30/01/2025
So long, Marianne....
(Photo by Ebert Roberts, 1980 NYC)
At 78, Marianne Faithfull has passed away. For many years, she was a survivor: of ground zero in British Sixties culture - of the Stones and her relationship with Mick - of he**in addiction. She was the subject of a hit single (changed to "Carrie Anne" by The Hollies) and the rare credited co-writer of a track on a Rolling Stones album (https://youtu.be/GrwwiAUYdpA?si=KTOXG92ez7vAQgd7 ), though she had to fight to crack the closed shop of Jagger-Richards.
Married as a teen to John Dunbar, co-founder of the Indica Gallery, this non-musician (at the time) found success as the right voice with the right look at the right time to score with "As Tears Go By," purportedly among the first (if not THE first) original song written by Mick and Keith. Andrew Oldham masterminded the marketing and Marianne found herself a reluctant star, on the charts and in film.
Marianne largely set aside her career once partnered with Mick. She appeared in their Rock and Roll Circus TV special (https://youtu.be/JIg49PAM2CY?si=cU9581-lqyzCXV5M ) but soon after fell into smack, leading to the couple's break-up. Her subsequent bottoming out (and living in the streets) made her subsequent rebound all the sweeter: 1979's Broken English album was hailed as an astonishing return that far exceeded anyone's expectations. It included a reading of "Working Class Hero" that many preferred over the author's: https://youtu.be/zbbPAuAtSAA?si=NfN0EeYZaVchq7yT
It took years of hard living to age into her voice but once she found it, it earned her the respect that largely eluded her heretofore. In 1987, Marianne remade the song that put her on the map in the first place: https://youtu.be/LzImOSVYoWI?si=Qk_lhTQEylGm6plV
Some excerpts from her memoir here: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2007/oct/06/popandrock
In 2020, Marianne was hit hard by COVID and not expected to live. She nonetheless pulled through and released her final album, She Walks in Beauty, in 2021: https://youtu.be/IDDfFMgj3kg?si=JVC2CK3N8nEaUT4y
