At the age of 37The chorus of Dr. Hook's The Ballad of Lucy Jordon (sic) is surely one of the saddest collection of words ever set to music. The song was written by poet and country songwriter Shel Silverstein, telling of a tired and jaded housewife who puts her husband and kids ahead of her own freedom and happiness... to the point that she's either driven insane... or to suicide, depending on your reading of the song's final lines.
She realised she'd never ride
Through Paris in a sports car
With the warm wind in her hair
One person who thought Lucy ended up in the loony bin was Marianne Faithful, who covered the song in the late 70s. You may prefer her version, but for me it's too much a product of its time and the tinny synths spoil Faithful's otherwise powerful vocal performance. (That said, I prefer the heartbreak in Dennis Locorriere's own vocal... that guy always sounded like he was on the verge of a breakdown, even when he was trying to get Sylvia's mother to persuade her daughter to take his call.)
6. Dr. Hook - The Ballad of Lucy Jordon
This is a song about realising that your best years are behind you, and in the 70s, that came at age 37, apparently.
What's the new 37 then...?
47.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, is Sunset Over Slawit completely inaccessible now.
DeleteI took it offline when I started this. One of the reasons I quit that blog was that I discovered some crappy clickbait site had been stealing my posts word for word and reposting them to make money. I reported this to Google and blogger and never even got a reply. It made me so sick, I almost quit blogging altogether, but I found I missed doing the Top Tens. Ironically, this site has now evolved very closely back to what SoS used to be, except with a few more songs.
DeleteI have all the original posts backed up and do occasionally raid them to stick on here.
You do realise, you're just about the only blogger still going who remembers that site - with the exception of JC, I guess.
Course I remember. Weird, isn't it, I was young when I started reading Slawit and now... I'm middle-aged!
DeleteNot familiar with the Dr Hook version.
ReplyDeleteHave always associated this with Marianne
Most people do.
Delete67 - at least.
ReplyDeleteCome on - I can't wait another 22 years!
DeleteId it just me, or does the picture resemble Debbie Harry (possibly auditioning for a role in Scary Movie)?
ReplyDeleteNo, it's not just you.
DeleteOnly knew the Marianne version but like this Dennis version very much - Very Sylvia's Mother sounding.
ReplyDeleteOn a more serious note (I do that here sometimes) I am just back from a lovely trip with J, who became a really good friend 22 years ago when we had our babies. Just like for Lucy Jordan, family has had to come first for most of that time and we both embraced that but now we have come out the other end and it's time for us to do things just for us again - So, we've ridden on bicycles through the streets of Amsterdam with warm winds in our hair, drank Dutch beer in outdoor cafes and generally had a carefree and lovely time. My point being is that in life there sometimes have to be selfless years but on either side there can be selfish years when you can do things just for yourself again and when that happens (in terms of age) is down to each individual. I'm thinking that perhaps Lucy Jordan just wasn't very maternal, or was too much of a free spirit for that life and it indeed drove her a bit mad, which I do get, but fortunately for most of us that doesn't happen.
Thanks, Alyson. A little glass half-full is very much welcome here at the moment.
DeleteGlad you had a nice break.
Months late...but if I may.
ReplyDeleteIf you're someone who did have kids at an early age and it proved a struggle to provide them with a decent and comfortable upbringing, then I could imagine that 37 will seem an age when despsir sets in. Especially back in the 70s, when the world would seemed a much bigger place and travel was only really for the well-to-do.
Oh and of course I remember SoS. One of the best blogs of them all....as is this.
JC