WEBVTT - Marianne Faithfull Fights Back 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:26.596 Pushkin. Marianne Faithful has been many things throughout her half 0:00:26.596 --> 0:00:30.076 a century in music, a close confidant of the Rolling Stones, 0:00:30.596 --> 0:00:34.316 a pop star, a homeless drug addict, and a critically 0:00:34.316 --> 0:00:51.436 acclaimed comeback artist Evening I Search. Despite a career filled 0:00:51.436 --> 0:00:55.276 with personal and professional turmoil, mary Anne Faithful has always 0:00:55.316 --> 0:00:59.316 managed to find her footing. Last year, just as Europe 0:00:59.316 --> 0:01:02.236 started to go into quarantine, Marie Anne was recording a 0:01:02.316 --> 0:01:06.236 series of spoken word renditions of nineteenth century Romantic poems 0:01:06.756 --> 0:01:10.156 scored by Brian Eno in a Cave and her longtime 0:01:10.196 --> 0:01:14.556 collaborator Warren Ellis. But then in April of twenty twenty, 0:01:14.956 --> 0:01:19.476 Maryanne was hospitalized with the coronavirus. Now, nearly a year later, 0:01:19.796 --> 0:01:22.956 she says she's been deemed a COVID longhauler because of 0:01:22.996 --> 0:01:26.876 the virus's lingering effects on her lungs and short term memory. 0:01:27.356 --> 0:01:31.036 On today's episode, Bruce Heathlam talks to Maryanne Faithful about 0:01:31.036 --> 0:01:34.836 how COVID has impacted her work, her stalled biopic, and 0:01:34.956 --> 0:01:43.116 why she resented being labeled Mick Jagger's news. This is 0:01:43.156 --> 0:01:46.756 broken record liner notes for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond. 0:01:51.996 --> 0:01:55.676 Here's Bruce Heathlam and Maryanne Faithful. We want to talk 0:01:55.716 --> 0:01:58.236 about your new album, She Walks in Beauty, And which 0:01:58.316 --> 0:02:03.956 is you reading romantic poetry? We say romantic poetry, We 0:02:03.996 --> 0:02:07.596 mean poetry from the great Romantic writers like Shelley and 0:02:07.716 --> 0:02:15.116 Byron and century Romantic English. And you read over these 0:02:15.436 --> 0:02:21.676 sort of beautiful musical soundscapes created by Warren Ellis, who's 0:02:21.676 --> 0:02:26.316 one of your regular collaborators, Nick cave Brian Eno. So, first, 0:02:26.556 --> 0:02:30.276 when did the idea for this album come to you? Well, 0:02:30.716 --> 0:02:34.676 it's been an idea I've had for a long time, 0:02:35.276 --> 0:02:38.476 but I never thought it would come to the point 0:02:38.516 --> 0:02:41.996 where we could actually do it, you know, that the 0:02:42.116 --> 0:02:46.476 record company would be hip enough. It had a lot 0:02:46.516 --> 0:02:51.076 to do with meeting and working with my manager Francois, 0:02:52.476 --> 0:02:58.076 and of course Warren and Nick. What convinced the record 0:02:58.076 --> 0:03:01.716 company that this was a good idea? I'm not sure, 0:03:02.596 --> 0:03:06.916 but Francois did it. Anyway, It does seem very unlikely, 0:03:07.036 --> 0:03:11.356 you know, for record for anywa company. It's not the 0:03:11.396 --> 0:03:15.916 most commercial project we've ever heard of it, No, but 0:03:16.036 --> 0:03:18.996 it is a terrific project, and it's it is a 0:03:19.116 --> 0:03:22.076 terrific project. It is, And I want to talk about 0:03:22.236 --> 0:03:25.116 I think what makes it so terrific. But first of all, 0:03:25.156 --> 0:03:30.076 how did you choose these particular poems? I went through 0:03:30.116 --> 0:03:35.716 a lot with Head, actually, my producer and Alex. I 0:03:35.876 --> 0:03:40.676 went through a lot of Shelley, a lot of Byron 0:03:41.596 --> 0:03:45.636 Jeetz was the best one, really, because there's so much 0:03:45.916 --> 0:03:49.676 and it's so gorgeous. Not the best one, but the 0:03:50.356 --> 0:03:55.036 easiest one to find, although we still couldn't do everything 0:03:55.156 --> 0:04:00.636 in it. Well, the Thomas Wood one, the Bridge of Size. 0:04:01.356 --> 0:04:05.836 I discovered that when I was about fourteen or fifteen, 0:04:06.756 --> 