Marianne Faithfull
“Chords Of Fame”
“Rich Kid Blues”, 1971
“They’ll rob you of your innocence, and put you up for sale.
The more that you will find success, the more that you will fail.
I’ve been around, I’ve had my share, and I really can’t complain,
But I wonder who I left behind on the other side of fame.”
For those of you that don’t know in the early seventies Marianne lived in the streets of Soho homeless. In 1971 producer Mike Leander who knew her from way back found her and had her record 12 tracks for a new album. Said album was eventually rejected and shelved by the record company and would not see the light of day until 1984 when it was released as “Rich Kid Blues” also including most songs off of Marianne’s 1976 country album “Dreaming My Dreams”.
I think that this song could not be more poignant and might just be one of my favourites from her early days. The album it comes from is unfortunately very overlooked. When listening to this song you have to keep in mind that just about five years prior to this recording Marianne was still at the center of the swinging sixties singing songs like “Come And Stay With Me” and “Summer Nights” with an angel’s voice. “Chords Of Fame” was originally written and released by Phil Ochs in 1970.