Added: 4 years ago
From: inneedoftherapie
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  • i love this song she didnt commit suicied i dont believe that she got what she wanted so this is a happy song

  • It's really about all the regrets in a woman's life,before she gets bogged down by the needs of others,and suddenly she thinks,i will never ride through Paris with the wind blowing in my hair,cos that time has passed,unless there is a bloody miracle!!!

  • I feel that the long white car is a space rocket and the list of things she could do were imaginary stuff to keep her mind occupied. She bowed and curtsied to the President before setting off to walk to the launch pad and she's still up there in space - SPYING ON US !!!

    Yeah, well that's my interpretation of it & you're not going to convince me otherwise ;-)

  • My Mum LOVES this song..she plays it when shes sad and it cheers her up <3 It is a cool tune I like the kettledrums :-)

  • will always be greatfull to husband 4 the intro to these guys back in the day late 80s they always make me cry and laugh not many can do that tats why they are the greatest

  • she didn't commit suicide, she was institutionalised, the long white car was the ambulance,

  • the most awesome medicine show tune ever!!!

  • Dr Hook...so many great songs. This is one of the best.

  • never did it..don't want to go to that chichenshit country..but it is a good song..

  • I think you can ride thru paris with the warm wind in your hair at any age, go for it if you get the opportunity

  • Geiler Song

  • Love Dr hook in fact listened to them over and over, must have drove my neighbours mad with this one, Sorry everyone

  • I think people miss the fact that she commits suicide at the end, because stepping off the roof of your home into forever is pretty self-explanatory. So yeah it's a beautiful but it really sad too.

  • I don't think she committs suicide. The lyrics are: "She bowed and curtsied to the man/

    Who reached and offered her his hand/And led her down to the long white car/That waited pass the crowd" 'Long white car' would seem to be an ambulance - which means 'the man' leading her to it would most likely be a parademic. So she was taken away after a breakdown, and the Paris trip at the end is her delusional imaginings.

  • @bogoas81 that's also Marianne Faithfull's interpretation of the song.

  • One of my favorite songs!!! Though I don't think most realize this is about suicide.

  • @draghynmystress - In an interview on 24 June 2007, Marianne Faithfull, who recorded the song after Dr. Hook, said that in the story, Lucy climbs to the roof top but gets taken away by "the man who ... offered her his hand" in an ambulance ("long white car") to a mental hospital, and that the final lines ("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 ...") are actually in her imagination at the hospital.

  • @wjosephsimmons That's Marianne's take on the song. If your going to post something get the full story behind it:

    "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan was, Faithfull explained, originally a hit for Dr Hook (I had no idea of this) and she said that she heard the song and knew that she could turn it around and present it from the woman's point of view; make it into a kind of anthem. The ending of the song does not mean that Lucy Jordan commits suicide - rather she is taken away to an asylum.."

  • @draghynmystress - Okay, so how is my comment incomplete? Where (other than the fact that Faithfull's rendition was used in "Thelma and Louise") does it imply suicide in the lyrics?

  • @wjosephsimmons And just what do you think she was doing on that rooftop? Singing for everyone? She was trying to commit suicide! 

  • @draghynmystress - Well I suppose with a vivid imagination you might interpret it as suicidal behavior, but to me it suggests mental illness more "... or run naked through the shady street screaming all the way".

    

  • @wjosephsimmons Not going to argue this, though it's not a far stretch of "vivid" imagination to come to the conclusion she wanted to commit suicide. I don't talk lightly on this subject - not as someone who has lost many loved ones to suicide or as having tried to commit suicide myself. I will tell you though as a woman who has tried to committ suicide this song has alot of meaning behind it.

    You can interpret this song how how you choose, as I will.

  • @draghynmystress - It is a really beautiful song. Peace!

  • @draghynmystress It is an anthem for all the women chained to a live of domestic imprisonment with the spirit of excitement and adventure alive and strong and calling to them from deep in within their souls. Lucy simply couldn't cope. Whatever became of her, who knows. I like to think that she found herself and learned to love and respect herself and to live and honest and rewarding life, breaking away from her chains. Sometimes a breakdown leads to a breakthrough. Power 2 all women!!!

