Marianne Faithfull – Broken English (US 12″)
Posted by DjPaulT on 27th July 2011
BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1980
Few stars of the ’60s have reinvented themselves as successfully as Marianne Faithfull. Coaxed into a singing career by Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog Oldham in 1964, she had a big hit in both Britain and the U.S. with her debut single, the Jagger/Richards composition “As Tears Go By” (which prefaced the Stones’ own version by a full year).
Considerably more successful in her native land than the States, she had a series of hits in the mid-’60s that set her high, fragile voice against delicate orchestral pop arrangements: “Summer Night,” “This Little Bird,” and Jackie DeShannon’s “Come and Stay with Me.” Not a songwriter at the outset of her career, she owes more of her fame as a ’60s icon to her extraordinary beauty and her long-running romance with Mick Jagger, although she offered a taste of things to come with her compelling 1969 single “Sister Morphine,” which she co-wrote (and which the Stones later released themselves on Sticky Fingers).
After a lengthy absence, Faithfull resurfaced in 1980 with “Broken English”, which took the edgy and brittle sound of punk rock and gave it a shot of studio-smooth dance rock. The song charted on the US dance chart in 1980 peaking at #59.
The six-and-a-half-minute b-side “Why’d Ya Do It?”, was a caustic, graphic rant of a woman reacting to her lover’s infidelity. The lyrics began with the man’s point of view, relating the bitter tirade of his jilted lover. It was set to a grinding tune inspired by Jimi Hendrix’s recording of Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower”. Poet and writer Heathcote Williams had originally conceived the lyrics as a piece for Tina Turner to record, but Faithfull succeeded in convincing him that Turner would never record such a number. Its plethora of four-letter words and explicit references to oral sex caused controversy and led to a ban in Australia. Local pressings had grooves of smooth vinyl in place of the track and a ‘bonus’ 7″ single of the extended version of “Broken English” as compensation. The ban did not extend to import copies, and the song was also played unedited on the Government-funded Double Jay radio station. It wasn’t until 1988 when Island re-released the album in Australia and “Why d’Ya Do It?” was finally included.
SIDE A:
Broken English (Long Version) 5:54
SIDE B:
Why D’ya Do It? 6:35
VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint
CHARTS:
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1980 | Broken English | U.S. Billboard Hot Dance Club Play | #59 |
RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Antilles
Catalog#: AN-801
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 33 RPM
Country: US
Released: 1980
Genre: Funk / Soul, Reggae, Rock
Style: Reggae, Classic Rock
Credits: Producer – Mark Miller Mundy
NOTES:
Original version on the Lp “BROKEN ENGLISH”
Find The 12″ On DISCOGS
EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut III
Cartridge: Ortofon Super 20
Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner
SOFTWARE USED:
Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Adobe Photoshop CS5
ClickRepair
dBpoweramp
Playlist Creator
RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
Downsampled to 16bit 44kHz using Adobe batch processing
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi PNG format, resized to JPEG format for posting.
PW: burningtheground
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Tags: 1980, Broken English, Long Version, Marianne Faithfull, Why D'ya Do It
Posted in Marianne Faithfull | 11 Comments »