"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" is a song by American poet and songwriter Shel Silverstein. It was originally recorded by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, with the name spelled "Jordon". The song describes the disillusionment and mental deterioration of a suburban housewife, who climbs to a rooftop "when the laughter grew too loud".
"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" | ||||
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Single by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show | ||||
B-side | "Make it Easy" | |||
Released | 1974 | |||
Length | 3:53 | |||
Label | CBS | |||
Songwriter(s) | Shel Silverstein | |||
Producer(s) | Ron Haffkine | |||
Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show singles chronology | ||||
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"The Ballad of Lucy Jordan" | ||||
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Single by Marianne Faithfull | ||||
from the album Broken English | ||||
B-side | "Brain Drain" | |||
Released | 26 October 1979 (1979-10-26) | |||
Recorded |
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Genre | New wave | |||
Length | 4:09 | |||
Label | Island | |||
Songwriter(s) | Shel Silverstein | |||
Producer(s) | Mark Miller Mundy | |||
Marianne Faithfull singles chronology | ||||
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The song was recorded by the English singer Marianne Faithfull for her 1979 album Broken English. This version was released as a single in October 1979, and became one of her highest-charting songs. It is featured on the soundtracks to the films Montenegro, Tarnation and Thelma & Louise. Faithfull also performed the song during a guest appearance in the episode "Donkey" from the fourth season of Absolutely Fabulous, in which God (Faithfull) sings the song in a dream to a miserable, dieting Edina. In 2016, the Faithfull version was used in the finale of American Horror Story: Hotel.
In an interview on ITV's The South Bank Show aired on 24 June 2007, Faithfull said that her interpretation was that Lucy climbs to the rooftop but gets taken away by "the man who reached and offered her his hand" in an ambulance ("long white car") to a mental hospital, and that the final lines ("At the age of thirty-seven she knew she'd found forever / As she rode along through Paris with the warm wind in her hair ...") are actually in her imagination at the hospital.[1] Thelma and Louise has a similar fatalistic theme.[2]
Smash Hits said, "The Debbie Harry of the sixties returns to vinyl with an honestly outstanding offering, a version of an old Doctor Hook number related over a swimming synthesiser. If you can handle this, it sounds like Dolly Parton produced by Brian Eno. Only better.""[3]
AllMusic noted Faithfull's "faint vocal approach accompanied by the lone synthesizer emanates an eerie candor throughout the song's duration. This wispiness helps to build the fantasy/reality concept of the song, and shows Faithfull at her most sincere."[4] Pitchfork mentioned the, "pain in her fractured voice".[5]
The Arts Desk said, "Pin-sharp, it was laceratingly at one with the dark clouds gathering over music in the wake of punk."[6]
Chart (1979–80) | Peak position |
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Australia (ARIA)[7] | 18 |
Austria (Ö3 Austria Top 40)[8] | 2 |
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Wallonia)[9] | 7 |
France (SNEP)[10] | 17 |
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[11] | 19 |
New Zealand (Recorded Music NZ)[12] | 20 |
South Africa (Springbok Radio SA Top 20) | 4 |
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[13] | 5 |
UK Singles (OCC)[14] | 48 |
West Germany (Official German Charts)[15] | 5 |
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