“As Tears Go By” by Marianne Faithfull

Marianne Faithfull’s Studio Album Cover

Marianne Faithfull, the English singer, actress and 1960s “It” Girl, died in January at the age of 78. She was perhaps most famous for her UK 1964 hit single “As Tears Go By,” a melancholy song that contemplates the passage of time. She also famously dated Mick Jagger, had memorable roles in several films and authored three memoirs.

Her recent death has sparked a wave of retrospectives from music critics and people who knew and loved her, reflecting on her troubled life and how it affected her music career.

Marianne Faithfull’s “Second Act”

Faithfull’s early career was distinctively folksy, with high-register vocals that lent an innocence to her sound, but as she grew older that changed. After acquiring notoriety and fame, Faithfull was plagued by the demons that often accompanied success in the rock and roll industry at the time; for years she struggled with addiction, homelessness and illness, all of which contributed to her raspy, lower pitch voice.

Praised as “whisky soaked” by at least one critic, this new sound seemed to reflect raw emotions, and helped her — after getting sober — launch a second act in her music career. In 1987 she released “Strange Weather,” which featured a darker, more poignant rendition of “As Tears Go By.” It seems cruel that she seemingly had to overcome such extreme hardship to find new career success, but it’s hard to deny that the details of her life added maturity and depth to a nostalgic song like “As Tears Go By:”

It is the evening of the day

I sit and watch the children play

Smiling faces I can see

But not for me

I sit and watch

As tears go by

[…]

It is the evening of the day

I sit and watch the children play

Doing things I used to do

They think are new

I sit and watch

As tears go by

The Story of  “As Tears Go By” and Its Progression

Written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards after their manager Andrew Loog Oldham famously locked them in a room until they produced a song, “As Tears Go By” was a surprisingly maudlin departure from the rock stars’ usual fodder. Faithfull has suggested that the two legends might have penned the song with her in mind, resulting in the song’s wistful qualities.

“It’s a very melancholy song for a 21-year-old to write,” Jagger told Rolling Stone magazine in a 1995 interview. “‘The evening of the day, watching children play’ – it’s very dumb and naive, but it’s got a very sad sort of thing about it, almost like an older person might write. You know, it’s like a metaphor for being old: You’re watching children playing and realizing you’re not a child. It’s a relatively mature song considering the rest of the output at the time.”

For Marianne Faithfull, “As Tears Go By” became a sort of touchpoint. She recorded yet another version in 2018, resulting in three distinctive editions, each a profound reflection of the artist in distinct periods of her life.

A Fitting Song for Reflection

Ultimately, any rendition of “As Tears Go By” would be appropriate for a memorial service or for someone who is grieving, but the later versions would perhaps add an element of poignancy for people in mourning. As Jagger realized, the song is more fitting when sung by an older person, supported by life experiences, nostalgia and hard-earned wisdom.