The musician who Marianne Faithfull worshipped
Marianne Faithfull has been brushed off for too long as not much more than a groupie parading as an artist. As the girlfriend of Mick Jagger and one of the most recognisable faces of 1960s style, her own musical career has never been given its dues. However, her party-girl reputation did land her in one room that might have changed her musical world forever: a moment with Bob Dylan.
As one of the most influential musicians to ever live, Bob Dylan redefined the music scene. He changed folk forever with his pioneering sound and daring spirit, leading to generations worth of artists inspired by his work. But even amongst his peers, his legacy was strong. Marianne Faithfull would agree.
In 1965, Faithfull found herself in London’s Savoy Hotel at an after-party with Dylan. “I first met Bob at the Savoy in 1965. There’s a clip of me and Joan Baez singing ‘As Tears Go By’ in the hotel room while Bob is hammering away on a typewriter,” she wrote in her autobiography. “Later when I turned him down, he told me that it had been a poem about me, but he’d torn it up.”
“I was so upset, but we got over that and have been friends for 56 years. I really like him,” she added. Despite rejecting his advances, Dylan remained an artist that she not only loved but utterly admired.
“I had never seen a person like Bob Dylan. Never in my wildest dreams could I have imagined anyone like Bob in 1965, his brain,” she said of the musician. “I was frightened, but they were probably more scared of me. He played me the album Bringing It All Back Home. It was just amazing. I worshipped him.”
As the closing number of the album started up, Faithfull heard ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ for the first time. The song instantly got under her skin. She told The Guardian, “I think ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’ is about those times in life where you just have to say, ‘OK, we tried, it didn’t work’, but it’s a much sleeker way of saying it. It’s very loving, but obviously it’s all over.”
“I don’t really know why I love it so much, but I’ve been in many situations where I would have liked to have time stop and have a band playing and sing that song to people,” she continued, “I’ve recorded it twice. The second time, I’d had more experiences and really felt it.”
Throughout her career, holding tight during her various hiatuses and struggles with drug addiction, Faithfull’s love for Dylan’s music endured. She recorded covers of several of his songs, including ‘It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue’, ‘Visions Of Johanna’ and ‘I’ll Keep It With Mine’.
