This I Know
by Marianne Faithfull/Interview by Daniel Durchholz
Women Who Rock, Fall 2002
I have to start by telling you I never give advice. But I can tell you what I’ve learned.
I had commercial success very young. Rather short lived. I can’t say I like it much. I much prefer where I am now, where my records sell steadily, and I’m not sort of in the middle of the maelstrom.
I have a theory if you get great reviews, and I nearly always do, that that completely negates commercial success. The worse reviews you get, the more commercial success you have. It’s just one of my mad theories, but it’s possible in’it?
As I got older, I’ve learned to disguise things much better in my writing. I’ve always used what all writers use, which is composites. You know, nothing is simply about me. The fact that the audience believes that it is, is part of my skill. It would drive me mad, it would bore me to death to just write about myself.
I’m really glad I did my autobiography and I’m very proud of it. But I only put in what everybody else knew already. I didn’t put in a lot of things that I wanted kept private. I have a whole other private life as well that nobody knows about. And I would have thought that they’d be hip to that. But they weren’t. They just wanted to know about the same old stuff. So I gave it to them.
It’s an incredible privilege to have people who listen to your work and like it. ‘Cause what it really is, if you make records, is a one-to-one relationship, which is the kind of relationship I like. It’s like being alone with someone and talking to them. That’s what making a disc is, or my discs, anyway. Preferably on a rainy day.
I’m going through my honeymoon period at Virgin. And I think they’re very good and I’m very happy to be on Virgin. I also think it’s very funny: Marianne Faithfull at last, on Virgin! But record companies do still have their uses. I don’t know how much longer they will. I started in ’64, so it’s going to be hard for me, that transition, when it comes. But I am aware that the public is getting completely ripped off. And I don’t like that.
I really enjoy working with other artists. I’ve always collaborated, if you think about it, from “As Tears Go By” on. But on “Kissin’ Time,” particularly. All these young men – ‘cause they’re not boys by any means – were all people who really liked my work and who knew me and wanted to work with me, and I wanted to work with them. And I really knew their work and I’d seen them live. I knew everything about them. Well, not everything, but at least what I needed to know.
It’s a very, very, very delicate maneuver writing songs with somebody. You really have to leave your ego at the door as they say in AA. And I think that one of the lucky things for me is that I’m a woman. Because I don’t have to carry so much ego. I have to have one, obviously, or I wouldn’t be able to be me. Ego is not a villain. But it’s just not always useful to the writing process.
I don’t think I will work with a producer in that same way I once did. I think it’s changed now. I don’t like the idea of turning over all that power and all that money to a producer. I don’t think it’s necessary anymore. It’s probably when you really desperately want commercial success that you think, who’s the hottest guy on the planet? Ok, I’ll buy him. I don’t think I have to do that.
I’m calmer these days when I perform live. But I still get stage fright. It’s the usual sort of insecurity of the artist. Maybe not everybody is like that. But I think a lot of people are like, “Will they like me? Will it be okay? Will the band play properly?” I mean, I’ve done everything I possibly can to make sure I’m okay. But you never know…
“Broken English” was the first time I really revealed myself. Until then, I’d been playing something else. What I thought with “Broken English” was that I really expected to die, actually. And I thought, before I die, I have to reveal myself as I was then. I mean, I’m not like that now. But I wanted to show that’s who I really was.
I used to regret the narcotics. But now I’ve stopped. I’ve sort of realized that, in a way, it probably helped me from doing something worse. I might have killed myself otherwise. That’s rule No. 1 – don’t kill yourself. If taking heroin helps you not to do that, then you have to do it. Obviously it’s best to avoid narcotics if you can, though. In my defense, I was in great pain. I spent quite a few years in heartbreak hotel, and that was my way of dealing with it. I’m very, very lucky I haven’t touched anything like that since 1985.
I want to make great music. I want to get better and better. I still have a few albums left to do.
Marianne Faithfull’s latest album, “Kissin’ Time” was written and recorded with a host of collaborators, including Beck, Billy Corgan, Dave Stewart, Jarvis Cocker, and Blur.
by Marianne Faithfull/Interview by Daniel Durchholz
Women Who Rock, Fall 2002
I have to start by telling you I never give advice. But I can tell you what I’ve learned.
