Latest / Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond / Marianne Faithfull Fights Back

Transcript

Marianne Faithfull Fights Back · Broken Record with Rick Rubin, Malcolm Gladwell, Bruce Headlam and Justin Richmond

• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Pushkin. Marianne Faithful has been many things throughout her half
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: a century in music, a close confidant of the Rolling Stones,
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: a pop star, a homeless drug addict, and a critically
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: acclaimed comeback artist Evening I Search. Despite a career filled
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: with personal and professional turmoil, mary Anne Faithful has always
• 0:55
  Speaker 1: managed to find her footing. Last year, just as Europe
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: started to go into quarantine, Marie Anne was recording a
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: series of spoken word renditions of nineteenth century Romantic poems
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: scored by Brian Eno in a Cave and her longtime
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: collaborator Warren Ellis. But then in April of twenty twenty,
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Maryanne was hospitalized with the coronavirus. Now, nearly a year later,
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: she says she's been deemed a COVID longhauler because of
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the virus's lingering effects on her lungs and short term memory.
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: On today's episode, Bruce Heathlam talks to Maryanne Faithful about
• 1:31
  Speaker 1: how COVID has impacted her work, her stalled biopic, and
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: why she resented being labeled Mick Jagger's news. This is
• 1:43
  Speaker 1: broken record liner notes for the Digital Age. I'm justin Richmond.
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: Here's Bruce Heathlam and Maryanne Faithful. We want to talk
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: about your new album, She Walks in Beauty, And which
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: is you reading romantic poetry? We say romantic poetry, We
• 2:03
  Speaker 1: mean poetry from the great Romantic writers like Shelley and
• 2:07
  Speaker 1: Byron and century Romantic English. And you read over these
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: sort of beautiful musical soundscapes created by Warren Ellis, who's
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: one of your regular collaborators, Nick cave Brian Eno. So, first,
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: when did the idea for this album come to you? Well,
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: it's been an idea I've had for a long time,
• 2:35
  Speaker 1: but I never thought it would come to the point
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: where we could actually do it, you know, that the
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: record company would be hip enough. It had a lot
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: to do with meeting and working with my manager Francois,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: and of course Warren and Nick. What convinced the record
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: company that this was a good idea? I'm not sure,
• 3:02
  Speaker 1: but Francois did it. Anyway, It does seem very unlikely,
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: you know, for record for anywa company. It's not the
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: most commercial project we've ever heard of it, No, but
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: it is a terrific project, and it's it is a
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: terrific project. It is, And I want to talk about
• 3:22
  Speaker 1: I think what makes it so terrific. But first of all,
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: how did you choose these particular poems? I went through
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: a lot with Head, actually, my producer and Alex. I
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: went through a lot of Shelley, a lot of Byron
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: Jeetz was the best one, really, because there's so much
• 3:45
  Speaker 1: and it's so gorgeous. Not the best one, but the
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: easiest one to find, although we still couldn't do everything
• 3:55
  Speaker 1: in it. Well, the Thomas Wood one, the Bridge of Size.
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: I discovered that when I was about fourteen or fifteen,
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: and I loved it then, and I wondered once I
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: started making records to all, I wonder if I could
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: ever do a record of poetry like things I really like.
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: And so I've been slowly gathering it together and having
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: thoughts about it. Which poems I wanted to do for
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: quite a long time. But what this project did for
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: me I never really appreciated or liked words with but
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: now through this I've begun to really love words. It
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: was very good for me. Like that, Oh, that's interesting.
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: A lot of people who like Byron and Shelley, you know,
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: part of the deal is they decide they don't like
• 4:55
  Speaker 1: Wordsworth early on. Well, I don't think I did that
• 4:59
  Speaker 1: consciously anyway. I just didn't really didn't really get it.