0:04:10.236 and I loved it then, and I wondered once I 0:04:10.356 --> 0:04:14.676 started making records to all, I wonder if I could 0:04:14.716 --> 0:04:19.476 ever do a record of poetry like things I really like. 0:04:20.396 --> 0:04:24.396 And so I've been slowly gathering it together and having 0:04:24.996 --> 0:04:29.156 thoughts about it. Which poems I wanted to do for 0:04:29.236 --> 0:04:33.836 quite a long time. But what this project did for 0:04:34.036 --> 0:04:40.436 me I never really appreciated or liked words with but 0:04:40.676 --> 0:04:45.996 now through this I've begun to really love words. It 0:04:46.076 --> 0:04:49.436 was very good for me. Like that, Oh, that's interesting. 0:04:49.876 --> 0:04:53.476 A lot of people who like Byron and Shelley, you know, 0:04:53.556 --> 0:04:55.316 part of the deal is they decide they don't like 0:04:55.396 --> 0:04:58.676 Wordsworth early on. Well, I don't think I did that 0:04:59.076 --> 0:05:03.516 consciously anyway. I just didn't really didn't really get it. 0:05:03.636 --> 0:05:06.796 You know. Did you grow up in a home where 0:05:06.956 --> 0:05:11.316 poetry was part of your education, part of daily life. Yes, 0:05:11.476 --> 0:05:15.636 I suppose I did. Your father taught literature right, No, 0:05:16.396 --> 0:05:21.116 he was a professor of Italian Renaissance. Oh, I see 0:05:21.796 --> 0:05:27.956 m But that meant Petrock Dante all that he was 0:05:27.996 --> 0:05:32.196 also a spy, wasn't he he was. Yes, that's how 0:05:32.196 --> 0:05:34.436 he met your mother, I think, And that's I was 0:05:34.476 --> 0:05:38.396 just and that's how he met my mother, who was 0:05:38.436 --> 0:05:42.756 also She wasn't a spy, but she was in was 0:05:42.796 --> 0:05:47.836 hardly any resistance in Vienna, but my mother was involved 0:05:47.876 --> 0:05:52.596 in it because it was very straightforward. My grandmother, my 0:05:52.756 --> 0:05:58.676 lovely grandmother, Flora, was Jewish, so there was no question, 0:05:58.956 --> 0:06:03.156 you know. And your your mother also knew Curvile and 0:06:03.316 --> 0:06:07.116 Brect and these people, well, she only knew them to 0:06:07.476 --> 0:06:11.636 when they were going in for dance rehearsal into the theater. 0:06:12.116 --> 0:06:16.476 She worked in the Corded Ballet with Matt Rhinehart. And 0:06:16.516 --> 0:06:19.476 when all the little dancers would get trooping in to 0:06:19.636 --> 0:06:25.236 the theater for rehearsal, they would meet my uncle Alexander 0:06:25.836 --> 0:06:31.796 brother and that's a breach and Kurt Vilee coming out 0:06:31.916 --> 0:06:36.636 after an all nighter with lots to drink and lots 0:06:36.636 --> 0:06:41.316 of things written, so amazing. Yes, and they would they 0:06:41.356 --> 0:06:46.476 would all say good Morgan, heir breath, good Morgan, heal 0:06:46.996 --> 0:06:50.356 that sort of thing, you know. They were this little 0:06:50.396 --> 0:06:55.276 girl's Did you ever meet them later in life? Oh no, no, 0:06:55.356 --> 0:06:58.156 I wish no, of course not. No. I guess they're 0:06:58.196 --> 0:07:03.396 both gone. Okay, well I thought i'd ask. Yeah, all right, 0:07:03.676 --> 0:07:06.076 so what kind of you said? You read the Thomas 0:07:06.076 --> 0:07:10.756 Hood when you were fourteen? I came across. I think 0:07:10.796 --> 0:07:14.236 I was just very lucky. I somehow got hold of 0:07:14.316 --> 0:07:20.436 the book called Powe Grey's Golden Treasury, and it was 0:07:20.476 --> 0:07:23.076 in there and I read it and I was just 0:07:23.276 --> 0:07:26.716 blown away by it, you know. And a few of 0:07:26.756 --> 0:07:30.636 the other booms that I used were also in this book. 0:07:31.356 --> 0:07:34.636 But it was it was very broad. It wasn't just 0:07:35.236 --> 0:07:40.636 nineteenth century English Romantic. It was all sorts of poetry 0:07:40.676 --> 0:07:44.316 in general. But yeah, was the romantic poetry? Was nineteenth 0:07:44.316 --> 0:07:47.316 century poetry? Was that the poetry that grabbed you when 0:07:47.316 --> 0:07:52.236 you were young? Yes? And also that's the poetry that 0:07:52.396 --> 0:07:58.516 I started with my wonderful English teacher, Missus Simpson, when 0:07:58.556 --> 0:08:02.516 I think I was seventeen, and I would have gone 0:08:02.556 --> 0:08:06.276 on with that if I hadn't been discovered. Do you 0:08:06.676 --> 0:08:09.916 do you want to become a poet or an academic? 