I have always been a massive fan of Marianne Faithfull. I first saw her perform at the Athaneum in Melbourne with my Dad in 1989. I was 13 and was probably the youngest person in the audience by a good 20 years. At least. I loved the grittiness of her voice and the subject matter of her songs. She was, and still is, the antithesis of the upbeat pop phenomenon and I loved her. She'd survived so much and still kept going despite the drug overdoses, the anorexia, the health issues, the failed marriages. The relationships with rock stars like Mick Jagger, the cultured noble upbringing. It all combined to create such a glamourous, sophisticated and exotic creature for a 13 year old. She even smoked on stage. Get out!Fast forward 20-odd years and to be frank, with everything she has been through I am surprised (yet delighted) she is still performing.
She is such a rock and roll survivor and her performance last night at the Sydney Opera House demonstrated that in spades. She sang most of my favourites - Times Square, Broken English, Strange Weather, Why d'ya do it? Sister Morphine, As Tears go By and my absolute favourite - The Ballad of Lucy Jordan. Strangly upbeat version for a song about suicide, but it was still Lucy. No Working Class Hero, though. She promised - she'll open with it next time she comes.
So, despite being 64 and slightly nutty (she's fairly batty, actually), and her voice getting more and more cracked and worn with age, she's still got it. In spades.
Viva La Marianne!
Kitty
3 comments:
Have you seen her in the film Irina Palm? A really interesting stoiry and a good performance from her in it :)
I haven't seen it. Will have to track it down! I loved her in Marie Antoinette, though. She's just fantastic!
Cool! I should perhaps warn you it's a slightly icky subject matter that isn't for everyone :) The kind of movie you definitely don't want to watch with your parents! :P
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