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: You know. Did you grow up in a home where
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: poetry was part of your education, part of daily life. Yes,
• 5:11
  Speaker 1: I suppose I did. Your father taught literature right, No,
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: he was a professor of Italian Renaissance. Oh, I see
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: m But that meant Petrock Dante all that he was
• 5:27
  Speaker 1: also a spy, wasn't he he was. Yes, that's how
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: he met your mother, I think, And that's I was
• 5:34
  Speaker 1: just and that's how he met my mother, who was
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: also She wasn't a spy, but she was in was
• 5:42
  Speaker 1: hardly any resistance in Vienna, but my mother was involved
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: in it because it was very straightforward. My grandmother, my
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: lovely grandmother, Flora, was Jewish, so there was no question,
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: you know. And your your mother also knew Curvile and
• 6:03
  Speaker 1: Brect and these people, well, she only knew them to
• 6:07
  Speaker 1: when they were going in for dance rehearsal into the theater.
• 6:12
  Speaker 1: She worked in the Corded Ballet with Matt Rhinehart. And
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: when all the little dancers would get trooping in to
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: the theater for rehearsal, they would meet my uncle Alexander
• 6:25
  Speaker 1: brother and that's a breach and Kurt Vilee coming out
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: after an all nighter with lots to drink and lots
• 6:36
  Speaker 1: of things written, so amazing. Yes, and they would they
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: would all say good Morgan, heir breath, good Morgan, heal
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: that sort of thing, you know. They were this little
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: girl's Did you ever meet them later in life? Oh no, no,
• 6:55
  Speaker 1: I wish no, of course not. No. I guess they're
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: both gone. Okay, well I thought i'd ask. Yeah, all right,
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: so what kind of you said? You read the Thomas
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: Hood when you were fourteen? I came across. I think
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: I was just very lucky. I somehow got hold of
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: the book called Powe Grey's Golden Treasury, and it was
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: in there and I read it and I was just
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: blown away by it, you know. And a few of
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: the other booms that I used were also in this book.
• 7:31
  Speaker 1: But it was it was very broad. It wasn't just
• 7:35
  Speaker 1: nineteenth century English Romantic. It was all sorts of poetry
• 7:40
  Speaker 1: in general. But yeah, was the romantic poetry? Was nineteenth
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: century poetry? Was that the poetry that grabbed you when
• 7:47
  Speaker 1: you were young? Yes? And also that's the poetry that
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: I started with my wonderful English teacher, Missus Simpson, when
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: I think I was seventeen, and I would have gone
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: on with that if I hadn't been discovered. Do you
• 8:06
  Speaker 1: do you want to become a poet or an academic?
• 8:11
  Speaker 1: You know? Well, I don't know. I might. I enjoyed learning,
• 8:15
  Speaker 1: I enjoyed study. I didn't think I wanted to become
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: a poet. Now. My poor father once asked me what
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: I wanted to do. Oh no, I asked him. That
• 8:28
  Speaker 1: was so awful, A trick question. Really. I asked my
• 8:32
  Speaker 1: poor father what he thought I should do, and he
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: gave the wrongs. He said he thought I should be
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: a social scientist, a social worker. And I was so shocked,
• 8:48
  Speaker 1: because of course I wanted to be a film star.
• 8:53
  Speaker 1: And then you, famously, when you were I think sixteen,
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: you were discovered, yes, well a bit older seventeen eighteen, yea,
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: And you were kind of swept up into London at
• 9:05
  Speaker 1: the time, and you yeah on the Rolling Stone Andrew
• 9:10
  Speaker 1: lou golderm and all that. Yeah, and you recorded as
• 9:14
  Speaker 1: Tears go By. It was a huge hit. Yes it
• 9:17
  Speaker 1: wasn't a huge hit. I think it did rather well.
• 9:21
  Speaker 1: It's a lovely lovely song. It is, I still like, yeah,
• 9:26
  Speaker 1: and it's unfortunate getting considering your long career, you were
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: always considered like amused to the Rolling Stones. Yeah, and
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: that's really not a great job. No, it was accurate,
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: but job show. You know, I can think of better ones.
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: But yeah, I thought it was. But of course, I mean,
• 9:50
  Speaker 1: I'm delighted that Nick or Keith or both found things
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: to use in my brain. But that wasn't really what
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: I want. You wanted to be your own star. Yeah,
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: m and you had. You had a rough time of
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: it for a while, and homelessness and addiction. I suppose
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: I did, but I had a lot of fun too.
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: But then really starting with I guess Broken English, Yeah,
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: that was my big comeback. Yeah, and we think about
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it now. You were so young when you did that.
