The Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithfull

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mosoul65
October 16, 2009

"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. Originally recorded by Dr Hook and covered by the English singer Marianne Faithfull. Taken from her 1979 album Broken English, it was released as a single in November 1979. It is featured on the soundtracks of the films Montenegro, Tarnation and Thelma & Louise.

In an interview on ITV's The South Bank Show aired on 24 June 2007, Faithfull said that the story she intended to put across in the song was that Lucy climbs to the roof top but gets taken away by "the man who reached and 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.

Marianne Faithfull sings The Ballad of Lucy Jordan over the credit sequence of the film "Montenegro". Marilyn Jordan (Susan Anspach) is a bored, depressed American housewife, married to a rich Swedish businessman with two seemingly perfect children. Slowly showing signs of mental illness from the mundane routine of her life, she tries to "spice up" her existence by surprising the family when she eats their entire dinner, setting the bedclothes on fire and poisoning the pet dog's milk and then advising it not to drink. Eventually Martin, Marilyn's husband, decides to show her to a psychiatrist, but that only serves to further her frustration.

One day, when she decides to accompany her husband on a business trip, Marilyn gets detained by security at the airport on a technicality. After missing her plane, she is befriended by a group of gypsies and is taken to a club they run, bearing the odd name of "Zanzi-Bar." There, Marilyn indulges in their fantastic, surreal world of shovel fighting, lamb roasting, striptease and free love. It all culminates with Marilyn having a passionate fling with a young man named Montenegro (Svetozar Cvetkovic) who works in a zoo.

After spending the night with Montenegro, Marilyn realizes that even though she adores this world, she is a stranger in it. Completely snapping upon this realization, she kills the young man and returns home. Once there, she serves her family and the obnoxious psychiatrist a gourmet dinner, followed by a light dessert of fruit... that turns out to be poisoned. The final intertitle states: The film is based on a true story.

Marianne Evelyn Faithfull, Baroness Sacher-Masoch (born 29 December 1946) is an award-winning English singer, songwriter and actress whose career spans over four decades. Her early work in pop and rock music in the 1960s was overshadowed by her struggle with drug abuse in the 1970s. During the first two-thirds of that decade, and with little notice, only two studio albums were produced. After a long commercial absence, she returned late in 1979 with the landmark album, Broken English. Faithfull's subsequent solo work, often critically acclaimed, has at times been overshadowed by her personal history.

Category: Music

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Ballad of Lucy Jordan Marianne Faithfull Broken English

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usedMTVpromos (1 week ago) Show Hide

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I do prefer the younger, less raspy vocal talents once expressed (now long gone) of Ms. Faithfull.
Long may she warble tho.

mosoul65 (4 days ago) Show Hide

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Yeah and I prefer the color of my hair when I was 18 years old. Nevertheless I hope I have enough to offer that people will still tune me in. Maybe if my audience is hip enough they may find the 52 year old me at least as interesting as the younger version.

usedMTVpromos (3 days ago) Show Hide

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& or maybe not...

venus2k7 (1 week ago) Show Hide

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I happen to love this song, It made the closing scene of Montenegro more than memorable. As for usedMTVpromos, your comments seem sexist and ageist. I admire Marianne for her courage and honesty. She is a true survivor and she looks great!

usedMTVpromos (1 month ago) Show Hide

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Faithfull at her most phony.

In '65, this byrd had flown, but here she's scrapping tyhe barrel bottom.

Yeccch., trying tho. Mosoul65....
keep Searchin'!

mosoul65 (1 month ago) Show Hide

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Phoney to you perhaps, but she related to this Shel Silverstein-penned song. As for scrapping the bottom, well I suppose some do scrap their low points. Or did you mean scrape? I am sorry for the apparent decline of your usually heartfelt and welcome critiques. Let's agree to disagree on this one.

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The Ballad of Lucy Jordan - Marianne Faithfull

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