Music to My Ears
The Best of Marianne Faithfull

1,789 words

When Marianne Faithfull died on January 30, 2025, it hit me that I had been a fan of her music for most of my life. Such milestones are occasions for what I like to call the Full Life Audit. We have grown up immersed in propaganda and decadence, and even though we might consciously reject them, they are still inside us and come to the surface in surprising ways. Faithfull was certainly no parent’s idea of a good influence. But if my parents had taken a bit more of an interest in curating my tastes, I would have missed out on some great music.

Marianne Faithfull was born in Hampstead, London on December 29,  1946. Her father, Major Robert Glynn Faithfull, was from an upper-middle-class background, attended the Rugby School and University College, London, and had a rigorous classical education. He was a British Army intelligence officer during World War II and later a professor of Italian literature at the University of Liverpool. In 1950, he was one of the founders of  Brazier’s Park, a commune in Oxfordshire known for organic farming, progressive education, and free love.

Her mother was Eva von Sacher-Masoch, a Budapest-born Austro-Hungarian aristocrat who, despite her name and title, was half Jewish. Eva’s great-uncle was Leopold von Sacher-Masoch, the author of Venus in Furs, who gave his name to the term “masochism.” Eva trained as a ballerina, danced for the Max Reinhardt Company in Vienna, and was supposedly a fixture on Weimar Berlin’s cabaret scene. Eva and her mother lived in Vienna during the Third Reich undisturbed by the Nazis, but one source claims they were raped by their Russian “liberators.” 

Marianne inherited her father’s big brain and her mother’s artistic sensibility. Culturally, she was a product of a British upper-middle-class academic Leftist and Weimar on the Danube. The poor girl never had a chance.

Marianne’s parents separated in 1950, and she grew up with her mother in poverty. She had a spotty education at a convent school. She abandoned her education in 1964, at the age of 17, when she was “’discovered” at a Rolling Stones party by their manager, Andrew Loog Oldham.

Faithfull’s music career had a unique debut. On April 15, 1965, Decca released two albums: Marianne Faithfull, a collection of pop songs, and Come My Way, a collection of folk songs. Her third album, North Country Maid, was released in 1966. Her fourth album, Love in a Mist, appeared in 1967. There were two US-only released that overlapped with her first four UK albums: Go Away from the World (1965) and Faithfull Forever (1966).

I never liked Faithfull’s early work. I think you had to have been there. She was a pretty blonde English girl with a pleasant but untrained voice. The music industry and press tried to make her into a big star. But she didn’t have the chops. If you want to sample her early work, there is a good 1969 compilation: Marianne Faithfull’s Greatest Hits. There is also a 2008 compilation from this period called Live at the BBC.

Faithfull married art dealer John Dunbar on May 6, 1965, at the age of 18. Their son, Nicholas Dunbar, was  born on November 10, 1965. Faithfull quickly abandoned her family to whore around, sleeping with Gene Pitney, Eric Clapton, Jean de Breteuil, David Bowie, and at least 60% of the Rolling Stones. She went on to have three miscarriages and four abortions. Her most famous romance was with Mick Jagger from 1966 to 1970. She divorced Dunbar in 1970 and lost custody of their child.

However, Marianne Faithfull’s longest-term relationship—which eclipsed all human ties—was to heroin. During the Sixties, she tried every drug known to man: pot, LSD, downers, uppers, cocaine, but she became most famous as a walking hypodermic.

Ironically, it made an artist out of her. Faithfull’s first significant piece of music is “Sister Morphine,” a terrifying first-person account of addiction that she co-authored with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Faithfull’s recording was released by Decca on a single in 1969, on the B side in some markets and the A side in others. A version sung by Mick Jagger appeared on the Stones’ 1971 album Sticky Fingers, where Faithfull’s name was omitted from the writers’ credits.

The swinging Sixties gave way to the strung-out Seventies. After splitting with Jagger in 1970, Marianne spent two years homeless and high on the streets of Soho. She registered as an addict with the National Health Service and began receiving free methadone. Faithfull finally kicked heroin for good in 1985, although she had relapses into other drugs from time to time. She contracted hepatitis C from heroin needles. She also was a heavy smoker, which led to emphysema. Late in life, she expressed the wish that she had never touched any of it: drugs, drink, cigarettes. Let that be a lesson to you.

During the 1970s, Faithfull tried to make several comebacks. In 1971, she recorded an album, Rich Kid Blues, that was shelved and only released in 1985. In 1976, Faithfull released a surprisingly good country (!) album, Dreamin’ My Dreams (later retitled Faithless). The title song was a hit in Ireland. But her breakthrough came in 1979 with the release of  Broken English.

If I had known about Faithfull’s life at the time, I doubt I would have been curious to hear her music. But one day, this song came on the radio . . . dark, chugging, with a unique and compelling voice. When it was over, the announcer said it was “Broken English” by Marianne Faithfull. I had to know more.

Let’s look at Faithfull’s albums from best to worst, beginning with Broken English. I will give reviews of one to five stars, meaning: poor, fair, good, very good, great.