0:08:11.116 --> 0:08:15.716 You know? Well, I don't know. I might. I enjoyed learning, 0:08:15.756 --> 0:08:19.276 I enjoyed study. I didn't think I wanted to become 0:08:19.276 --> 0:08:23.596 a poet. Now. My poor father once asked me what 0:08:23.716 --> 0:08:28.636 I wanted to do. Oh no, I asked him. That 0:08:28.796 --> 0:08:32.556 was so awful, A trick question. Really. I asked my 0:08:32.596 --> 0:08:37.396 poor father what he thought I should do, and he 0:08:37.476 --> 0:08:42.076 gave the wrongs. He said he thought I should be 0:08:42.156 --> 0:08:48.636 a social scientist, a social worker. And I was so shocked, 0:08:48.996 --> 0:08:51.996 because of course I wanted to be a film star. 0:08:53.036 --> 0:08:55.676 And then you, famously, when you were I think sixteen, 0:08:55.716 --> 0:09:02.276 you were discovered, yes, well a bit older seventeen eighteen, yea, 0:09:03.556 --> 0:09:05.676 And you were kind of swept up into London at 0:09:05.676 --> 0:09:10.676 the time, and you yeah on the Rolling Stone Andrew 0:09:10.756 --> 0:09:14.156 lou golderm and all that. Yeah, and you recorded as 0:09:14.196 --> 0:09:17.276 Tears go By. It was a huge hit. Yes it 0:09:17.356 --> 0:09:20.596 wasn't a huge hit. I think it did rather well. 0:09:21.436 --> 0:09:26.556 It's a lovely lovely song. It is, I still like, yeah, 0:09:26.956 --> 0:09:30.956 and it's unfortunate getting considering your long career, you were 0:09:30.996 --> 0:09:35.596 always considered like amused to the Rolling Stones. Yeah, and 0:09:35.716 --> 0:09:41.276 that's really not a great job. No, it was accurate, 0:09:41.316 --> 0:09:45.756 but job show. You know, I can think of better ones. 0:09:46.476 --> 0:09:49.956 But yeah, I thought it was. But of course, I mean, 0:09:50.756 --> 0:09:57.356 I'm delighted that Nick or Keith or both found things 0:09:57.396 --> 0:10:01.556 to use in my brain. But that wasn't really what 0:10:01.716 --> 0:10:07.116 I want. You wanted to be your own star. Yeah, 0:10:06.796 --> 0:10:09.436 m and you had. You had a rough time of 0:10:09.436 --> 0:10:12.436 it for a while, and homelessness and addiction. I suppose 0:10:12.436 --> 0:10:14.796 I did, but I had a lot of fun too. 0:10:15.956 --> 0:10:20.436 But then really starting with I guess Broken English, Yeah, 0:10:20.596 --> 0:10:24.076 that was my big comeback. Yeah, and we think about 0:10:24.076 --> 0:10:25.836 it now. You were so young when you did that. 0:10:25.916 --> 0:10:30.876 Everybody I was very seemed so strange. Yeah, And since 0:10:30.916 --> 0:10:35.916 then you've become this incredible interpreter of people's work. I mean, 0:10:35.916 --> 0:10:39.996 you've written songs of yeahs as well as writing my 0:10:40.036 --> 0:10:44.596 own songs. You do, but you've you've covered so many people. 0:10:45.156 --> 0:10:49.516 One of my favorite cover versions you've ever done, and 0:10:49.556 --> 0:10:53.916 you probably don't remember doing it, was Spike Driver Blues 0:10:54.316 --> 0:10:58.876 for the Harry, of course I remember. I mean, you know, 0:10:59.156 --> 0:11:04.476 one of my absolute, very best, dearest, much loved friends 0:11:05.156 --> 0:11:09.636 was how Willna, who has just died because of COVID, 0:11:10.556 --> 0:11:13.676 and I miss him more than I can say, especially 0:11:13.756 --> 0:11:19.116 now with this lovely new boat. He wasn't here, I 0:11:19.156 --> 0:11:22.996 couldn't use him and I miss him so much. And 0:11:23.156 --> 0:11:26.756 all that thing of Spoke Drive Blues, which I love, 0:11:27.716 --> 0:11:31.076 was done. It was a show that how put together 0:11:31.716 --> 0:11:36.036 and he gave me to do spoke Driver Blues and 0:11:36.156 --> 0:11:39.156 it turned out really well. Was that his idea to 0:11:39.196 --> 0:11:43.116 do that? It was? It was Hol's idea. Yeah. Now 0:11:43.116 --> 0:11:45.916 when he first suggested that that's not your usual material 0:11:45.996 --> 0:11:49.916 it's an American blues folk song, well I really love 0:11:49.996 --> 0:11:53.996 American blue. But my question is you so often do songs? 