marianne faithfull ♦ the ballad of lucy jordan ♦ stereo edit
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 Published On Sep 22, 2021

Edit for headphones. More bass, wider sound.
"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. Taken from Marianne Faithfull's 1979 album "Broken English", this song was released as a single in November 1979. It reached #2 in Austria, #4 in South Africa, #5 in Switzerland and Germany, #7 in Belgium, #17 in France, #18 in Australia, #20 in New Zealand and #48 in the UK.

The performance is of a French tv show (the Collaro show).
This song must have been very difficult for her to mime: no microphone to hide her lips, long intimate close ups and two hundred sixty three words to sing...
I made synchronisation better (no more glitches by Marianne), I made a better intro (cut out the French crap) and I ended the video better: a slow fade out with Marianne's languorous glances...

The video is a bit strange for at first Marianne was not allowed to perform in France (stupid French civil servants with their laws), but after the tv guys finally obtained a work permit for her, she was allowed to perform (the work permit is in her hands in the video). This had lead to this idea of a setting of a middle east working slave situation. You know, that same middle east situation that is still going on in countries like Qatar, with their backward islamic laws, allowing people to kill, enslave and so on... In Saudi Arabia they still use a sword to decapitate death row inmates...

THE BALLAD OF LUCY JORDAN *
(Shel Silverstein)

The morning sun touched lightly on
the eyes of Lucy Jordan
In a white suburban bedroom
in a white suburban town

And she lay there neath the covers
dreaming of a thousand lovers
til the world turned to orange
and the room went spinning round

At the age of 37
she realized she'd never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair
So she let the phone keep ringing
as she sat there softly singing
little nursery rhymes she'd memorized
in her Daddy's easy chair

Her husband he's off to work
and the kids are off to school
and there were oh so many ways
for her to spend the day

She could clean the house for hours
or rearrange the flowers
or run naked through the shady street
screaming all the way

At the age of 37
she realized she'd never ride
through Paris in a sports car
with the warm wind in her hair
So she let the phone keep ringing
as she sat there softly singing
pretty nursery rhymes she'd memorized
in her Daddy's easy chair

The evening sun touched gently on
the eyes of Lucy Jordan
on the rooftop where she climbed
when all the laughter grew too loud

And she bowed and curtsied to the man
who reached and offered her his hand
and he led her down to the long white car
that waited past the crowd

At the age of 37
she knew she'd found forever
as she rode along through Paris
with the warm wind in her hair

®© UMG

(All rights reserved by the copyright owners. This nonprofit fan-made video is solely to promote
awareness and interest in the artists and the music.)

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summary of this song by Sharon:
It is about a 30ish year old woman who realizes that she has reached that point in her life where her dreams will never come true. She has a very boring life that is driving her crazy. The main theme is that she finally becomes detached from reality. She goes out on the roof, where many people see her, and the psychiatric attendants come to take her to a mental institution. In other words, complete nervous breakdown and the death of her cherished dream. It is as the Rolling Stones sang: "Lose your dreams and you will lose your mind."
Sharon's channel:    / @cissy2cute  

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