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: Everybody I was very seemed so strange. Yeah, And since
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: then you've become this incredible interpreter of people's work. I mean,
• 10:35
  Speaker 1: you've written songs of yeahs as well as writing my
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: own songs. You do, but you've you've covered so many people.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: One of my favorite cover versions you've ever done, and
• 10:49
  Speaker 1: you probably don't remember doing it, was Spike Driver Blues
• 10:54
  Speaker 1: for the Harry, of course I remember. I mean, you know,
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: one of my absolute, very best, dearest, much loved friends
• 11:05
  Speaker 1: was how Willna, who has just died because of COVID,
• 11:10
  Speaker 1: and I miss him more than I can say, especially
• 11:13
  Speaker 1: now with this lovely new boat. He wasn't here, I
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: couldn't use him and I miss him so much. And
• 11:23
  Speaker 1: all that thing of Spoke Drive Blues, which I love,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: was done. It was a show that how put together
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: and he gave me to do spoke Driver Blues and
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: it turned out really well. Was that his idea to
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: do that? It was? It was Hol's idea. Yeah. Now
• 11:43
  Speaker 1: when he first suggested that that's not your usual material
• 11:45
  Speaker 1: it's an American blues folk song, well I really love
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: American blue. But my question is you so often do songs?
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: I think Down from Dover by Dolly Parton is another
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: great example where yeah, you bring so much to a
• 12:01
  Speaker 1: song when you sit down to say, okay, I'm going
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: to cover something like Spike Driver Blues. What's the process?
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: How do you? How do you make that song yours? Oh? God, Bruce,
• 12:12
  Speaker 1: I don't really know. Something magic happens and it becomes mine.
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: M Is it something that happens with the musicians, happens live,
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: or it just when you're it does happen live, but
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: it also happens when I'm recording, and the how is
• 12:31
  Speaker 1: very clever getting me to sing songs that I wouldn't
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: know about. You know, I actually did know, But there
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: are lots of things, like some of the things on
• 12:44
  Speaker 1: Strange Weather that I didn't know. But I want you
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to do it because I want you to please out.
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: I loved him, I adored you know. The reason I'm
• 12:55
  Speaker 1: asking is, in some ways, this current album almost feels
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: like cover versions of great poems. I know that's a
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: silly way to say it, but when I listen to it,
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: and you know, I've had to learn some of these
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: poems in high school like everybody else, and didn't enjoy them.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: I didn't remember them, and that's one of the reasons
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: I chose some of them. I wanted to use, choose
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: poems that a lot of people would have heard of
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: or no. But it's an amazing experience listening to them
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: because I feel like I'm hearing them in a different way,
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: in the same way when I hear you do Spike
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Driver Blues, I understand the song I feel the song
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: in a different way. Does that make any sense? Yes,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: especially with Spike Driver Blues, because that's so far from
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: my life, from my own experience, But I feel it
• 13:49
  Speaker 1: very much. When I did it, I really felt it.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: I understood it, I knew what it was about, and
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get it right. We'll be right back
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: with more from Bruce Headlam and Mary Anne. After a
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: quick break, we're back with Mary and Faithful and Bruce
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: had them and with some of the songs you've done,
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: as Tears Go By, a Baby Blue You've done, You've
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: done some songs at different points throughout your career. You've
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: done three different versions of As Tears Go Tears Go By. Yeah,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: I never felt I really got it running, you see,
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: and Warren particularly wanted to do it again, and I agreed.
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: I thought, well, let's try it again. And what what
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: were you thinking about the second or third time you
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: did it? How was it different for you? Well, it's
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: very straightforward, very simple the first time. It's really quite
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: a perky little bop song. But the strange thing about
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: it is that it's a song probably meant to be
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: sung by a woman much much older than me. I
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: was seventeen, and the second time I did it was
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: when I just stopped taking drugs, and I think it
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: was very, very sad. It was very It was sad
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: because I was sad. You know, you were sad because
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: you'd stop taking drugs. And I think, so, yeah, I
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: haven't got to the bit yet where you realize how
• 15:28
  Speaker 1: wonderful it is to me not change. Did that take
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: a while, not too long, but yeah, it didn't come
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: right away. And then you did it in twenty and seventeen.
