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No 3.
Marianne Faithful London, in the mid-sixties and rock stars are the new aristocracy. At the centre, prince-elect Mick Jagger and his consort, Marianne. Once weekend at Redlands, Keith Richard's 14th Century manor house in Sussex, Mick, Keith, Marianne and a few minor aristos are blithely tripping on acid. The Constabulary stage a bust, finding a few air sickness pills, some hash and Marianne, in a fur rug. She now takes on a new tabloid persona: "Miss X - naked girl at Stones party". Sydney, May 1969. Brian Jones has been dead three days, Mick's in Australia to play at being Ned Kelly. Marianne, empathising with Brian, swallows 150 Tuinals, and has six whole days in coma. The affair with Mick now turns slowly and painfully sour, he the ultimate control-freak, she discovering new ways to lose it. Mick's life now revolves around debutante balls, formal dinners with members of the aristocracy; Marianne's around Coke, Smack and anything else to deaden the pain. By the time Sister Morphine makes it onto Sticky Fingers, she has become the character in her own song - one that her record company wouldn't let her release. In the seventies, Marianne goes it alone, making one big decision: she will be a junkie, strip her life down to the basics - just some NHS smack and a bombed out corner of Soho to nod out in. The night of Mick's marriage to Bianca, she becomes the first celebrity guest at the newly opened Paddington Police Station. She is never totally out of touch though, the only street junkie to be invited to meet Bob Dylan, sing with David Bowie, appear in a Kenneth Anger movie, and mix with the Sex Pistols. Her 1979 album, Broken English, gives her the chance to remonstrate against all those roles - pop angel, rock star's girlfriend, celebrity victim - that have hidden the real Marianne for 15 years. After one more struggle with the monkey, Marianne, is reincarnated as the soul of Marlene Dietrich - singing Brecht/Weill songs on stage and on record. An alchemical transference has unfailingly taken place between Marianne's life and her voice. Whatever misfortunes she has suffered, the voice has always transmuted them into something rich and strange. They have added layer upon layer of experience and weariness far beyond that sung by the pop angel 35 years, and a lifetime ago. Music, friends and her house in Ireland have
brought her a kind of peace, punctuated by surreal moments like cocktails
with Princess Margaret, and having the boys in blue cast her as the
LSD kingpin of Wales. |
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