  • Love all DR, Hook . I,ve got about ten c.d.s of theirs and seen them in concert they were fantastic.

  • @muriel29north I saw them in concert last year!!!Was amazing!!

  • I'd never heard this song before just now, but Lord - I can certainly relate!! It's so nice to know I'm not the only one!!

  • something so stron abe siffre

  • hey 44nomore/ you asked me if I preferred Hook to Faithful. I have always liked both the same. When it came down to my songs I took the first to accept. I play Hook's version more though. Hook never got the recognition he deserved. One of the great singers who sang all songs with the emotion and energy that belonged.

  • Thank you Shel. You enlightened me as a child and inspired me as an adult. Thank you Dennis for your gift of your amazing passion and voice that bring your songs straight to my home and my heart. I love these two poets.

  • The music of Dr Hook is inspirational.Reminding us its our choices that that set us on the paths we walk.Take responsibility for your choices,blame no one.

  • could never understand how my mam felt about this song when she was 37,,, but i will be 37 in july and this song is haunting me,,, the words are killing me,, only thing is i have been in paris,,,,

  • Give Dennis Locorriere his due. He has a dreamy voice. And he's still performing -- in the U.K.

  • 8 dislikes are just a fly on a pancake....it is a all time great song !!.

  • the 8 who dislike born in the 90's .... dr. hook are great band ... i like all their songs this are my music during 1980's

  • marriane faithfu-l wiwo ----- dr hooks is the best by far.this song was originally written for dr hook. Brilliant.

  • 297 like & 8 don't, wonder if the 8 are 37, female & have no life?

  • marcoscazzer, you're having a good life, my friend.

  • i was locked up 38 times.

  • 8 people need to ride thru paris in a sports car with the wind blowin thru their hair....... oh and before they are 37 :) top song Dr

  • Thats what i call a man

  • Top band and what an awesome voice. I can listen to Dr Hook all day, great talents.

  • Good version!

  • good song by dr hook but prefer marriann faithful version

  • Songs like this cannot be dated. they mean so much to people now, as whenever they were written and performed. A true classic .

  • My 20th favourite song of all time

  • "Anything by Dr. Hook" has always been my favorite song.

    It's funny how music becomes so much a part of who you are. My kids (in their mid 30's) were both raised on this music, and they love it as much as I do.

    Great thanks to the Dr. Hook bandmembers.

  • @bannie Personally, I'd say anything by early Dr Hook (and The Medicine Show) was class. They went a bit too commercial for me (Sexy Eyes etc,).

    I take your point, though!

  • @bannie Im in the same boat as your kids, my Dad loved Dr Hook, Smokie & the Eagles. so singing along to these tunes is like second nature to me & my siblings. As it will probably be for my kids aswell.

  • Feeling quite proud of myself right now as i have made it to 44!!!!!!! however I still feel the need to scream all the way!

  • That's Cool Marcoscazzer.

  • This song was "popularized" in the movie Thelma and Louise and I believe that Marrianne Faithful was the vocalist for that version of the song but, in agreement with what someone else said, Marrianne Faithful's rendition didn't impress me as much as the original song. (But, Faithful has done some memorable songs that are in my iTunes library!)

    I adore this song, in spite of the message that lives can go unsatisfied, which in turn suggests that we should live life as fully as we can.

  • this music takes lots of us back to a simpler time when loving and partying where all that life was about ,, now sadly my children live in fear , and have no idea of the freedom we had back then ,,,,,, morbid? maybee but anyone who came of age in the 70s will understand me ,,,,,,, DR. HOOK is still the best

  • twee123456 You are not an old softie. You appreciate good music and you're not afraid to say it touches you deeply. I have sat for over an hour listening to my oldies and crying as it brought back memories and relieved all stress. It was a beautiful escape from the stresses of life on this physical plane on which we live.

  • as near perfection as you can get.

  • The Best !! Proud to have seen them live great music .

