Singer and actress Ms Marianne Faithfull sadly died today at the age of 78 years. Marianne passed away peacefully in London, in the company of her loving family.
Born in Hampstead, London, UK in December 1946, to parents, father Major Robert Glynn Faithfull (a British intelligence officer) and mother Eva (a ballerina), in the 1960s became famously the girlfriend of ‘Rolling Stones’ frontman Mick Jagger.
She rose to fame in 1964 with hit songs like ‘As Tears Go By’, written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, which then reached the UK top 10.
She will also be remembered for starring roles in films including the 1968 ‘The Girl On A Motorcycle’.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
Lyrics: Late American writer, cartoonist, songwriter and musician Shel Silverstein (1930-1999).
Vocals: The late English singer and actress Marianne Faithfull [Marianne Evelyn Gabriel Faithfull], (29th December 1946 – 30 January 2025). Song featured is from her 1979 album ‘Broken English’.
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan.
The morning sun touched lightly on,
The eyes of Lucy Jordan,
In a white suburban bedroom,
In a white suburban town.
As she lay there ‘neath the covers,
Dreaming of a thousand lovers,
‘Til the world turned to orange,
And the room went spinning round.
Chorus.
At the age of thirty-seven,
She realised she’d never ride,
Through Paris in a sports car,
With the warm wind in her hair.
So she let the phone keep ringing,
And she sat there softly singing,
Little nursery rhymes she’d memorised,
In her daddy’s easy chair.
Her husband, he’s off to work,
And the kids are off to school,
And there are, oh, so many ways,
For her to spend the day.
She could clean the house for hours,
Or rearrange the flowers,
Or run naked through the shady street,
Screaming all the way.
Repeat Chorus.
The evening sun touched gently on,
The eyes of Lucy Jordan,
On the roof top where she climbed,
When all the laughter grew too loud,
And she bowed and curtsied to the man,
Who reached and offered her his hand.
And he led her down to the long white car,
That waited past the crowd.
At the age of thirty seven,
She knew she’d found forever,
As she rode along through Paris,
With the warm wind in her hair.
END
After a period of heroin addiction in the 1970s, which at one point saw her living homeless on the streets of Soho; she resurrected her career with the classic album ‘Broken English’. The singer also had previously suffered multiple health problems, including bulimia, breast cancer and emphysema, latter caused by decades of smoking.
Ms Faithfull received the World Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2009 Women’s World Awards, and was made a commandeur of the ‘Ordre des Arts et des Lettres‘, by the government of France.
The singer was married and divorced three times, to artist John Dunbar in 1965, Ben Brierly of the punk band the ‘Vibrators’ in 1979, and actor Giorgio Della Terza in 1988.
She is survived by her son, Nicholas Dunbar.
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