How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal

Celebrating Marianne Faithfull, 29th December 1946 to 30th January 2025.

I was talking to Mrs. K, when Marianne's passing was announced on BBC News, so I was admittedly only half-listening as the prepared obituary was delivered, but the snippets I caught made me increasingly upset.

I know obituaries by their very nature frequently celebrate and devalue a life in a few paragraphs or minutes. Even so, the fragments that penetrated my consciousness seemed to focus on Marianne's achievements in the 1960s, living in the shadow of men (including several Rolling Stones) and the drugs. Of course, the drugs.

What I wasn't picking up was Marianne's incredible achievements beyond the 1970s and 1980s and well into the 21st Century, in the face of prejudice, preconception, misogyny, debilitating and near-fatal health challenges (not least COVID) and inevitably the ravages of time from life lived increasingly on her own terms.

I don't have a huge amount of Marianne's music in my collection, but it charts an incredible journey and a fearless confrontation and defiance of convention. Not just as a singer, but a songwriter (for Grace Jones), a collaborator (Bowie, Sly & Robbie, Patrick Wolf) and an interpreter of other's songs (everyone from Sonny & Cher to The Decemberists). 

Marianne released a single written by Serge Gainsbourg in 1967; forty years later, she revisited another of his songs to celebrate his life. Both are very special interpretations by a unique artist.

I've included a version of As Tears Go By, transmitted as part of a David Bowie special on US TV in 1973. The Rolling Stones regretted passing on the song when Marianne had a hit and belatedly recorded their own version. It's good, but not as good.

I've omitted Sister Morphine, the song Marianne subsequently co-wrote with and for the Stones. Likewise, I've not included the original version of Broken English, the title track of Marianne's 1979 album, opting instead for a remix and a cover version, both from the 2000s.

I bought a secondhand CD of Patrick Wolf's 2007 album The Magic Position (which is brilliant, by the way) and discovered halfway through the song Magpie, featuring a surprising and delightful appearance from Marianne. It's a highlight among highlights and just one example of her continuing relevance and inspiration to future generations of musicians.

Sliding Through Life On Charm, written with Jarvis Cocker, Mark Webber, Steve Mackey and Nick Banks from Pulp, is a semi-autobiographical rollercoaster and provides the title of today's post and tribute selection. To quote the full verse,

I wonder why the schools don't teach anything useful nowadays 

Like how to fall from grace 

and slide with elegance from a pedestal 

I never asked to be on in the first place

You can read much about Marianne, including much in her own words, but we'll never know the whole story, really know Marianne. But what a legacy she leaves.

Rest in power, Marianne.

1) Broken English (Baron Von Luxxury Light Touch Remix By Blake Robin) (Downtempo): Marianne Faithfull (2008)

2) I Got You Babe (Live @ The Marquee, London) (Cover of Sonny & Cher): David Bowie ft. Marianne Faithfull (1973)

3) I've Done It Again (Album Version): Grace Jones (1981)

4) The Crane Wife 3 (Cover of The Decemberists): Marianne Faithfull ft. Nick Cave (2008)

5) Guilt (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (1979)

6) As Tears Go By (Live @ The Marquee, London): Marianne Faithfull (1973)

7) Hier Ou Demain: Marianne Faithfull (1967)

8) Lola R. For Ever (Lola Rastaquouère) (Cover of Serge Gainsbourg): Marianne Faithfull & Sly And Robbie (2006)

9) If I Never Get To Love You (Cover of Lou Johnson): Marianne Faithfull (1965)

10) Broken English (Cover of Marianne Faithfull): Claudia Brücken & Andrew Poppy (2004)

11) Magpie: Patrick Wolf ft. Marianne Faithfull (2007)

12) Sliding Through Life On Charm (Album Version): Marianne Faithfull (2002)

1965: Marianne Faithfull: 9

1979: Broken English: 5

1981: Nightclubbing: 3

2002: Kissin Time: 12

2004: Another Language: 10

2006: Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited: 8

2007: The Magic Position: 11

2008: Easy Come Easy Go: 4

2016: Love Hit Me! Decca Beat Girls 1962-1970: 7

2017: The 1980 Floorshow: 2, 6

2021: Luxxury Edits Vol. 3: 1

How To Fall From Grace And Slide With Elegance From A Pedestal (46:05) (KF) (Mega)

Intoxicated Man

In May 1962, Serge Gainsbourg released his fourth album N°4, including the song Intoxicated Man. As far as I can tell, 60 years on, the album has never been available outside of France, apart from a reissue in Japan in 2001. 