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: What was it like doing it then? Well, then I
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: really felt I was in the right place to do it,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: the right age, the right place, the right time, and
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: with the right people. So if you listen to all
• 15:54
  Speaker 1: three versions, now, would that be your favorite? Now? Yes? Yes,
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: it is okay. And you've done other You've done Sister
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: Morphine a couple of times, You've done Baby Blue a
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: couple of times. You're a little bit like Frank Sinatra.
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: You do things different points in your career. My wow,
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: I mean that. I mean that sincerely as someone who
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: I agree. Yeah, thank you. I adore Franks and much
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: respect him a lot. I want to talk more about
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: these poems because, as I said, they feel like the
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: great cover version of a song. I want to ask
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: you more about Bridge of Size because I think in
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: some ways it's your best performance on this well one
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: of them are. There are quite a lot of really
• 16:40
  Speaker 1: good performances, you know. I think the Lady of Charlotte
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: they owe to a Nightingale Ozemandels is really good. To
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: the Moon, it's fantastic. Yeah, you do it twice. Well,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: that was Head's idea. The producer, my producer and engineer,
• 17:01
  Speaker 1: and he did something so brilliant. He made it sound
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: like I do it, and then it sounds as if
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: the moon does it back to me. Oh I like that.
• 17:14
  Speaker 1: So why So you know a lot of these and
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: there it's romantic poetry. So a lot of them are
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: about death, of course, and a lot of them are
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: about women who aren't like you at all because they're
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: either you know, they're either these temptresses like in the
• 17:32
  Speaker 1: in the Kids, or they're they're victims. Bridge of Bridge
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: of Size is about a woman who kills herself. Yes,
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: she throws herself off a bridge into the Thames. Yes, yeah,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: tell me what what that's like for you to read?
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: Did that have any personal Well? I think it it
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: got to me more when I was much younger. By
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: the time I recorded it, I was well over that
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: sort of thing. There was no way I want you
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: to be a victim, and I was mhmm. But she is,
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: and I don't don't dislike for it, That's just how
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: she is. Do you have a favorite on the album?
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: Oh god, I don't know. Both Warren and I particularly
• 18:20
  Speaker 1: do love Bridgish Eye, probably because it's got this wonderful
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: rhythm and the alliteration and the rhyming is so brilliant.
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: But a lot of them have that, you know. Did
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: you record these first and then he composed the tracks underneath? Yeah.
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: I recorded them with Head in London and we sent them.
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: Head sent them to Warren in Paris, and he then
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: composed the music. Are you in London most of the
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: time now? Yes, I've just moved back to London. I
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: was in Paris too, but my son really wanted me
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: to come back to London, and I realized that I
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: really hadn't given him enough time and attention in my life,
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: and I should and I came back. And I want
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: you to be with my grandchildren. I like them very much.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: The other thing about these poems, and this really got
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: to me when I was listening to it over and over,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: which is I mean, so many of them are about
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: separation or being solitary, particularly on and I'm going to
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: say side too, because that's how I still think of
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: these things. You know, to the Moon, We'll go No More,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: Arriving and Lady of Chala they got to me, I
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: think because of the isolation everybody's been living in in
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: the past year. Yeah, you know, certainly in Roving there's
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: a line and I'm going to get it wrong, but
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: something the effect that the heart must pause to breathe
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: and love itself. You got it right, have rest. It
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: really got to me, I think because of now you
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: recorded some of this before you were sick, Yeah, some
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: of it after you know already it was all almost
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: or in fact, it was lockdown when we recorded it,
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: so we knew what that was. Both Warren and Guy
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: and Head, we all realized that this was a great,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: great record to give people and to make at this moment.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: We'll be back with more from Mary and Faithful. After
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: a break. We're back with more from Bruce Head Them
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: and Mary and Faithful. We were talking about the songs
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: and the second part of the album, and you said
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: in some way you were thinking about the isolation people
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: we were going through, and I mentioned Roving, But I
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: think the performance that really got to me was A
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: Lady of Chalot. Oh yeah, well that's it's a very
• 20:59
  Speaker 1: interesting poem. It's about I think anyway. It's really about
• 21:04
  Speaker 1: a narcissist who can only see life through a mirror.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And when the mirror cracks. I don't really know why
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: it cracks. She does something wrong, doesn't she? Oh she
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: looks at life straight. Yeah. Yeah, And at that moment
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: the mirror cracked from side to side, and then she
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: starts to sing her swan song, and she's going to die.