0:11:54.036 --> 0:11:56.876 I think Down from Dover by Dolly Parton is another 0:11:56.916 --> 0:12:01.116 great example where yeah, you bring so much to a 0:12:01.196 --> 0:12:03.796 song when you sit down to say, okay, I'm going 0:12:03.836 --> 0:12:07.156 to cover something like Spike Driver Blues. What's the process? 0:12:07.316 --> 0:12:12.116 How do you? How do you make that song yours? Oh? God, Bruce, 0:12:12.956 --> 0:12:19.156 I don't really know. Something magic happens and it becomes mine. 0:12:19.876 --> 0:12:23.636 M Is it something that happens with the musicians, happens live, 0:12:23.796 --> 0:12:26.916 or it just when you're it does happen live, but 0:12:27.036 --> 0:12:31.716 it also happens when I'm recording, and the how is 0:12:31.916 --> 0:12:36.076 very clever getting me to sing songs that I wouldn't 0:12:36.116 --> 0:12:41.516 know about. You know, I actually did know, But there 0:12:41.556 --> 0:12:44.316 are lots of things, like some of the things on 0:12:44.796 --> 0:12:49.356 Strange Weather that I didn't know. But I want you 0:12:49.436 --> 0:12:52.036 to do it because I want you to please out. 0:12:52.716 --> 0:12:55.636 I loved him, I adored you know. The reason I'm 0:12:55.636 --> 0:13:00.356 asking is, in some ways, this current album almost feels 0:13:00.436 --> 0:13:03.876 like cover versions of great poems. I know that's a 0:13:03.916 --> 0:13:08.436 silly way to say it, but when I listen to it, 0:13:08.636 --> 0:13:10.236 and you know, I've had to learn some of these 0:13:10.236 --> 0:13:13.276 poems in high school like everybody else, and didn't enjoy them. 0:13:13.436 --> 0:13:15.876 I didn't remember them, and that's one of the reasons 0:13:16.156 --> 0:13:19.676 I chose some of them. I wanted to use, choose 0:13:19.756 --> 0:13:22.596 poems that a lot of people would have heard of 0:13:22.836 --> 0:13:27.876 or no. But it's an amazing experience listening to them 0:13:27.916 --> 0:13:31.116 because I feel like I'm hearing them in a different way, 0:13:31.196 --> 0:13:33.596 in the same way when I hear you do Spike 0:13:33.716 --> 0:13:36.996 Driver Blues, I understand the song I feel the song 0:13:37.036 --> 0:13:39.756 in a different way. Does that make any sense? Yes, 0:13:40.236 --> 0:13:45.476 especially with Spike Driver Blues, because that's so far from 0:13:45.556 --> 0:13:49.396 my life, from my own experience, But I feel it 0:13:49.756 --> 0:13:53.556 very much. When I did it, I really felt it. 0:13:53.996 --> 0:13:57.436 I understood it, I knew what it was about, and 0:13:57.596 --> 0:14:02.676 I wanted to get it right. We'll be right back 0:14:02.716 --> 0:14:05.356 with more from Bruce Headlam and Mary Anne. After a 0:14:05.436 --> 0:14:12.396 quick break, we're back with Mary and Faithful and Bruce 0:14:12.396 --> 0:14:15.236 had them and with some of the songs you've done, 0:14:15.356 --> 0:14:19.676 as Tears Go By, a Baby Blue You've done, You've 0:14:19.716 --> 0:14:22.196 done some songs at different points throughout your career. You've 0:14:22.196 --> 0:14:26.516 done three different versions of As Tears Go Tears Go By. Yeah, 0:14:28.036 --> 0:14:31.236 I never felt I really got it running, you see, 0:14:31.676 --> 0:14:36.116 and Warren particularly wanted to do it again, and I agreed. 