 

My Serge Gainsbourg primer was the 2002 compilation Initials SG, which places Intoxicated Man alongside other classics such as Bonnie And Clyde, 69 Année Érotique, Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus and Ballade De Melody Nelson.

I've belatedly discovered a promo video for Intoxicated Man, filmed in February 1964 at the Palais des Congrés in Liège, Belgium. It's essentially Gainsbourg pacing up and down a room then going up some stairs, with a world-weary aside to camera at the end of each verse. It's an utterly compelling two and a half minutes, soundtracked by Hammond organ, double bass, drums and Gainsbourg's voice that sounds marinated in life experience at 34 years old.

 

Apart from a vague memory of hearing Je T'Aime... Moi Non Plus on the radio growing up, my proper introduction to Serge Gainsbourg's vaster body of work was almost certainly via Mick Harvey's English translations over several albums and singles in the 1990s, Anita Lane fulfilling the role of Brigitte Bardot and Jane Birkin perfectly.

Another recent discovery is this short film by Don Letts from 2014, showcasing the reissue of two of Mick Harvey's Gainsbourg albums, Intoxicated Man and Pink Elephants. The rather harsh lighting and monotone don't do Harvey any favours, but stick with it - composer and collaborator Bertrand Burgalat is a delight - and the music speaks for itself.

 

The YouTube post of the promo for Intoxicated Man includes the lyrics in French along with a rather wobbly stab at an English translation. I think Mick Harvey's version is a vast improvment, evoking the spirit of Gainsbourg's lyrical skill.

 

I try to fit too strong a drink in
I spy elephants of pink in
The pattern on the left lapel of my dressing-gown
Creatures on the carousel of my living-room

You sigh and tell me what you're thinking
You're like a violet that is shrinking
Into the patterned left lapel of my dressing-gown.
Spinning on the carousel of my living-room.

Love tells me of bigger thinking
As well as elephants of pink in
These patterns on the left lapel of my dressing-gown
These creatures on the carousel of my living-room

 

Intoxicated Man: Serge Gainsbourg (1962)

Intoxicated Man (A Short Film By Don Letts): Mick Harvey (2014)

Excuse Me, I Am A French Man

I first discovered the music of Bernard Fevre online via music blogs, freebie downloads and DJ mixes. Andrew Weatherall remixed one of Fevre's tracks as Black Devil Disco Club in 2015. However, it was the Feel My Bicep site that gifted a couple of stunning exclusive mixes in 2011 and 2012 that originally got me hooked. Bicep have of course gone on to create some pretty incredible music of their own, as evidenced by many 2021 'best of' lists.

 

Bernard Fevre has been releasing music since the late 1970s and this hour-long mix from 2011 liberally dips into that decade, with plenty of (then) contemporary tracks as well as liberal samples of Black Devil Disco Club's album Circus, featuring guests from Afrika Bambaataa to Faris Badwan (The Horrors) to American synth duo YACHT to Nancy Sinatra. It's a surprisingly (electro) funky selection, perfect for a Sunday morning. 

 

Today's post title is taken from the intro of Serge Gainsbourg's none-too-subtle Sea, Sex & Sun.

1) Magnetic Devil: Black Devil Disco Club ft. Afrika Bambaataa (2011)
2) Love & Romance & A Special Person: Joakim (2009)
3) Dating Do (Remix By LeBatman) (aka Dali (Remix)): Bernard Fevre (2011)
4) Crescendolls (Album Version): Daft Punk (2001)
5) The Devil In Us: Black Devil Disco Club (2007)
6) In Crowded Subways (In Flagranti Remix): Paris (2010)
7) Crocodiles In The Sky (Original Version): Parallax Corporation ft. Nancy Fortune & Melvin White (2001)
8) Distrust: Black Devil Disco Club ft. Faris Badwan (2011)

