{"id":3605,"date":"2011-08-22T00:52:53","date_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:52:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=3605"},"modified":"2011-08-22T00:52:53","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T07:52:53","slug":"marianne-faithfull","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2011\/08\/marianne-faithfull\/","title":{"rendered":"MARIANNE FAITHFULL"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

MARIANNE FAITHFULL<\/h1>\n

A legendary rock chanteuse talks sad songs and horror stories<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Yes, singer, songwriter and\u00a0actress Marianne Faithfull\u2019s 1964 breakthrough hit \u201cAs Tears Go By\u201d was written by the Rolling Stones\u2019 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Yes, she and Jagger dated throughout the late \u201960s. No, she doesn\u2019t want to talk about it. \u201cI don\u2019t even mention their names,\u201d she says. \u201cThose people are written out of my picture.\u201d Today the picture includes her 19th and latest solo album, Horses and High Heels<\/em>, recorded in New Orleans with producer Hal Willner. It\u2019s an eclectic set of intimate originals and well-fitted covers featuring guest turns from Lou Reed, Dr. John and MC5 guitarist Wayne Kramer. The London native, 64, spoke to us from Paris, where she\u2019s lived\u00a0for the last eight years.<\/p>\n

Do you consider your songs dark?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I find it easier to write drama and sad songs and horror stories. There are a lot of jingle writers who can turn out happy pap for years. But writers like Nick Cave or PJ Harvey [who co-produced 2003\u2019s Before the Poison<\/em>] don\u2019t tend to write happy little jingles. It\u2019s hard work. Obviously it would be absurd if I did a whole record of entirely happy songs, partly because I\u2019m so good at the dark side. I find writing my own to be much harder work. If you ask Nick to give you a rundown of my faults, he\u2019d say, \u201cShe\u2019s incredibly talented, but she\u2019s very lazy and needs\u00a0a kick up the ass.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did Hal help choose songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

He did. There were a lot of arguments as to what should be the finished product, huge rows\u2014the usual making of a record. (laughs<\/em>) He and I adore each other, so we\u2019re used to it. When we\u2019re not working he\u2019s my dearest best beloved. When we are working I\u2019m terrified of him. This was one of the most exciting recordings since we started together.<\/p>\n

What does the title refer to?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Oh, it\u2019s nothing. It\u2019s absurd. It\u2019s to make me laugh. The cover art is really kitsch, absolutely lighthearted. I miss psychedelia, and this\u00a0is my version.<\/p>\n

Why record in New Orleans?<\/strong><\/p>\n

We wanted all that beauty, a nice time and good food. And we wanted [bassist] George Porter Jr. He\u2019s a very old friend from way back.<\/p>\n

How were the guests recruited?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Hal brought in Lou Reed, although Lou is a great friend of mine. Dr. John is also a great friend. Wayne Kramer has become my new best friend. He\u2019s been on tour with us in Europe. Plus we\u2019re going to write together.<\/p>\n

Do you have a backlog of songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I have a backlog, but I also have a deadline. At the moment I\u2019ve got plenty of time, but I\u2019m starting to put things together. I would like to write more songs on the next album than I did on this one. It seems that fans are really keen on my songs. They like to get little windows into me.<\/p>\n

Any regrets?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been overshadowed by certain people, and I\u2019ve been held back by certain people, and \u201cscrew \u2019em\u201d is all I can say. It\u2019ll all come out in the wash. My main thing is music. I love acting because I love playing other people, but music has saved my life.<\/p>\n

What are your goals?<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019d like to make a garden. Apart from\u00a0that, just music.<\/p>\n

\u2013Jeff Tamarkin<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MARIANNE FAITHFULL A legendary rock chanteuse talks sad songs and horror stories Yes, singer, songwriter and\u00a0actress Marianne Faithfull\u2019s 1964 breakthrough hit \u201cAs Tears Go By\u201d was written by the Rolling Stones\u2019 Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Yes, she and Jagger dated throughout the late \u201960s. No, she doesn\u2019t want to talk about it. \u201cI don\u2019t […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7],"tags":[1636,2480,970],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3605"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3607,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3605\/revisions\/3607"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3605"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3605"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3605"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}