I played a fair bit of Marianne Faithfull on the radio show in 2005. She had an album, ‘Before the Poison’, that featured contributions from PJ Harvey, Nick Cave, Hal Willner and Damon Albarn. The later wrote a tune with her, ‘Last Song’ that suited the Marianne persona well – wistful, slightly remote, carried with immense poise. If you ever get the chance, read her biography, written with the aid of David Dalton. It runs from European blue blood to Sixies rock aristo and then speedily down into heroin ruin. I have an autographed copy – we met at the Waterfont Hall, also in 2005, where she had convened with the Ulster Orchestra. And while she talked about her musical collaborators with some affection, the artist who co-wrote ‘Sister Morphine’ with Mick Jagger was never going to be over-awed.
‘Last Song’ has an old world ache, redolent of Leonard Cohen, another former acquaintance. And while I didn’t revisit the track for many years, Damon Albarn plainly saw the value in it. In 2007, it was refitted as ‘Green Fields’ and leased out to The Good The Bad And The Queen. It became a pop song then, a little folksy lament about fading love, green belt expansion and the inevitable way that time goes by.
The Kinks – Til the End Of The Day (Universal)
Camera Obscura – Every Weekday (4ad)
Little Bear – Night Dries Like Ink (Small Town America)
Townes Van Zandt – profile
Primal Scream – Goodbye Johnny (First International)
Malojian – Julie Anne (white)
Dawn McCarthy, Bonnie Prince Billy – Somebody Help Me (Domino)
David Bowie – Life On Mars (EMI)
Sinkane – Warm Spells (City Slang)
Caitlin Rose – No One To Call (Names)
REM – Stand (Warner)
Charles Bradley – You Put The Flame On It (Daptone)
Winter Mountain – Shed A Little Light (Charcoal)
Marianne Faithful – Last Song (Anti)
Handsome Family – Eels (Loose)
Camera Obscura – I Missed Your Party (4ad)
Little Bear – Killer (Small Town America)
Nick Cave – Higgs Bossom Blues (Bad Seed)
Toumani Diabate – Cheikhna Demba (Palm Pictures)
Guy Clark – My Favourite Picture Of You (Dualtone)
Balthazar – Sinking Ship (PIAS)
Boards Of Canada – Reach For The Dead (Warp)
