but she was delighted to be reacquainted.
It was her voice and manner that seduced me, the songs she picked.
Her bohemian lackadaisicality, not her choice of lovers.
.
Steven Taylor
.
https://youtu.be/f2tbc81Ujno?si=YETRgXVqEQX0ibFw
Comment by Dominic Rivron on 8 February, 2025 at 3:54 pmI absolutely love this comment. I adore ‘Broken English’ and thought ‘The Ballad of Lucy Jordan’ was one of the greatest performances ever, still do. And indeed testament to her exquisite choice of material (though don’t think Working Class Hero was such a wise choice). That the author Steven Taylor combines a great real lives (almost) encounter with Marianne, with an image of Margaret Thatcher almost eating the carpet at No 10 is all grist to my mill baby. Thank you so much.
Comment by Neil PARTRICK on 9 February, 2025 at 4:38 pm