Saturday, October 1, 2011

Stoned or Faithfull?

Hey everyone sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Yet again school has been taking over my life. I want to do a new post but I've decided to do a re post. Awhile back when I had very few followers I did a post about the song, "As Tears Go By." I asked if the Rolling Stones version was better or if the Marianne Faithfull version was better. No one commented. I'm still curious so I'm re posting the post. So please comment so we can see if you're Stoned or Faithfull.



As Tears Go By, was a song made popular by both Marianne Faithfull and The Rolling Stones. It was one of the first original compositions by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. (Up to that point The Rolling Stones had mainly been performing covers of blues standards.) In early 1964 Marianne Faithfull and her soon to be husband, John Dunbar attend a Rolling Stones launch party. That was when she was discovered by Andrew Loog Oldham, the then manager of The Stones. Reportedly he saw Marianne as an angel with big tits. (Wow that's something!) He didn't care if she could sing, he was mostly about image. He locked Mick and Keith in a kitchen forcing them to write a song together, for Marianne. He then said, “I want a song with brick walls all around it, high windows and no sex." (haha again, ain't that something!) As a result to this lovely suggestion the song was originally called, "As Time Goes By." It was Oldham who changed “Time” for “Tears." He then gave the song to Marianne. At the time was only 17. The song was to be recorded as a B-side but the success of the recording caused the record company, Decca, to switch the song to an A-side. And that is where it became a very popular single. The song reached # 9 in the British charts and launched Marianne's career as a major singer. The song also entered the Billboard Hot 100 in America the week ending November 28, 1964. This is where it stayed for nine weeks peaking at # 22. The Rolling Stones recorded their own version in 1965. It was released as a single in December 1965 by their American record label, London Records, due to popular demand after radio DJs across the country started playing the song from the band's recently released album December's Children (And Everybody's) The song peaked at #6 on the American Billboard Charts. The song was later released in the UK in 1966. It was released as the B-side to the single "19th Nervous Breakdown." The song was a big hit. But who do you think has the better version? Marianne or The Rolling Stones? Leave a comment and we'll find out if you're Stoned or Faithfull.



4 comments:

  1. Strange as it may be, I've always preferred Marianne's version... I love her 60s 'innocent' recordings! :)

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  2. As Tears Go By has never really been one of my favorite Stones tracks. I really admire Ruby Tuesday. It shows the guys can do slow and romantic music

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  3. Stones' version for sure. Marianne's sounds cheesy.

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  4. As much as I adore Marianne and think she has a beautiful voice, I think I prefer the Stones version. I like the guitar in the Stones version and the contrast of Jagger's voice and the softness of the song.

    P.s Thanks for following. Your blog is great! Right up my ally :)

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