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: Is she gets sick of it? Looking at everything through
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: a mirror? Is that wonderful life? I am half sick
• 21:38
  Speaker 1: of shadows? Said the Lady of shut up. She is
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: a narcissist, but in another sense, it's about someone who
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: it's at a great distance from the world. She lives
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: beside Camelot. She's not allowed to look at it, and
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: so when she tries to enter the world by looking
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: at it, she has to die, which again made me
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: think so much of people who want to be closer
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: to other people now are taking an enormous risk, and
• 22:05
  Speaker 1: you know in her body floats up to Camelot where
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: everyone can see her. In her song she dies. I
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: can't again, I can't remember the exact line, but to me,
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: it reminded me so much. You mentioned how Wilner, but
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: of reading obituaries of people you might not have even
• 22:22
  Speaker 1: known about, and then you find out that they're gone
• 22:25
  Speaker 1: because of this. I found that very resonant. Yeah, me too,
• 22:30
  Speaker 1: I've always felt about that. Yeah, Oh, was that another
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: one you you'd always like? Yes, and a lot of
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: people too, you know, it's a lot of people know
• 22:42
  Speaker 1: that one. I think you know these poems aren't fashionable
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: right now. No, in a way, the romantic poetry isn't.
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: I think we want things either more absurd or more direct,
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: do you? But you still find something in them? Do
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: you find new things in them when you read them?
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I don't care. I never think about fashionable doesn't mean anything.
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: I love the beat, but I love all sorts of things,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: and I love nineteenth century romantic poetry too. And I'm
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: glad if people aren't all sort of making records like this,
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: because that means I count. But You've also been on
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: this run of terrific albums from Easycome, Easy Go and
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Give My Love to London. I love that one, yeah,
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: which is also a great song you wrote with Steve Earle,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: who I love very much too. What do you account
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: for this level of success at an age when most
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: people are looking back on their past work. I really
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: don't know. I really don't. When you go into make
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: an album, do you do you have a particular idea
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: that the album is going to be one thing or another.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: So I think I must do deep down, you know,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: But I don't really say okay, but you said this
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: one out loud. Yeah, I'm going by feel an instant.
• 24:18
  Speaker 1: I don't really know exactly what I'm doing. I think
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: how did, but I don't really. Well, maybe I do,
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: but I just don't admit it. I don't. Well. Do
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: you ever wonder if you were ascribing things to how
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: he was really just bringing out in you the ability
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: to do these songs. I never thought of that, but
• 24:40
  Speaker 1: that might be true. Yeah, I don't know. And you know,
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: a couple of the songs I do associate with you
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: later songs is like Nick Cave's late Victorian Holocaust. Oh yeah, Oh,
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: what a great song. And you do a great, great
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: version of an old HOGI Carmichael song, which is I
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: get along very well without you. Yeah, it's a great song. Well,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: it also makes me think of you because you had
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: this very storied life. You were, for me many people
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: still more of an image than a performer. Yeah, you
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: were this beautiful girl who represented swinging London. Yes. And
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: when I listen to that song, that's what I hear.
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: I hear you saying I don't need any of that.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, So tell me what's what's next for you? Well,
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I don't know. It depends on what happens with this
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: record a bit. And also, you know, because I've been
• 25:37
  Speaker 1: so ill with the COVID. I got so ill I
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: nearly died and how did you know? And it's taking
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: me a long time to recover. I've got what they
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: called now long term COVID, and it's going to take
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: a long time to recover. And actually today, before we
• 26:01
  Speaker 1: started this, I was working on my singing, practicing singing
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: with a friend of mine who plays guitar, because I
• 26:12
  Speaker 1: was really frightened that I wouldn't be able to sing anymore.
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Were you afraid you might die at some point. Um, No,
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: that didn't cross my mind. Well, i'm asking because you
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: were in the middle of a project about romantic poetry,
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: which is, you know, there's the Kids in Half in
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Love with Easeful Death. Oh yeah, but I've known those
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: lines forever, you know. No, I don't. I really don't
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: think everything is about me. I'm not saying it. You
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: thought it was about you, But I'm wondering what those
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: lines were like when you were when you were quite sick.