9) Sound Industrial: Roger Roger (1977)
10) Camel: Sauvage (2011)
11) E.V.A.: Jean-Jacques Perrey (1970)
12) Sea, Sex & Sun (Mirror People ‘Cosmic’ Rework By Rui Maia): Serge Gainsbourg (2010)
13) To Ardent (Grovesnor Remix By Robert Smoughton): Black Devil Disco Club ft. Nancy Sinatra (2011)

14) The Way You Make Me Feel (Plaisir De France Re-Edit): Galaxy Birthday (2010)
15) Free For The Girls (Richard Sen's Sumerian Fix): Black Devil Disco Club (2009)
16) Follow Me: Amanda Lear (1978)
17) Stay Insane: Black Devil Disco Club ft. YACHT (2011)
18) Couleurs: Karl-Heinz Schäfer ft. Leoni (1973)*
19) Fantasm: Bernard Fevre (1977)
20) Hello.jpg (Original Version): Logo (2011)
21) Mots: Ruth (1985)

* Note from Bernard Fevre, accompanying the original mix posting: OK, this one is only sung in French, but it’s the OST of ‘Les Gants Blancs du Diable’, which means ‘The Devil’s White Gloves’ 

Feel My Bicep 2:04 2011 (DJ MIx By Bernard Fevre): Black Devil Disco Club (1:05:29)

 

Bass, The Final Frontier

Celebrating Robbie Shakespeare, 27th September 1953 to 8th December 2021.

I read the sad news less than an hour before posting this, so today's selection is particularly on the fly and, like Lee 'Scratch' Perry and Richard H. Kirk previously, how do you begin to do justice to an artist whose contribution to music has been so vast, so far reaching?

I couldn't avoid including some of the obvious choices that will have been popping up all over the internet in the wake of his passing, but I've tried to include some less well-known pieces, whether as Sly & Robbie, providing essential bass to iconic songs or at the controls, producing and remixing. If Robbie Shakespeare had 'only' been a bass player, he would still be a legend. His impact on my musical education and the sheer joy of hearing him in perfect harmony with Sly Dunbar gets me every time.

 

1) Legalise The Dub: Sly & Robbie Meet Bunny Lee (2002)

2) Fu-Gee-La (Sly & Robbie Mix): Fugees (1996)

3) Dub The Government: Sly & Robbie (1997)

4) Sound Man Style (Prince Jammy Presents Uhuru In Dub With Sly & Robbie): Black Uhuru (1982)

5) Night Nurse (Sly & Robbie Dub Mix): Sly & Robbie ft. Simply Red (1997)

6) Aux Armes Et Cætera: Serge Gainsbourg ft. Sly & Robbie, Ansel Collins & The I Threes (1979)

7) Private Life (Long Version By Chris Blackwell & Alex Sadkin) (Cover of The Pretenders): Grace Jones ft. Sly & Robbie (1980)

8) Superthruster (Album Version): Sly & Robbie & Howie B. (1999)

9) Spasticus Autisticus (12" Version): Ian Dury ft. Sly & Robbie (1981)

10) Ruined In A Day (Rhythm Twins Dub By Sly & Robbie): New Order (1993)

11) Mop Head: Sly & The Revolutionaries (1977)

12) Strange Turn: Adrian Sherwood ft. Sly & Robbie (2003)

13) Getting Hot (Original 12" Version By Steven Stanley): Gwen Guthrie ft. Sly & Robbie (1983)

14) Boops (Here To Go) (Vocal 12" Version By Bill Laswell): Sly & Robbie ft. Shinehead & Bootsy Collins (1987)

 

1977: Go Deh Wid Riddim: 11

1979: Aux Armes Et Cætera: 6 

1980: Warm Leatherette: 7

1981: Spasticus Autisticus EP: 9

1982: Uhuru In Dub: 4 

1983: Padlock EP: 13 

1987: Boops (Here To Go) EP: 14

1993: Ruined In A Day EP: 10

1996: The Score: 2

1997: Dub Rocker's Delight: 3 

1997: Night Nurse EP: 5

1999: Drum & Bass Strip To The Bone By Howie B.: 8

2002: Sly & Robbie Meet Bunny Lee At Dub Station: 1 

2003: Never Trust A Hippy: 12

 

Bass, The Final Frontier (1:00:39)