The Ballad Of Lucy Jordan

by

Marianne Faithfull

Album: Broken English      Released: 1979

UK Chart: 48

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Shel Silverstein wrote this song, which is about a woman who lives a comfortable, middle class lifestyle, but goes crazy. Mitch Myers, who is Silverstein's nephew, says of Shel, "As a storyteller, he was able to take the position, first and third person, and convey a story in a very straightforward way, and still be melodic, and still be truthful, and also have a hook. I mean, Shel didn't just write songs - he wrote hit songs. I mean, they sold. They were popular. Whether it be Country or Pop charts, they resonated with people, and they still remember them." (Mitch is author of Silverstein Around the World, which contains many more stories about Shel. Read more from Mitch in his full interview in the Songfacts interviews section.)

Originally recorded by Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show in 1975, this song was also covered by Bobby Bare and Belinda Carlisle. It was used in the movies Montenegro and Thelma & Louise.

In June 2007, when she was interviewed extensively for ITV's The South Bank Show she said that when she heard the song she identified with it immediately. She said too that some people misinterpret the song thinking the story ends in suicide. In fact, although Lucy Jordan climbs onto the roof she doesn't jump but is taken away in an ambulance - to a mental hospital. When she climbs into the ambulance she is so far gone that she imagines she is riding through Paris in a sports car, something she had always dreamed about, as stated in the song." (thanks, Alexander - London, England)

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