  • beautiful song 

  • I think this song is fantastic. Dr Hook does it best, but Wiwa is pretty good also. Not too excited about Faithful's attempt.

  • having a reflective & complentive moment listen to dr hook

  • re-arrange what flowers? and my last baby is starting school in sept! I have still never been taken to paris but had to sell my sports car as it wouldn't take a baby car seat. Sadly I am not even anywhere near 37 anymore! Clearly have nothing going for me these days whilst my husband is still of to work and successfully climbing the career ladder without a backward glance!!

  • Never heard this one before ,knew it from the divine Marianne Faithful.......i like it ,no i love it !

  • I always hoped that my life will change before or at 37...alas it did not and I am never going to drive through Paris in a sports car...although, I have 3 days left before I turn 38...one can only dream about miracles!!

  • The song that made my mind up about getting a divorce :) That was over 20 years ago. Gotta love Dr Hook and the Medicine Band :)

  • I have never ever heard a cover version of this track. No could possibly do it after Lenny Locorriere

  • @valerie123114

    You really should have a listen to Marianne Faithfull singing this wonderfull song

  • Flott musikk

  • Great song...well done!

  • love this .

  • it's so good, i love it

  • pure pain.

  • This song reminds me of my grandad. This was the last song he listened to before he passed away :'(

  • really nice, have you heard Belinda Carlisle version ( very very good) its on the b side of Always breaking my heart

  • @quasi7373

    Found the belinda carlisle version...am trying to upload to here..but I new to the uploading side of this, and have NO clue how to put pictures to tune...any help anybody???

  • love this song thx for posting it

  • What really compliments this tune are the steel drums.... cool sound!

  • A week before my wifes 37th birthday this came on the radio and made her cry.

    2 days before her 37th birthday I was driving her through paris in our Marcos with the roof down and the wind blowing through her hair.

    At the age of 37, she'd done it. :)

  • @Marcoscazzer

    Great I love this reply. Someones wife is in for a big suprise!

  • @Marcoscazzer Everyone should have a man like you............

  • @waterbugx Thanks for that :)

    But I can be as useless and insensitve as most other blokes too.

    I think I earned a lot of brownie points that day though :)

  • @Marcoscazzer you made me cry. What a beautiful thing to do.

  • @Marcoscazzer Well done, you Sir are a gentleman and a scholar; you made me realise how much I owe to my wife and still haven't repaid her love and hope she has given me.

  • @Marcoscazzer God bless you for one of the most beautiful comments I've seen on this site...

  • @Marcoscazzer She's a lucky lady to have a feller like you then. Fair play to you mate. Here's hoping you got yours that night! ;)

  • @Marcoscazzer What a wonderful husband your wife has.

  • @Marcoscazzer that sound like love

  • @Marcoscazzer that sound like love

    

  • @Marcoscazzer That is such a sweet story, I hope you had a swell time and she made it worthwhile for the both of you.

  • @Marcoscazzer Good for you! God bless you both!! Your love for her is a treasure! You are a good man!

  • I prefer Mariannes version, better sung by a woman.

  • I always enjoy listenig 2 this n have to sing out loud to it

  • Naturally - a great song of dreams never come to happen... one of the most touching ballads ever!

    Who does songs like this nowadays?

  • Great song but so many different stories about what the song is all about.

    I was told when i was younger that it is about a woman named lucy who fantasises about a better life and turns to drugs to forget about the bad times.

    Sadly she has an overdose and dies.

  • Lucy Jordan is about a housewife in the late sixties. She lives in a nice surburban house, and is, as home working houseswifes were at that time, doing what she are supposed to: Cleaning, kids, food etc. She is not on drugs but is an alcoholic. She turns crazy. "The long white care pass the crowd" are a mental hospital car. (In her twisted mind its becomes the "white sports car. And the nice man is from the physiatric hosp. A song only Dennis can sing and only Shell Silvestein can write. Kim

  • I went on holiday with my ex.

    I was 37.

    We went to Paris for a week.

    I tried to get her to join me in renting a sports car for a day.

    She wouldn't.

    That was pretty much that.