0:14:36.196 --> 0:14:41.116 I thought, well, let's try it again. And what what 0:14:41.156 --> 0:14:43.276 were you thinking about the second or third time you 0:14:43.316 --> 0:14:45.236 did it? How was it different for you? Well, it's 0:14:45.396 --> 0:14:50.436 very straightforward, very simple the first time. It's really quite 0:14:50.436 --> 0:14:54.476 a perky little bop song. But the strange thing about 0:14:54.516 --> 0:14:57.876 it is that it's a song probably meant to be 0:14:57.996 --> 0:15:01.756 sung by a woman much much older than me. I 0:15:01.876 --> 0:15:05.996 was seventeen, and the second time I did it was 0:15:06.156 --> 0:15:12.876 when I just stopped taking drugs, and I think it 0:15:12.956 --> 0:15:17.596 was very, very sad. It was very It was sad 0:15:17.756 --> 0:15:21.116 because I was sad. You know, you were sad because 0:15:21.116 --> 0:15:25.076 you'd stop taking drugs. And I think, so, yeah, I 0:15:25.116 --> 0:15:28.636 haven't got to the bit yet where you realize how 0:15:28.676 --> 0:15:33.356 wonderful it is to me not change. Did that take 0:15:33.396 --> 0:15:37.796 a while, not too long, but yeah, it didn't come 0:15:37.876 --> 0:15:41.516 right away. And then you did it in twenty and seventeen. 0:15:41.596 --> 0:15:44.516 What was it like doing it then? Well, then I 0:15:44.596 --> 0:15:47.836 really felt I was in the right place to do it, 0:15:47.956 --> 0:15:51.396 the right age, the right place, the right time, and 0:15:51.556 --> 0:15:54.316 with the right people. So if you listen to all 0:15:54.356 --> 0:15:59.116 three versions, now, would that be your favorite? Now? Yes? Yes, 0:15:59.196 --> 0:16:01.996 it is okay. And you've done other You've done Sister 0:16:02.076 --> 0:16:05.196 Morphine a couple of times, You've done Baby Blue a 0:16:05.236 --> 0:16:08.276 couple of times. You're a little bit like Frank Sinatra. 0:16:08.436 --> 0:16:12.516 You do things different points in your career. My wow, 0:16:13.236 --> 0:16:15.716 I mean that. I mean that sincerely as someone who 0:16:16.436 --> 0:16:20.236 I agree. Yeah, thank you. I adore Franks and much 0:16:21.396 --> 0:16:24.356 respect him a lot. I want to talk more about 0:16:24.396 --> 0:16:26.956 these poems because, as I said, they feel like the 0:16:26.996 --> 0:16:30.836 great cover version of a song. I want to ask 0:16:30.876 --> 0:16:33.476 you more about Bridge of Size because I think in 0:16:33.476 --> 0:16:37.076 some ways it's your best performance on this well one 0:16:37.156 --> 0:16:40.636 of them are. There are quite a lot of really 0:16:40.676 --> 0:16:45.876 good performances, you know. I think the Lady of Charlotte 0:16:46.556 --> 0:16:51.676 they owe to a Nightingale Ozemandels is really good. To 0:16:51.836 --> 0:16:56.756 the Moon, it's fantastic. Yeah, you do it twice. Well, 0:16:56.956 --> 0:17:01.316 that was Head's idea. The producer, my producer and engineer, 0:17:01.796 --> 0:17:05.476 and he did something so brilliant. He made it sound 0:17:05.996 --> 0:17:09.556 like I do it, and then it sounds as if 0:17:09.596 --> 0:17:13.756 the moon does it back to me. Oh I like that. 0:17:14.556 --> 0:17:18.116 So why So you know a lot of these and 0:17:18.196 --> 0:17:20.516 there it's romantic poetry. So a lot of them are 0:17:20.556 --> 0:17:23.676 about death, of course, and a lot of them are 0:17:23.796 --> 0:17:28.156 about women who aren't like you at all because they're 0:17:28.156 --> 0:17:32.076 either you know, they're either these temptresses like in the 0:17:32.196 --> 0:17:35.556 in the Kids, or they're they're victims. Bridge of Bridge 0:17:35.556 --> 0:17:39.756 of Size is about a woman who kills herself. Yes, 0:17:39.916 --> 0:17:43.836 she throws herself off a bridge into the Thames. Yes, yeah, 0:17:43.836 --> 0:17:46.236 tell me what what that's like for you to read? 0:17:46.316 --> 0:17:50.236 Did that have any personal Well? I think it it 0:17:50.476 --> 0:17:54.276 got to me more when I was much younger. By 0:17:54.316 --> 0:17:58.316 the time I recorded it, I was well over that 0:17:58.356 --> 0:18:01.236 sort of thing. There was no way I want you 0:18:01.276 --> 0:18:05.756 to be a victim, and I was mhmm. But she is, 0:18:07.076 --> 0:18:10.836 and I don't don't dislike for it, That's just how 0:18:10.876 --> 0:18:14.636 she is. Do you have a favorite on the album? 