Chords for Marianne Faithfull - interview [9-6-94]

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Folks, my next guest tonight was a major part of the British music and social scene during the 60s.
She's just written a tell-all autobiography entitled Faithful.
Please welcome Marianne Faithful.
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[N] I have to tell you something.
I was walking around with your book all day today, reading it, you know, looking for questions
to ask, and people keep taking it from me.
Everybody wants to read this book.
It's filled with fascinating stories, but you've led a life.
Yeah, maybe even both of one.
_ You've done quite a bit.
I mean, the question that comes to mind immediately is in this book, you're hanging out in the
60s in London with Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, The Kinks, really just everybody
who was part of that whole scene.
And you know, you wonder, how did you fall in with these people?
Did it just happen?
I mean, how did you end up in the center of that scene?
Well, it felt like it just happened, but _ I sort of think now it must have sort of been
the right thing.
I went to a party in London when I was 17 with my first boyfriend, _ John, and I was discovered
at the party by Andrew Oldham, who managed the Stones.
And three weeks later, I made my first record, which was As Tears Go By.
As Tears Go By, right, which was a big hit.
So it really happened really overnight.
I mean, that's something people dream about, is I'll go to a party and I'll get discovered.
It'll just be like that.
I don't know if I was_
I wasn't really dreaming about it.
I mean, although now I'm really glad because I got the life I wanted and I got the life I like.
Well, it's an amazing story.
I mean, really, _ the heart of the book is your relationship with Mick Jagger.
You had a relationship that lasted many years with Mick.
Five, I think.
With Mick.
Four. _
_ Four, five, eight.
Who can be sure?
Or does it matter?
No.
But one of the things, you say some very compelling things about him.
Something that stuck out to me is you compared him to Ronald Reagan.
_ _ _ _ _ _ Yes.
And it's not the hair.
No, no, no.
What about him was like Reagan?
_ _ _ Well, you know, he did go to the London School of Economics.
It's that kind of thing.
Right.
The money, probably.
Well, you actually say in the book that you thought he was more conservative than probably
most people would think and that he was a bit of an observer of the drug scene.
He didn't so much partake as much as_
You said he was a little like an undercover cop.
_ God almighty, Reagan, an undercover cop.
_ _ _ Yes.
Uh-huh.
Well_
It's in here.
Yes.
I don't mean it quite as bad as that sounds.
I mean people who sort of pass as a drug addict without ever doing the drugs, which is what
an undercover cop does.
Right.
Occasionally they have to do a few drugs just to keep_
Yeah, but you said that you felt that he really_
He didn't want to just completely lose himself in that culture.
I mean, I must say I rather admire that about him.
You know, I _ don't_
I think it's quite a positive thing that he's like that.
And _ _ _ _ being so sort of conservative and right-wing and all that is a bit more acceptable in Mick
Jagger than it is in Ronald Reagan, isn't it?
I think so.
Reagan's a great guitarist though.
People don't know that.
Well, Mick Jagger isn't running the country.
Now, maybe someday.
You never know the way things go.
_ In the book, you_
First of all, you point out something I didn't know is that you inspired a lot of Rolling Stones songs.
Mm-hmm.
Let's Spend the Night Together, You Can't Always Get What You_
I love inspiring Let's Spend the Night Together. _
I'm very proud of that.
Right.
Do those songs have a different meaning for you than_ They must. They must.
I mean, everyone else just thinks of those as classic songs of the 60s, sort of the song
track for the 60s, but they have this very different meaning for you.
Does that feel a little strange?
They do, yes.
My friends actually tease me about it a lot.
It's got to the point now where any song that comes on the radio or anyone plays, I always
go, that song's about me.
_ _ Uh-huh.
And I mean, they ring me up and say, and you know, Marianne, you remember Wooly Bully?
Is that about you too?
I think Funky Funky Broadway.
Oh, they're all about me.
All right.
Let's face it.
Okay, well, I _ think another fascinating thing about the book is you got to know a bunch
of the Rolling Stones and you talk about you had a fascination with Keith.
That doesn't seem to end.
You always seem_
What made him the most fascinating in a way to you _ of the Stones, Keith Richards?
I don't know.
Just my kind of guy, I suppose.
He's a sort of arty, bohemian, very talented person.
I like people like that.
Yeah.
Well, you got to meet quite a bit of them.
And you look back on it now, does it all seem like a dream?
I've heard other people who live through it talk about the 60s and say it just seems unreal
because it's so_
Certainly, it's very different from the culture we're living in now.
It is.
I must admit that the culture we're living in now seems like a dream. _
In a way.
A good one?
_ It's fine.
I'm all right.
But I wonder how it must be for young people now.
It's very different.
I mean, I read in this book and you're talking about the sexual practice and just the whole
attitude towards sex.
Casual.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
Yes.
Extremely casual.
And that's something that young people today, they _ can't afford to be that way.
No, they can't.
And I'm glad.
I mean, I have a son of 28.
_ And he just got married and it was with great relief that I went to his wedding.
Thank God.
Right. _
I think a lot of mothers feel that way.
It has nothing to do with anything else.
All right.
Well, it really is a fascinating book.
You also have a Faithful, which is your greatest hits, is out on CD.
People should be aware of that.
Yes, thank you.
Thank you very much for coming.
I appreciate it.
It was nice to meet you.
Diane Faithful, everybody.
We'll be right back.
See you