Marianne Faithfull
RETURNS WITH A COLLECTION OF “HAPPY” SONGS
By JONATHAN DURBIN
Photographed by EMANUELE FONTANESI
When Marianne Faithfull describes her 23rd
solo effort as a "happy collection," understand that
"happy" is a relative term. Sure, the record is called
Horses and High Heels, and yes, the sleeve art depicts a
kitschy, oil-painted fantasia of a palomino steed trotting
along a tropical beach. But any collection that
includes songs with the titles "Why Did We Have
to Part" and "Eternity," and covers of tunes by the
Gutter Twins -- the band comprised of Greg Dulli
and Mark Lanegan, two talented guys who have never
been on speaking terms with optimism -- isn't going
to be summery pop. "I like the dark stuff, myself,"
says the 64-year-old songwriter and actress, speaking
over the phone from her home in Paris. "But it all
seems very natural, grown-up, warm. I think this is
a very nice record."
Out June 28th in the States, the album marks
the third collaboration between Faithfull and Hal
Willner, the producer who worked with her on
1987's Strange Weather and 2008's Easy Come, Easy Go.
The 13-track record includes four songs co-written
by Faithfull, plus a selection of covers sung by
the icon in her cracked-pavement tenor, including
Jackie Lomax's "No Reason" and "Goin' Back,"
originally by Carole King but definitively recorded
by Dusty Springfield. Horses and High Heels alternates
between rollicking barroom blues and haunting
folk songs, refusing to hew to any one style. She's
at her finest on the album's title track, in which she
ruminates about her not-so-distant past: "When I
lived in the city of Dublin/ It suited my face and
my tears/ The talk, the drink and the friends were
good/ and stood for my hopes and my fears." "All
those things happened," she explains. "I can't write
about it unless I've lived it first."
Faithfull has done more than her fair share of
living. The bewitching muse of the Rolling Stones,
former girlfriend of Mick Jagger, '60s icon and '70s
burnout, has led a tumultuous and very public life.
She's already written two autobiographies and admits
to mining her past when writing new songs.
"Music is my life," she says. "I can't imagine not
doing it." She's on tour now -- she says she's glad
for the work -- but she's an accomplished actress
and has recently acted in several projects, including
the upcoming horror-thriller Faces in the Crowd
with Milla Jovovich and Belle du Seigneur, adapted
from the novel by Albert Cohen, starring Natalia
Vodianova and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Faithfull
calls acting a welcome respite from the pressures of
songwriting. For someone so focused on herself in
her music, portraying characters can be refreshing.
"I like working on things in a group, when the attention
isn't all on me," she says. "Being someone else
gives me a break from being myself. That's something
I need, every now and then."
WHAT'S ON HER SUMMER PLAYLIST
"Good Vibrations," The Beach Boys
"(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay," Otis Redding
"Song 2," Blur
"Gloria," Patti Smith
"Palaces of Montezuma," Grinderman
MORE FROM PAPER'S SUMMER MIXTAPE
WHAT'S ON HER SUMMER PLAYLIST
"Good Vibrations," The Beach Boys
"(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay," Otis Redding
"Song 2," Blur
"Gloria," Patti Smith
"Palaces of Montezuma," Grinderman
MORE FROM PAPER'S SUMMER MIXTAPE
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