A minor talent in many ways but a significant figure almost by accident. She ended up acquiring an iconic status and certainly wasn’t a tragic figure in any sense. Far from it. Much as I like Broken English there was/is so much more to her. For anyone who’s not heard it, go listen to Negative Capability. A great late album.
I disagree there is no sense her life was tragic. For example as a heavy-use heroin addict she at one time was sleeping rough and having to deal with and do goodness knows what to get her next fix. This is a tragic existence for anyone and a very sad situation.
And I’ll disagree right back
That was a part of her life but it absolutely wasn’t her life. A point she made repeatedly. If there was tragedy in her life it related to her child. Her life itself was not a tragedy in any sense. It would have been had she o’d and died but, as she says, she did not and there’s no tragedy in surviving and thriving at all. Indeed she was highly critical of all who tried to romanticise her life in terms of it being tragic. She felt it a label which said more about those seeking to attach the label to gratify themselves in terms of having collected/acquired another tragic artist to their collection.
Show me a life which isn’t in part tragedy and I’ll show you a liar.
Similar memories after a trip to Ibiza that summer, went out and bought the lp.
If we are store naming Richard, the sticker below says HMV at the price of £4.99! Looks like the cellophane has only been opened, but while is good condition, it has had many a spin.
Still enjoy the album although trying to find it on the rack just now, it was in front of the ‘F’ section rather than in it! Will spin it through the rcm at the weekend and then give it a listen; r.i.p.
Very Sad. R.I.P. I have many of her albums.
We were’nt speaking about everyone’s life just hers.
I see an inconsistency you say all lives are all part tragedy but Marianes was in no way tragic.
She put much of it behind her and that is all good in terms of her character but it does not mean it did not happen.
I find no gratification for myself in it. I hope she found or has found peace. You can see her life in any way you wish as indeed I can.
Really good track, better than the original
RIP Marianne
Thank you for the music Marianne RIP
Eh? It was asserted she’d had a tragic life. I countered that her life had an element of tragedy as do all but her life itself was not tragic. Zero contradiction there and, if you get no gratification in it yourself why go to thst spect first and not the often fantastic music…
I should insert here that I once interviewed her for a student magazine at a time when it would have been easy to portray her as being in a bad way etc. She gave me four (yes, four) hours of her time; bought me lunch and explicitly explained why she could see no tragedy in her life at all. Somewhere I have 3x C90 cassettes of that interview. It was wonderful.
Fascinating interview:
Only good words for the dead!
That is a nice memory of her for you but If you read my first post again I said
"Sad news.
When someone has mentioned her to me in the past I have tended to think she was an all-round sad figure and young talent wasted due to bad life choices, relationships and the destructive influence of the drugs she was addicted to."
You were the first person to mention the word tragic in relation to her.
My post was an honest reaction to the sad news of her death and how I think of her. I think when she did get herself sorted out more later in life her artist/music potential came through. I take no pleasure in it and I rather describe it as empathy. I thought her later work was her best i.e. from Broken English onwards.
Lived to how old? Made how many albums? The “waste” was?
RIP Marianne.
I lose count of the times that I have rediscovered your music, only to gain fresh new appreciation of your unique talent, as (my own) years and tears go by.
For me, Broken English is indeed a highlight, but I also feel that A Childs Adventure is greatly under-appreciated. I probably listen to ACA more than your other formidable outings.
Thank you that bravely sharing your deepest and most brutally honest human ponderings in music, has greatly rewarded my repeat spins.
From one who knew you not, I can only hope that you eventually found peace, somewhere in your life.
I actually think Broken English did her a disservice in the sense that, good as it is, it’s very much of it’s time and also became a stick to measure her by. Of her albums I’d say there at least 9 which compete with it and are worthy of your time.
Radio 6 has just had two hours of music celebrating Marianne on tonight’s Now Playing show. It will be available on BBC Sounds for those who are interested. A very enjoyable 2 hours was spent listening to it.
Sad to say, like most of these things, it had long been prepared. Acquaintance of mine worked on it originally about three years ago. Thought it was oregtu good really.