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In the 1960s, Marianne Faithfull was the girl of the Stones. In those days of excess and drugs, she rolled from one "stone" to another, and her most tumultuous relationship was with the head honcho, Jagger. Some time after Brian Jones's death, she swallowed a few hundred tranquilizer tablets and for six days took a peek into the afterlife before awakening from the coma. Funny for a girl whose surname is "full of faith" and yet feels the need to self-destruct.
Her limbo lasted for nine years when she decided to get back in the game with a couple of good albums, including the rightly celebrated "Broken English". When in 1985 the never too praised producer Hal Willner called upon a group of great artists for a tribute album to Kurt Weill's music, he was struck by the version of "Ballad of Soldier's Wife" delivered by Marianne with the flair of a German cabaret singer à la Marlene Dietrich. So he decided to produce an album of hers infused with this atmosphere and in 1987 the extraordinary "Strange Weather" was ready, taking its title from a song written specifically by Tom Waits and his wife. Her voice is like a female Waits, even darker than before, hoarsened by a troubled life, in one word: fascinating.
Just as, indeed, the songs chosen for the album are full of charm. Some old classic from the 1930s gathering dust on the shelves of memory like "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" and "Penthouse Serenade"; a beautiful version imbued with melancholy of the song "Yesterday" by Jerome Kern, made unforgettable by Billie Holiday; an intense blues (Ain't Goin' Down to the Well No Mo') sung a cappella derived from Alan Lomax's recordings of the great Leadbelly; a gospel (Sign of Judgement) made bare by the piano and Marianne's drunken voice; the title track (Waits himself will later record it in his "Big Time") that is a poignant ballad rich with those bohemian atmospheres typical of Willner's productions; an old blues like "Love, Life and Money" crafted in 1957 for the young voice of Little Willie John and still redolent of smoky venues where the love for life costs a quarter of a dollar; the beautiful liquid opening of the guitar for a minor ballad by Bob Dylan (I'll Keep It with Mine) which was also chosen by Nico for her first solo album; an unreleased track (Hello Stranger) by Doc Pomus and Dr. John with a soft jazz sound that highlights Marianne's interpretative abilities but perhaps not in tune with the rest of the album.
In the end, an intense version of "As Tears Go By" by Jagger/Richards, which had already appeared on Faithfull's debut album way back in 1965! It's just like someone tore out a piece of heart to place it in the palm of your hand, closing your fingers around that shred of life offered in sincerity.
If ever sadness and beauty had a common sound, it would certainly be that of "Strange Weather".
Tracklist and Lyrics
06 Strange Weather (04:15)
Will you take me across the Channel,
London Bridge is falling down.
Strange a woman tries to save
What a man will try to drown.
And he's the rain that they predicted,
It's the forecast every time.
The rose has died because you picked it
An' I believe that brandy's mine.
And all over the world
Strangers
Talk only about the weather.
All over the world
It's the same
It's the same
It's the same.
The word is getting flatter,
The sky is falling all around.
And nothing is the matter
For I never cry in town.
And a love like ours, my dear,
Is best measured when it's down.
And I never buy umbrellas,
For there's always one around.
And all over the world
Strangers
Talk only about the weather.
All over the world
It's the same
It's the same
It's the same.
And you know that it's beginning,
And you know that it's the end
When once again we are strangers
And the fog comes rolling in.
And all over the world
Strangers
Talk only about the weather.
All over the world
It's the same
It's the same
It's the same.
Dr. John:
You ready ? 2, 3, 4, 1.
09 Hello Stranger (02:31)
Hello stranger, hello stranger.
Who is that person in the mirror ? it's not me.
Whatever happened to the one that I used to be ?
Is she just another fading memory ?
Hello stranger, hello stranger.
Hello stranger, hello stranger.
Every night you're always in my bed.
Every day you stay inside my head.
Oh, how I wish that I was there instead
Of some sad stranger,
Some sad stranger,
Hello stranger.
11 As Tears Go By (03:56)
It is the evening of the day,
I sit and watch the children play.
Smiling faces I can see
But not for me,
I sit and watch as tears go by.
My riches can't buy everything,
I want to hear the children sing.
All I hear is the sound
Of rain falling on the ground,
I sit and watch as tears go by.
It is the evening of the day,
I sit and watch the children play.
Doing things I used to do
They think are new,
I sit and watch as tears go by.
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm
Hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm, hmm ...
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