Broken English (1979) *****

“Sister Morphine” (12”, 1982) *****

Broken English remains her best work. It is hard to classify. I would call it “art pop.” There’s a bit of Velvet Underground here, but more David Bowie (high-concept poetry, theatrical delivery) or even Steely Dan (tracks like “Guilt” sound like their sophisticated lounge music, although less ironic and more emotionally raw).

Every track on Broken English is worthwhile, and I always listened to it as a whole. The outstanding tracks are the title song, which is basically an accusation of nihilism thrown in the faces of Seventies terrorist groups, and John Lennon’s “Working Class Hero,” which is probably more commie agitprop from the author of “Imagine” but which comes off as an Orwellian critique of English socialism.

Around the same time, Faithfull also re-recorded “Sister Morphine,” which was released on a 12” single with “Broken English” in 1982. It is the definitive version.

The 1979 Island Records pressing of Broken English was superb: heavy and quiet, with a rich, warm sound. There have been a few audiophile reissues, which were quickly snapped up by collectors. I haven’t heard them.

The first CD release sounded fine to me at the time but seemed glaringly inadequate when, in 2013, a deluxe two-CD version was released, featuring the remastered original album in vastly superior sound, plus a promotional video, the original mix of the album (more guitars, fewer keyboards), the 12” single of “Sister Morphine,” and various single edits and remixes.

Broken English is one of the best albums of the Seventies, and the 2-CD version is the one to get.

Vagabond Ways (1999) ****

To my ears, Vagabond Ways is one of Faithfull’s best works. It is a return to pop arrangements after doing cabaret music for a while, but these are still art songs. Like Broken English, I listen to this album as a unit. There are ten songs, all of them good, some of them masterpieces. My favorites are Roger Waters’ darkly comic “Incarceration of a Flower Child”; Faithfull’s “File It Under Fun from the Past,” “Elektra,” “Wilder Shores of Love,” and “After the Ceasefire”; and her cover of Leonard Cohen’s “The Tower of Song.” Astonishingly, this album got mixed reviews, which is just a sign of the overall decline of tastes, especially among journalists. Get the 2022 CD reissue, which includes six unleased songs and demos.    

Give My Love to London (2014) ****

Give My Love to London is Faithfull’s last great album, a return to the feel and style of Vagabond Ways, right down to songs by Roger Waters (“Sparrows Will Sing”) and Leonard Cohen (“Going Home”). This is the first album in which Faithfull sounds like an old lady. She even slurs some of her words. But the songs are well-chosen, and she does them justice. There is an annoyingly contrived lo-fi production style, and Faithfull’s vocals are sometimes drowned out, but it is not too distracting. The best songs are Nick Cave’s “Late Victorian Holocaust,” Waters’ “Sparrows Will Sing,” and Cohen’s “Going Home,” as well as three Faithfull songs: “Love More of Less” (with Tom McRae), “Mother Wolf” (with Patrick Leonard), and “Falling Back” (with Anna Calvi).

Blazing Away (1990) ****

Live in Hollywood (2005) ****

No Exit (2016) ****

The Montreux Years (2021) ****

Marianne Faithfull was a fantastic live performer. She assembled talented musicians and gave them some freedom to improvise. She was also willing to experiment with new and extended arrangements. Thus I actually prefer the live versions of many of her songs to the studio originals.

Blazing Away was recorded in the wonderful acoustic of  St. Anne’s Cathedral in Brooklyn and contains riveting versions of “Broken English,” “Working Class Hero,” “The Ballad of Lucy Jordan,” “Guilt,” and “Why’d Ya Do It?” from Broken English, “Times Square” from A Child’s Adventure, and “Sister Morphine.” “Les Prisons du Roi” (most famously sung by Edith Piaf),  “Blazing Away” (a country song written by Faithfull and Barry Reynolds), and “She Moved Through the Fair” (an Irish folk song) are unique to this album.

In Live in Hollywood, a CD/DVD release, Faithfull sings songs from her most recent albums, Vagabond Ways (“Incarceration of a Flower Child”), Kissin Time (the title track), and Before the Poison (“Mystery of Love,” “No Child of Mine,” “Last Song,” and “Crazy Love”) plus such classics as “Broken English,” “Working Class Hero,” “Guilt,” “Why’d Ya Do It?,” “Sister Morphine,” “Times Square,” and “Falling from Grace.” The only weak tracks are “Trouble in Mind,” “Kissin Time,” “Strange Weather,” and “As Tears Go By.”

No Exit is a live album from Faithfull’s 2014 European tour, when she played the best songs from Give My Love to London and her earlier albums. The band is tight, with superb solos, the acoustic is rich and resonant, and Faithfull’s performances are absolutely compelling. It is paired with a DVD or Blu-ray of concerts at the MÜPA in Budapest and the Roundhouse in London.

The Montreux Years is a compilation from Faithfull’s five appearances at the Montreux Jazz Festival in Switzerland. Aside from Faithfull standards like “Broken English,” “Guilt,” “Working Class Hero,” “Sister Morphine,” and “Times Square,” the album also includes unique live performances of Van Morrison’s “Madame George” and “Song for Nico” by Faithfull and Dave Stewart. All are excellent.

 To be continued . . .