  • In 1999 I started working on my Bucket List after a health scare, and I'm so thankful that I didn't turn into Lucy. I've done just about everything I dreamed of when I was young, and don't regret any of it.

  • The greatest song ever written...fact!!!

  • So know where she is coming from though haven't quite made it to the roof just yet! x

  • 4 months on and getting closer to the roof every day!

  • just driven across the new forrest in the sun and roof down

  • i have the sports car but no one to take to paris

  • Take me

  • dude im so sry :P

  • Well, she climbs on her rooftop and seen a man with a sportscar and tries to reach it....

    I hope you'll never ride THAT sportscar.

  • i could solve your problem!

  • really nice i'd love to see a live vid of this, check out Belinda carlisle's version it's very good.

  • What really sets this version of "Lucy Jordan" in a caliber of its own are the steel drum percussion effects in the background! Gives the tune an almost Caribbean flavor.... Great Job!

  • So she does get to ride through Paris with the warm sun in her hair right ?

    I better start saving! or in 5 yrs I'll be ringing sylvias mum! :-(

  • ive enjoyed your vids they bring back alot of memories of a easer time :-)

  • when i was born this song was blastin in the emergency room so its in my head 11014315055015423125831236556

    453

    2.453454854.105456421214215141­m5424534374561247787/8

  • Out of interest, what were all the numbers for? I've been wondering since I saw your comment three weeks ago. :D

  • im 37 so dis song relates to me ya no so yas this song is awsome ya no tlk to ya later bye bye now bye bye

  • I hope you will get 38.

    Lucy Jordan only got 37 years, you know?

  • luv this song oooooooooo dr. hook i luv you :):):) cant wait to get married to ya doctor

  • *lach* schööön

  • Love Dr Hook....one of those bands you never remember all the songs of or when someone asks you what music you like their name slips your mind but what great music....and what a distinctive voice, this and the Marianne Faithful version both great in their different ways...

  • Great band, great song, but so sad!

  • liked this song for years by marrianne faithful but love this version!

  • Classic

  • Best Dr hook song they did , simple.. class stuff..

  • Where in the hell is Cameron Mackintosh? The ballad of Lucy Jordan ....based on the songs of Dr Hook, would be a worldwide smash...songs come no better than this...and the narrative flows!

  • This is a great classic song. I love Dr. Hook +++++

  • The best song Dr Hook has ever done

  • Thankyou so much for posting this,have searched for this song for a very long time. Kimbo

  • I adore this song. This is a great version, but for me Marianne Faithful's voice and style bring it to life like no other person could.

  • The latest one I know of is Marianne Faithfull's, which is every bit as good as this

  • This is what Mick Jagger would sound like if he were able to sing.

  • nice version...who wrote this one

  • shel wrote thistoo.

  • dr hook was a strong music influnce on a friend of mine so i was wondering if all the band is still alive

  • know at leats that one them's dead but ray and dennis live still;)

  • Thank you for all Dr Hook. My head's f*cked up tonight and thank God I came across this.

  • Wow. Powerful. Reminiscent of Hoyt Axtons "Betty LaRues gone to heaven".

  • i´m born in 1950. Dr. Hook for ever

  • This band is just great and this song is one of the best ever apart from the wonderful soup stone

  • dr hook at their best thanks

  • This is a masterpiece. The Hook's finest song and Shel's finest hour....just brilliant!!!!

  • by the way that was sung by Dennis not shel. dennis is Fantastic live!!

  • another great song bt shel.

  • It may have been written by someone else but Dr. Hook is THE BEST!!!!

  • shel silverstien wrote thid to dr hoook so i see it as a hook song to 100%

  • I get that the song was written by a well known songwriter. not by some tortured person... Look it up. Just type:

    background ballad of Lucy Jordan

    in your address bar...

  • this song is just beautiful

    i went to see dennis live!! in the music hall, shrewqsbury. it was brill and amazing

  • This song makes my heart hurt, it's so beautiful. Guess I'man old softie.

  • Most of hooks songs will make your heart hurt that is the magic of listening to a real heartfelt song by them. We like softies here well kinda you know what I mean.

