A person’s favorite song can often reveal more about their inner mindset, beliefs, and values than they would ever disclose of their own volition. And then there are people like Marianne Faithfull, who had no issue speaking her mind and offering follow-up arguments in song. In a conversation with Mojo magazine, Faithfull selected her favorite Bob Dylan song of all time, and her explanation offered a fascinating insight into her relationship with The Rolling Stones, for whom she was famously a muse and collaborator in the late 60s.
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Surprisingly, Faithfull’s top Dylan pick didn’t come from the sunglasses-clad, just-gone-electric Dylan that she saw rise to musical stardom in real time. Rather, she selected a late 1990s offering: “Love Sick” from Dylan’s 30th studio album, Time Out of Mind. Describing herself as a “rush out and buy Bob kind of person,” Faithfull said she was a fan of the whole record but that “Love Sick” stood out among the rest, even if she didn’t know the real title.
“For the longest time, I thought it was called, ‘I’m Sick of Love’, because that’s what he sings. But being love-sick and being sick of love are two entirely different things. And yet, obviously, the same to an old romantic like Mr. D. And that is such a brilliant writer’s thing to do. Love is hard for all of us, but it’s very, very hard for an artist.” And if anyone would know, it’d be Faithfull.
The Intersections of Marianne Faithfull, the Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan
Society (read: the patriarchy) has romanticized the connection between a muse and their artist so much that we often ignore the very real potential of exploitation and degradation. As Marianne Faithfull herself told The Guardian in 2021, “A muse? That’s a s*** thing to be. It’s a terrible job. You don’t get any male muses, do you? Can you think of one? No.”
And indeed, Faithfull’s time with The Rolling Stones was hardly a rock ‘n’ roll daydream. While she played a role in writing “Sympathy for the Devil”, “You Can’t Always Get What You Want”, and “Wild Horses”, her public relationship with Mick Jagger was tumultuous. Addiction took over Faithfull’s life. She had career setbacks, health issues, and virtually a fraction of the fame and success that her musical counterparts had, even with successful singles under her belt.
To put it lightly, Faithfull had a strong sense of how intense and complex love could become as an artist. “It’s very, very hard for an artist,” she told Mojo in relation to Bob Dylan’s “Love Sick”. “He talks about being tired and hearing the clock tick. This is someone with lots to do, lots of work. He’s got no time for anything, and on top of that, there’s this love, and he can’t do a thing about it. Someone else singing it might make them sound sappy. But the way Dylan sings—very intense and strong and not at all detached—it’s a statement.”
That kind of statement about love—painting it like a double-edged sword able to cut and heal with one swipe—is a sentiment that deeply sensitive artists like Dylan and Faithfull know all too well.
Photo by Terry Mealy/Mirrorpix/Getty Images
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