Marianne Faithful-Love in the afternoon
There are songs that seduce by raw power. Fuck me now back against the wall yowlings. They are fun enough, but often not very good, and often I think easier to write.
Then they are songs like this, songs that seduce by subterfuge. It starts with a disco beat, and then her speaks-soft growl, a description of the environment, a snaky bass line. Then a come on- ‘…lets make love again we have time/I am yours; you are mine…’
So it’s a conventional love song, right? Then an electronic foreboding that foreshadows something darker. This is where the piano emerges and she warns him not to fall in love with her- how can you not fall in love with Marianne Faithful? She has a divine gift. There is mention of basic details, zipping her dress in the dark, finding her shoes.; she mentions a husband and children and everything changes.
More drums in the third verse, she has stayed too late, and he loves and she doesn’t mind. The last line “thanks for loving me call you tonight” are followed by a brief coda of strings and keyboards, a lonely and desolate wasteland that expresses perfectly the problems of being caught between desire and duty.