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: I wasn't doing it when I was quite sick. I
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: was in fucking hospital. You weren't allowed to just sing
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: that what you're telling me? No, okay, I was much
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: too ill. All I remember about it is that I
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: was in a very very dark place, and I'd presume
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: that was being very close to death. Yeah, but I
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: didn't think that at the time. Well I'm happy that
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: wasn't the case. This is a fabulous album and it's
• 27:23
  Speaker 1: a thrill to hear it, and I'm glad you finally
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: got to do it. Yeah. Have you had any other
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: ideas that you've had forever and you thought, no, the
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: record company will never go for this. No, not really,
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: not yet. You know, I am seventy four, she said,
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure how many records I can go on making.
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: I think at least I've got another one, and I'd
• 27:46
  Speaker 1: like it to be songs, and I'd like to write
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: some of them too. Do you have some ideas already? No,
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: this record needs to come out. If I've got something
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: ready to come out, it has to come out before
• 28:04
  Speaker 1: I can turn to my next one. I've got ideas,
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: and I'm going to sit down and write something, but
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: I'm not feeling very secure about it. Well, listen, I
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: hope everybody buys this album because it's terrific. Oh god,
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: so do I because I really need the money. Well,
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: you know, this whole thing, the pandemic really fucked me up,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: particularly just like you did everyone else. Do you mean
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: financially as well. Yes, they were going to make a
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: biopic of my life and if they had been able
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: to do it, which of course they couldn't, I would
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: have made a lot of money and I really need it.
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: Well they do you think they'll go ahead and do
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: it now that they have a chance. I think, I think.
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: I hope So, I hope soon, but maybe not quick
• 28:59
  Speaker 1: enough for me. It's really quite desperate. Your life did
• 29:03
  Speaker 1: not get less interesting in the meantime, so there's no
• 29:06
  Speaker 1: reason for them to stop. I think you should tell them, Oh, yeah,
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: I know. I don't know if they realize that. I
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: don't know. You know, the one thing about COVID is
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: you can't see people in person, so a lot of
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: old friends are connecting over phones or zoom or whatever else.
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: Through your sickness, through putting out this album, have you
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: been able to reconnect with some people in your life? Yes?
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Or no? I like zoom because you know, I use
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: it for sort of. I have a group that I
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: go to, very well known I won't say its name,
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: which now you can do. You can do it on zoom,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: and it's very important to me. And if it wasn't
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: for Zoom, I wouldn't be able to do it at all.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Is that still a daily thing for you? Yeah? I
• 30:02
  Speaker 1: mean I don't. I only go to a couple of
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: meetings a week, but it's something I always will have
• 30:08
  Speaker 1: to think. Okay, well, listen, it's been just wonderful to
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: speak to you. I think we tried to talk to
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: you after your last album, but I'm thrilled I got
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: a chance to speak to you about this one. Well,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: I think I was already not COVID, but I was
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: getting very ill already with all those things. You know,
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: I've had a very hard time in the last couple
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: of years, and whatever happened to me, it wasn't me
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: hurting myself, it was coming from outside, all right. Well,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: take care of yourself now. Thanks Sally, Thank you so much.
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: Thank you, Bruce. Thanks to Mary and Faithful for talking
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: through her new album, She Walks in Beauty with Bruce.
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: To hear a playlist of our favorite Mary and Faithful songs,
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: head to Broken Record podcast dot com. Be sure to
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: subscribe to our YouTube channel, a YouTube dot com slash
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: Broken at the Podcast, where we can find extended cuts
• 31:05
  Speaker 1: of new and old episodes. You can follow us on
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: Twitter at broken Record. Broken Records produced to help from
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: Leah Rose, Jason Gambrel, Martin Gonzalez, Eric Sandler, and Jennifer Sanchez,
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: with engineering help from Nick Chafee. Our executive producer is
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: Mia LaBelle. Broken Record is a production of Pushkin Industries
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: and if you like a show, please remember to share, rate,
• 31:26
  Speaker 1: and review us on your podcast app. A theme musics
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: by Kenny Beats. I'm justin Richmond Peace