I had commercial success very young. Rather short lived. I can’t say I like it much. I much prefer where I am now, where my records sell steadily, and I’m not sort of in the middle of the maelstrom.
I have a theory if you get great reviews, and I nearly always do, that that completely negates commercial success. The worse reviews you get, the more commercial success you have. It’s just one of my mad theories, but it’s possible in’it?
As I got older, I’ve learned to disguise things much better in my writing. I’ve always used what all writers use, which is composites. You know, nothing is simply about me. The fact that the audience believes that it is, is part of my skill. It would drive me mad, it would bore me to death to just write about myself.
I’m really glad I did my autobiography and I’m very proud of it. But I only put in what everybody else knew already. I didn’t put in a lot of things that I wanted kept private. I have a whole other private life as well that nobody knows about. And I would have thought that they’d be hip to that. But they weren’t. They just wanted to know about the same old stuff. So I gave it to them.
It’s an incredible privilege to have people who listen to your work and like it. ‘Cause what it really is, if you make records, is a one-to-one relationship, which is the kind of relationship I like. It’s like being alone with someone and talking to them. That’s what making a disc is, or my discs, anyway. Preferably on a rainy day.
I’m going through my honeymoon period at Virgin. And I think they’re very good and I’m very happy to be on Virgin. I also think it’s very funny: Marianne Faithfull at last, on Virgin! But record companies do still have their uses. I don’t know how much longer they will. I started in ’64, so it’s going to be hard for me, that transition, when it comes. But I am aware that the public is getting completely ripped off. And I don’t like that.
I really enjoy working with other artists. I’ve always collaborated, if you think about it, from “As Tears Go By” on. But on “Kissin’ Time,” particularly. All these young men – ‘cause they’re not boys by any means – were all people who really liked my work and who knew me and wanted to work with me, and I wanted to work with them. And I really knew their work and I’d seen them live. I knew everything about them. Well, not everything, but at least what I needed to know.
It’s a very, very, very delicate maneuver writing songs with somebody. You really have to leave your ego at the door as they say in AA. And I think that one of the lucky things for me is that I’m a woman. Because I don’t have to carry so much ego. I have to have one, obviously, or I wouldn’t be able to be me. Ego is not a villain. But it’s just not always useful to the writing process.
I don’t think I will work with a producer in that same way I once did. I think it’s changed now. I don’t like the idea of turning over all that power and all that money to a producer. I don’t think it’s necessary anymore. It’s probably when you really desperately want commercial success that you think, who’s the hottest guy on the planet? Ok, I’ll buy him. I don’t think I have to do that.
I’m calmer these days when I perform live. But I still get stage fright. It’s the usual sort of insecurity of the artist. Maybe not everybody is like that. But I think a lot of people are like, “Will they like me? Will it be okay? Will the band play properly?” I mean, I’ve done everything I possibly can to make sure I’m okay. But you never know…
“Broken English” was the first time I really revealed myself. Until then, I’d been playing something else. What I thought with “Broken English” was that I really expected to die, actually. And I thought, before I die, I have to reveal myself as I was then. I mean, I’m not like that now. But I wanted to show that’s who I really was.
I used to regret the narcotics. But now I’ve stopped. I’ve sort of realized that, in a way, it probably helped me from doing something worse. I might have killed myself otherwise. That’s rule No. 1 – don’t kill yourself. If taking heroin helps you not to do that, then you have to do it. Obviously it’s best to avoid narcotics if you can, though. In my defense, I was in great pain. I spent quite a few years in heartbreak hotel, and that was my way of dealing with it. I’m very, very lucky I haven’t touched anything like that since 1985.
I want to make great music. I want to get better and better. I still have a few albums left to do.
Marianne Faithfull’s latest album, “Kissin’ Time” was written and recorded with a host of collaborators, including Beck, Billy Corgan, Dave Stewart, Jarvis Cocker, and Blur.