"The Ballad of Lucy Jordon"
Single by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show
B-side"Make it Easy"
Released1974
Length3:53
LabelCBS
Songwriter(s)Shel Silverstein
Producer(s)Ron Haffkine
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show singles chronology
"Life Ain't Easy"
(1973)		 "The Ballad of Lucy Jordon"
(1974)		 "The Millionaire"
(1975)

"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. It was originally recorded in 1974 by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, with the name spelled "Jordon". The song describes the disillusionment and mental deterioration of a suburban housewife, who climbs to a rooftop "when the laughter grew too loud".

Marianne Faithfull version

"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan"
Single by Marianne Faithfull
from the album Broken English
B-side"Brain Drain"
Released26 October 1979 (1979-10-26)
Recorded
  • May–July 1979
  • Matrix Studios, London
Genre
Length4:09
LabelIsland
Songwriter(s)Shel Silverstein
Producer(s)Mark Miller Mundy
Marianne Faithfull singles chronology
"The Way You Want Me To Be"
(1978)		 "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan"
(1979)		 "Broken English"
(1980)
Official video
"The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan" at TopPop on YouTube

Background

The song was recorded by the English singer Marianne Faithfull for her 1979 album Broken English. This version was released as a single in October 1979, and became one of her highest-charting songs. It is featured on the soundtracks to the films Montenegro, Tarnation and Thelma & Louise. Faithfull also performed the song during a guest appearance in the episode "Donkey" from the fourth season of Absolutely Fabulous, in which God (Faithfull) sings the song in a dream to a miserable, dieting Edina. In 2016, the Faithfull version was used in the finale of American Horror Story: Hotel.

In an interview on ITV's The South Bank Show aired on 24 June 2007, Faithfull said that her interpretation was that Lucy climbs to the rooftop but gets taken away by "the man who reached and offered her his hand" in an ambulance ("long white car") to a psychiatric hospital, and that the final lines ("At the age of thirty-seven she knew she'd found forever / As she rode along through Paris with the warm wind in her hair ...") are actually in her imagination at the hospital.[2] Thelma and Louise has a similar fatalistic theme.[3]

The official music video for the song features Faithfull alone, smartly dressed and with coiffured hair adorned with ornate golden oak leaves. Shots with her squatting on the floor hugging herself or her standing looking tense, anxious and remote, alternate and overlap with shots of her singing the song, either in full length or in close-up portrait.

Reception

Smash Hits said, "The Debbie Harry of the sixties returns to vinyl with an honestly outstanding offering, a version of an old Doctor Hook number related over a swimming synthesiser. If you can handle this, it sounds like Dolly Parton produced by Brian Eno. Only better."[4]

AllMusic noted Faithfull's "faint vocal approach accompanied by the lone synthesizer emanates an eerie candor throughout the song's duration. This wispiness helps to build the fantasy/reality concept of the song, and shows Faithfull at her most sincere."[5] Pitchfork mentioned the, "pain in her fractured voice".[6]

The Arts Desk said, "Pin-sharp, it was laceratingly at one with the dark clouds gathering over music in the wake of punk."[7]

Personnel

Charts

Chart (1979–80) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[9] 18
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[10] 2
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[11] 7
France (SNEP)[12] 17
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[13] 19
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[14] 20
South Africa (Springbok Radio SA Top 20) 4
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] 5
UK Singles (OCC)[16] 48
West Germany (Official German Charts)[17] 5

Other cover versions

References

  1. ↑ MacDonald, Bruno (2016). "Marianne Faithfull - Broken English". In Dimery, Robert (ed.). 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. London: Cassell Illustrated. p. 437.
  2. ↑ Podcast The South Bank Show Archived 14 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
  3. ↑ Bernie Cook (January 2010), Thelma & Louise live!, ISBN 9780292782501
  4. ↑ David Hepworth (14 November 1979). "Singles". Smash Hits. No. 25.
  5. ↑ Mike Degagne. "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". AllMusic.
  6. ↑ Lindsay Zoladz. "Broken English: Deluxe Edition". Pitchfork.
  7. ↑ Kieron Tyler. "Reissue CDs Weekly: Marianne Faithfull, Françoise Hardy, Pia Fraus". The Arts Desk.
  8. ↑ "MOJO Time Machine: Marianne Faithfull Releases Broken English". Mojo. 24 April 2023.
  9. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". ARIA Top 50 Singles. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  10. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (in German). Ö3 Austria Top 40. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  11. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (in French). Ultratop 50. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (in French). Les classement single. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  13. ↑ "Nederlandse Top 40 – Marianne Faithfull" (in Dutch). Dutch Top 40. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  14. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". Top 40 Singles. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  15. ↑ "Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  16. ↑ "Official Singles Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
  17. ↑ "Offiziellecharts.de – Marianne Faithfull – The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  18. ↑ "RPM Top 75 Country Singles - October 25, 1980" (PDF).
  19. ↑ "RPM Top 60 AC - April 8, 1996" (PDF).
  20. ↑ Per Magnusson (22 September 2017). "Kikkis självhjälpscountry urstark" (in Swedish). Aftonbladet. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
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