0:18:15.156 --> 0:18:20.116 Oh god, I don't know. Both Warren and I particularly 0:18:20.156 --> 0:18:25.276 do love Bridgish Eye, probably because it's got this wonderful 0:18:25.396 --> 0:18:30.396 rhythm and the alliteration and the rhyming is so brilliant. 0:18:30.796 --> 0:18:34.156 But a lot of them have that, you know. Did 0:18:34.156 --> 0:18:38.716 you record these first and then he composed the tracks underneath? Yeah. 0:18:39.276 --> 0:18:43.396 I recorded them with Head in London and we sent them. 0:18:43.556 --> 0:18:46.756 Head sent them to Warren in Paris, and he then 0:18:46.876 --> 0:18:49.676 composed the music. Are you in London most of the 0:18:49.716 --> 0:18:54.316 time now? Yes, I've just moved back to London. I 0:18:54.396 --> 0:18:58.196 was in Paris too, but my son really wanted me 0:18:58.276 --> 0:19:02.076 to come back to London, and I realized that I 0:19:02.156 --> 0:19:07.156 really hadn't given him enough time and attention in my life, 0:19:07.236 --> 0:19:10.556 and I should and I came back. And I want 0:19:10.596 --> 0:19:14.756 you to be with my grandchildren. I like them very much. 0:19:15.636 --> 0:19:18.716 The other thing about these poems, and this really got 0:19:18.756 --> 0:19:21.396 to me when I was listening to it over and over, 0:19:21.916 --> 0:19:23.716 which is I mean, so many of them are about 0:19:23.996 --> 0:19:28.516 separation or being solitary, particularly on and I'm going to 0:19:28.556 --> 0:19:30.636 say side too, because that's how I still think of 0:19:30.676 --> 0:19:35.476 these things. You know, to the Moon, We'll go No More, 0:19:35.916 --> 0:19:39.836 Arriving and Lady of Chala they got to me, I 0:19:39.876 --> 0:19:43.956 think because of the isolation everybody's been living in in 0:19:43.996 --> 0:19:49.756 the past year. Yeah, you know, certainly in Roving there's 0:19:49.756 --> 0:19:51.396 a line and I'm going to get it wrong, but 0:19:51.716 --> 0:19:54.156 something the effect that the heart must pause to breathe 0:19:54.636 --> 0:19:58.596 and love itself. You got it right, have rest. It 0:19:58.796 --> 0:20:01.636 really got to me, I think because of now you 0:20:01.716 --> 0:20:05.236 recorded some of this before you were sick, Yeah, some 0:20:05.356 --> 0:20:09.996 of it after you know already it was all almost 0:20:10.116 --> 0:20:13.916 or in fact, it was lockdown when we recorded it, 0:20:14.516 --> 0:20:17.916 so we knew what that was. Both Warren and Guy 0:20:18.116 --> 0:20:22.116 and Head, we all realized that this was a great, 0:20:22.276 --> 0:20:27.076 great record to give people and to make at this moment. 0:20:27.836 --> 0:20:30.636 We'll be back with more from Mary and Faithful. After 0:20:30.676 --> 0:20:37.156 a break. We're back with more from Bruce Head Them 0:20:37.196 --> 0:20:41.156 and Mary and Faithful. We were talking about the songs 0:20:41.156 --> 0:20:43.396 and the second part of the album, and you said 0:20:43.876 --> 0:20:46.876 in some way you were thinking about the isolation people 0:20:46.916 --> 0:20:51.036 we were going through, and I mentioned Roving, But I 0:20:51.076 --> 0:20:54.196 think the performance that really got to me was A 0:20:54.276 --> 0:20:59.596 Lady of Chalot. Oh yeah, well that's it's a very 0:20:59.676 --> 0:21:04.356 interesting poem. It's about I think anyway. It's really about 0:21:04.396 --> 0:21:09.316 a narcissist who can only see life through a mirror. 