  • @inneedoftherapie Agree, but... If you like that Dennis Locorriere voice and style of music you don't know to laugh or cry then you never forget the man who created all this - great Shel Silvestein. RIP by now.

    There is a lot of his work also performed by Bobby Bare. The man in country i love more than any other at this field. But again - he goes as real shiny star with Shel .

  • The official song was composed by a young virgin that was tortured to an extreme in the late spring of 1967 and her only escape was to run down Jean Talon Street totally naked. And, she had dreams that would never be fullfilled. And, it changes from 27, 37, 47... But, I like this version better than Maryanne Faithful who was recuperating from a knife wound slashed across her neck.

  • hi iris !

    Do you know more about this accident(?) (sry, no native engl.speaker)

  • oh my god .......i love this song ......thankyou so much for posting this

  • fantastic song.think i like Marianne Faithfuls version best

  • I will have to compare both versions thanks for watching

  • id forgotten about this song- brilliant!

  • it is on the albums

    

    THE BEST FROM SHEL SILVERSTEIN and

    Ballad of Lucy Jordan

  • inneedoftherapie is the song on eny cd or on film enywere

  • thank you for letting me know that still a great song

  • yw and you are right this song is great. No matter who sings it I am just partial to dr hook =)

  • marianne faithfull cover is older than dr hooks 7o s cover

  • The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan, although written in '73 by prolific songwriter, artist, poet and storyteller Shel Silverstein, was not officially released until 1975. Surprisingly to many, the original version was released by soft-rock band Dr Hook,

    1979 saw the release of Marianne Faithfull's

    version

  • Perfect, reminds me of good ol days when I was only a teen back then. Just great!!!

  • i got this on cd by belinda carlisle

  • excellent version

  • I like this. I'd rather see a video like this, than see a version with a muddy sound. See also Marianne Faithfull's version. Quite different, but also good. Shel Silverstein had a way with words.

  • gives me goose bumps ...great song :-)

  • thanks alot for this brilliant song, i've been trying to find this song for months as i had a couple of lines in my head and couldn't get a title for. brilliant

  • wat was de muziek van vroeger toch goed

    genieten

    kunnen ze vandaag aan de dag nog wat van leren

  • i can't find any of thier record here in Singapore. really like these lovely creatures.

  • no offence to the woman who orionally sang this but dr hook sing it so much better theres no screeching like in her verison

  • I love this version as well they are the only ones I can ever see singing this after them.

  • Actually Dr. Hook originally sang it. This is the original version

  • Wow, that was lovely,I have never heard that one- Briliant.

    Nikki xx

  • glad you enjoyed it =)

  • Shel Silverstein was a prolific writer, poet and humorist. There's so much fabric to this man's life, you really SHOULD read his entry in wikipedia to get a full view of this true artist. I'm not sure exactly how he got "hooked" up (sorry) with Dr. Hook, but it turned out to be one of those serendipitous events that worked well for him, them and music fans the world over. I don't think any other band could have done justice to this man's songs the way they did.

  • I will have to check it out havent wickied him yet.

  • They met because of the Movie back in 1970 because of the movie "Who is Harry Kellerman and why is he saying these terrible things about me?" also on Wikipedia under Dr. Hook. I grew up listening to these guys. Loved them then, still do.

  • thanks for the reminder cherylds I still need to wickie them hope you are having a nice evening

  • that is how dennis and shel met for those of you who do not know. great movie to watch also for all you hoook fans since they did the entire soundtrack.

  • what movie ?

  • "Who is Harry Kellerman and why is he saying these terrible things about me?"

  • great song by a great group

  • I have always been a great fan of Dr. Hook and also love the version of this song by Marrianne Faithfull, but i never knew that Dr. Hook recorded and wrote it. I love very much and even more. Dr. Hook really put the motion into this brillant sad song. i can't get enough of it.

  • the didn't write it, it was written by a poet called Shel Silverstein, but Dr. Hook was the first to record it. i like you love this version by Marianne Faithful as well as this version. its great