Faithfull!

Chris

Chris lives in Austin, TX, where he once shook Willie Nelson's hand.

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5 Responses

  1. Glyph says:

    Hey, I didn’t know “Carrie Anne” was about her. My dad used to listen to The Hollies when I was young and I always liked them; it kind of blew my mind when I read the 33 1/13 book on Bee Thousand and “Carrie Anne” was identified as a prime inspiration source for “Hardcore UFOs” (part of the melody, and some of the original lyrics, resemble it, and now I can’t unhear it).

    The Stones left a lot of human wreckage in their wake. She survived, which is more than a lot of people in their orbit can say.

    The transformation from innocent mod girl to gritty bad girl was complete, even if accompanied by occasional flights of pop fancy (like, say, a song written by Shel Silverstein

    Shel was…not innocent. He was a filthy, filthy man. 😉

    Speaking of Roger Waters, I don’t think I ever noticed before that her “Working Class Hero”‘s backing music ALSO actually sounds quite a bit like Floyd.

    Really enjoyed all these. The only Faithfull albums I have are an Island anthology (A Perfect Stranger) and Kissin’ Time (which I actually don’t think I’ve ever spun, I should get on that).

    There’s something cool about aging rockers who still rock (like Cohen, Ian Hunter, and, well, Pollard’s no spring chicken anymore either, but that Ricked Wicky album is not too shabby).Report

    • Chris in reply to Glyph says:

      In the 90s, Nash said it was Nash said it was:

      Marianne Faithfull was 17 and not long out of convent school when she attended a party in London’s West End. She made quite an impact on Rolling Stones manager Andrew Oldham and he persuaded Mick Jagger and Keith Richards to write a song for her – ‘As Tears Go By’. It was a hit, and in the summer of 1964 she was sent on a promotional tour featuring a diverse roster of acts including the Hollies. Although she struck up a friendship with singer-guitarist Graham Nash, it was lead singer Allan Clarke with whom she had a brief fling. Clarke was married but Marianne recalled: ‘If it felt good, you did it. It would have been hypocritical not to sleep with someone simply because he or she was involved with someone else!’ In May 1967 the Hollies released ‘Carrie Anne’ – one of their best-loved singles. It was not until 1995 that Nash revealed he had written the song for Marianne Faithfull but was ‘too shy’ to use her real name

      There’s another story at that link involving Faithfull as well. Apparently the woman about whom “Under My Thumb” was written left Jagger because of the attention he was giving Faithfull, about whom he’d written “Let’s Spend the Night Together” (while he was dating “Under My Thumb”).Report

      • Jaybird in reply to Chris says:

        Without straying into politics, I can’t help but notice how much collateral damage “authenticity” seems to carry in its wake.Report

      • Chris in reply to Chris says:

        This sort of destruction seems to pop up any time you see a collection of artists and artist hanger-ons dominating a social and cultural scene. I’m thinking in particular of Paris and Europe more generally in the 1870s and Paris again in the 1920s, but I bet if we looked at Germany in the days of Hoffman, Herder, and Kleist (how’d it turn out for him?!), we’d find a trail of human destruction in the wake of artists as well. Hell, Athens was probably a big ol’ mess in the late 5th and 4th centuries, with all those tragedians and comedians breaking hearts and leaving the artistic chaffe drunk in the gutter where they had to listen to Diogenes ranting about honest men.

        I don’t know how much authenticity has to do with it so much as the freedom that comes with living a life of art. The 1990s, on the other hand, destroyed people with authenticity.Report

      • Kim in reply to Chris says:

        Chris,
        it’s hard to fathom people destroying others without even trying, isn’t it, when you stop and think about it?
        I mean, for most people, this sort of thing takes WORK. Cults don’t just build themselves, you know?Report