0:21:10.116 --> 0:21:13.636 And when the mirror cracks. I don't really know why 0:21:13.716 --> 0:21:17.956 it cracks. She does something wrong, doesn't she? Oh she 0:21:18.116 --> 0:21:22.316 looks at life straight. Yeah. Yeah, And at that moment 0:21:22.356 --> 0:21:26.236 the mirror cracked from side to side, and then she 0:21:26.316 --> 0:21:30.716 starts to sing her swan song, and she's going to die. 0:21:31.236 --> 0:21:34.316 Is she gets sick of it? Looking at everything through 0:21:34.356 --> 0:21:38.916 a mirror? Is that wonderful life? I am half sick 0:21:38.996 --> 0:21:42.836 of shadows? Said the Lady of shut up. She is 0:21:42.836 --> 0:21:46.396 a narcissist, but in another sense, it's about someone who 0:21:47.036 --> 0:21:49.516 it's at a great distance from the world. She lives 0:21:49.676 --> 0:21:52.916 beside Camelot. She's not allowed to look at it, and 0:21:52.996 --> 0:21:55.796 so when she tries to enter the world by looking 0:21:55.836 --> 0:21:58.836 at it, she has to die, which again made me 0:21:58.916 --> 0:22:02.076 think so much of people who want to be closer 0:22:02.116 --> 0:22:05.436 to other people now are taking an enormous risk, and 0:22:05.836 --> 0:22:09.996 you know in her body floats up to Camelot where 0:22:10.236 --> 0:22:13.236 everyone can see her. In her song she dies. I 0:22:13.236 --> 0:22:16.116 can't again, I can't remember the exact line, but to me, 0:22:16.196 --> 0:22:19.236 it reminded me so much. You mentioned how Wilner, but 0:22:20.036 --> 0:22:22.796 of reading obituaries of people you might not have even 0:22:22.876 --> 0:22:25.316 known about, and then you find out that they're gone 0:22:25.356 --> 0:22:29.196 because of this. I found that very resonant. Yeah, me too, 0:22:30.196 --> 0:22:33.996 I've always felt about that. Yeah, Oh, was that another 0:22:33.996 --> 0:22:39.116 one you you'd always like? Yes, and a lot of 0:22:39.156 --> 0:22:42.556 people too, you know, it's a lot of people know 0:22:42.716 --> 0:22:47.036 that one. I think you know these poems aren't fashionable 0:22:47.116 --> 0:22:51.196 right now. No, in a way, the romantic poetry isn't. 0:22:51.236 --> 0:22:54.436 I think we want things either more absurd or more direct, 0:22:55.836 --> 0:22:58.316 do you? But you still find something in them? Do 0:22:58.356 --> 0:23:00.516 you find new things in them when you read them? 0:23:01.276 --> 0:23:05.516 I don't care. I never think about fashionable doesn't mean anything. 0:23:06.516 --> 0:23:10.876 I love the beat, but I love all sorts of things, 0:23:10.916 --> 0:23:16.436 and I love nineteenth century romantic poetry too. And I'm 0:23:16.516 --> 0:23:21.836 glad if people aren't all sort of making records like this, 0:23:22.316 --> 0:23:25.476 because that means I count. But You've also been on 0:23:25.556 --> 0:23:30.716 this run of terrific albums from Easycome, Easy Go and 0:23:31.516 --> 0:23:35.196 Give My Love to London. I love that one, yeah, 0:23:35.276 --> 0:23:38.636 which is also a great song you wrote with Steve Earle, 0:23:39.436 --> 0:23:43.516 who I love very much too. What do you account 0:23:43.596 --> 0:23:47.756 for this level of success at an age when most 0:23:47.796 --> 0:23:53.476 people are looking back on their past work. I really 0:23:53.516 --> 0:23:58.276 don't know. I really don't. When you go into make 0:23:58.316 --> 0:24:00.836 an album, do you do you have a particular idea 0:24:01.076 --> 0:24:03.436 that the album is going to be one thing or another. 0:24:04.156 --> 0:24:07.476 So I think I must do deep down, you know, 0:24:07.796 --> 0:24:12.916 But I don't really say okay, but you said this 0:24:12.956 --> 0:24:18.516 one out loud. Yeah, I'm going by feel an instant. 0:24:18.756 --> 0:24:23.596 I don't really know exactly what I'm doing. I think 0:24:23.636 --> 0:24:27.596 how did, but I don't really. Well, maybe I do, 0:24:27.916 --> 0:24:31.636 but I just don't admit it. I don't. Well. Do 0:24:31.636 --> 0:24:34.276 you ever wonder if you were ascribing things to how 0:24:34.396 --> 0:24:36.836 he was really just bringing out in you the ability 0:24:36.876 --> 0:24:40.516 to do these songs. I never thought of that, but 0:24:40.756 --> 0:24:44.076 that might be true. Yeah, I don't know. And you know, 0:24:44.836 --> 0:24:46.956 a couple of the songs I do associate with you 0:24:47.156 --> 0:24:54.276 later songs is like Nick Cave's late Victorian Holocaust. Oh yeah, Oh, 0:24:54.316 --> 0:24:56.996 what a great song. And you do a great, great 0:24:57.076 --> 0:24:59.836 version