Marianne Faithfull – “Broken English” (1979) Review | What Are You Fighting For?
Kronomyth 8.2: Brokesmodel.
Enter the arm candy to the burned-out polemicists, blowing smoke in your face and telling you in a bored nonchalant way that Nietzsche was right about God but wrong about us, that babies are born dead into the world and drink death from the breasts of dying mothers. In this new Orwellian world of Nein Teen Hatey, likewise heralded in the detached, absurd observations of David Bowie, Talking Heads, Peter Gabriel, Ultravox, Laurie Anderson and many others, we were automatons moving to a life remembered, possibly stolen from a past generation, playing the cold war games of kindertoten. On the title track to the prodigal daughter’s triumphant return, Faithfull feeds us the truth that communication must be broken in a world where confrontation is all that’s spoken. A pedestrian melody plods on, synthesizers whoosh in and out like hurried ghosts, and a parched voice cries dry tears for the dying. It’s not the best track on Broken English, but rather a secondhand war story written from the revolutionary’s armchair, rendered here in an edited three-minute version. Still, it’s a cool track that helped launch a year in which rock musicians rushed to meet the not-so-fantastic predictions of Orwell and Huxley halfway and thensome.
The Product
A1. Broken English (edited version) (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (3:00)
B1. What’s the Hurry (Joe Mavety) (3:00)
UK 12-inch single
A1. Broken English (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (5:59)
B1. Why D’ya Do It? (Heathcote Williams/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard/Marianne Faithfull) (6:35)
US/CAN 7-inch single
A1. Broken English (edit) (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (3:00)
B1. Brain Drain (Ben Brierley) (4:12)
US 7-inch promo single
A1. Broken English (stereo) (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (3:00)
B1. Broken English (mono version) (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (3:00)
GER 7-inch and 12-inch single/US 12-inch single/US 7-inch single reissue
A1. Broken English (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard) (3:00)
B1. Why D’ya Do It (Heathcote Williams/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard/Marianne Faithfull) (6:35)
UK 1982 7-inch single version
A1. Broken English (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard)
B1. Sister Morphine (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Marianne Faithfull)
UK 1982 12-inch single version
A1. Broken English (long version) (Marianne Faithfull/Barry Reynolds/Joe Mavety/Steve York/Terry Stannard)
B1. Sister Morphine (Mick Jagger/Keith Richards/Marianne Faithfull)
The Plastic
Released on 12-inch single in 1979 in the US (Antilles, AN-801) and on 7-inch single in January 1980 in the US and Canada (Island, IS 49121) and on 7-inch and 12-inch single in 1980 in the UK (Island, WIP/12WIP-6542) and Germany (Island, 101 249-100/600 158-213) and on 7-inch single in 1980 in Australia (Island, K-7812), France (Island, 6010 178) and Mexico (Island, S-453) with regional picture sleeve.
- Re-issued on 7-inch and 12-inch single in May 1982 in the UK (Island, MF/12MF-100) with picture sleeve.
- Re-issued on 7-inch single in the US (Island, 7-94997).
- Re-issued on 7-inch single in 1992 in the US (Island Collectables, COL 2605).