of an old HOGI Carmichael song, which is I 0:24:59.956 --> 0:25:04.516 get along very well without you. Yeah, it's a great song. Well, 0:25:04.556 --> 0:25:06.396 it also makes me think of you because you had 0:25:06.396 --> 0:25:09.596 this very storied life. You were, for me many people 0:25:09.636 --> 0:25:12.356 still more of an image than a performer. Yeah, you 0:25:12.436 --> 0:25:18.476 were this beautiful girl who represented swinging London. Yes. And 0:25:18.596 --> 0:25:21.076 when I listen to that song, that's what I hear. 0:25:21.116 --> 0:25:23.316 I hear you saying I don't need any of that. 0:25:23.956 --> 0:25:29.956 Oh yeah, So tell me what's what's next for you? Well, 0:25:30.036 --> 0:25:34.076 I don't know. It depends on what happens with this 0:25:34.116 --> 0:25:37.396 record a bit. And also, you know, because I've been 0:25:37.476 --> 0:25:43.076 so ill with the COVID. I got so ill I 0:25:43.236 --> 0:25:47.996 nearly died and how did you know? And it's taking 0:25:47.996 --> 0:25:51.956 me a long time to recover. I've got what they 0:25:52.036 --> 0:25:56.996 called now long term COVID, and it's going to take 0:25:57.036 --> 0:26:01.636 a long time to recover. And actually today, before we 0:26:01.796 --> 0:26:07.836 started this, I was working on my singing, practicing singing 0:26:08.196 --> 0:26:12.196 with a friend of mine who plays guitar, because I 0:26:12.236 --> 0:26:15.836 was really frightened that I wouldn't be able to sing anymore. 0:26:16.316 --> 0:26:20.156 Were you afraid you might die at some point. Um, No, 0:26:20.516 --> 0:26:26.436 that didn't cross my mind. Well, i'm asking because you 0:26:26.476 --> 0:26:28.836 were in the middle of a project about romantic poetry, 0:26:28.876 --> 0:26:31.956 which is, you know, there's the Kids in Half in 0:26:32.036 --> 0:26:35.956 Love with Easeful Death. Oh yeah, but I've known those 0:26:35.996 --> 0:26:40.436 lines forever, you know. No, I don't. I really don't 0:26:40.516 --> 0:26:45.236 think everything is about me. I'm not saying it. You 0:26:45.276 --> 0:26:47.996 thought it was about you, But I'm wondering what those 0:26:48.076 --> 0:26:50.556 lines were like when you were when you were quite sick. 0:26:52.036 --> 0:26:54.796 I wasn't doing it when I was quite sick. I 0:26:54.836 --> 0:27:01.116 was in fucking hospital. You weren't allowed to just sing 0:27:01.356 --> 0:27:04.556 that what you're telling me? No, okay, I was much 0:27:04.556 --> 0:27:08.036 too ill. All I remember about it is that I 0:27:08.116 --> 0:27:11.756 was in a very very dark place, and I'd presume 0:27:12.276 --> 0:27:16.156 that was being very close to death. Yeah, but I 0:27:16.196 --> 0:27:19.796 didn't think that at the time. Well I'm happy that 0:27:19.876 --> 0:27:23.596 wasn't the case. This is a fabulous album and it's 0:27:23.636 --> 0:27:25.316 a thrill to hear it, and I'm glad you finally 0:27:25.316 --> 0:27:27.836 got to do it. Yeah. Have you had any other 0:27:27.876 --> 0:27:30.076 ideas that you've had forever and you thought, no, the 0:27:30.196 --> 0:27:34.196 record company will never go for this. No, not really, 0:27:34.236 --> 0:27:38.716 not yet. You know, I am seventy four, she said, 0:27:40.356 --> 0:27:43.196 I'm not sure how many records I can go on making. 0:27:43.756 --> 0:27:46.796 I think at least I've got another one, and I'd 0:27:46.836 --> 0:27:50.236 like it to be songs, and I'd like to write 0:27:50.236 --> 0:27:54.356 some of them too. Do you have some ideas already? No, 0:27:55.756 --> 0:27:59.116 this record needs to come out. If I've got something 0:28:00.476 --> 0:28:03.676 ready to come out, it has to come out before 0:28:04.236 --> 0:28:08.396 I can turn to my next one. I've got ideas, 0:28:09.116 --> 0:28:12.036 and I'm going to sit down and write something, but 0:28:12.276 --> 0:28:17.796 I'm not feeling very secure about it. Well, listen, I 0:28:17.836 --> 0:28:21.036 hope everybody buys this album because it's terrific. Oh god, 0:28:21.116 --> 0:28:25.436