POLLing and turning, how can I sleep?: The Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry Results Thread

back in business...

http://i.imgur.com/NWq5WIq.gif

http://samuelsounds.files.wordpress.com/2011/11/roxy-music1.jpg?w=580
2. Virginia Plain
Single , 1972
769 points (29 votes, three first places)

Hallelujah!

i'd never trade you for another girl....

YES.
Now we can all sit back and enjoy "Slave to Love" taking the poll.

*phew*

we're all flying down to RIO!

#1 = "The Numberer"

Also, obligatory:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tFF2oB4n6M

We know the #1.

So VP invented the Cars.

Can't you see her Holzer mane?
http://dialectmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/02/WarholJaneHolzer.jpg

http://wac.450f.edgecastcdn.net/80450F/ultimateclassicrock.com/files/2013/09/RoxyMusicMain.jpg
1. Mother Of Pearl
Stranded , 1973
995 points (34 votes, nine first places)

Holy crap, wasn't even close to being close.

My number 2.

Honestly had no idea MoP was so revered.

(I do love it, though -- it was my #6)

I used to think I only loved the first 90 seconds, but I was wrong

My #1.
Ferry lyrics in excelsis!

wow--didn't realize it would win by that big a margin (or win at all, really). My #1.

http://www.tunneldutyfree.com/img/products/LIQ-CNDWHI-002-400X400-CC_1L.jpg

Great song, Great poll. Nice surprise, but very few songs from the first five albums would have gotten any real head-shaking had they won.

NICE! it was by #2 as well.

Real talk, thought "dilettante" was pronounced the same way as "debutante" 'til I heard this song. Is it a British thing to pronounce it dilletanty, or is that the correct way to say it?

Dunno, I've never heard anyone say it but Ferry

highlights: "up all night" "AGAIN?"
the castanets after "favorita"
rhyming "perfection" with "predilection"
the way he sings "my latest fling" like he's some lost music-hall singer in 1945

Dunno, I've never heard anyone say it but Ferry

Me too, now that I think about it. And I'm not sure if I've ever heard anyone say "debutante" except Dylan.

Producer Chris Thomas was astonished-and so was everyone else in the studio- when Bryan came in and sang over a seemingly long instrumental track, the whole of the lyric of Mother Of Pearl from beginning to end. No-one until that moment had heard or even seen a single line of the song.

ILM's Top 40 Roxy Music & Bryan Ferry Tracks

40. These Foolish Things
39. Angel Eyes
38. To Turn You On
37. Nightingale
36. Dance Away
35. Serenade
34. Psalm
33. For Your Pleasure
32. Over You
31. Casanova

30. Prairie Rose
29. Just Like You
28. A Song for Europe
27. 2 H.B.
26. She Sells
25. Sentimental Fool
24. A Really Good Time
23. Just Another High
22. Amazona
21. The Bogus Man

20. All I Want Is You
19. Love Is The Drug
18. A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall
17. Both Ends Burning
16. Avalon
15. Beauty Queen
14. Same Old Scene
13. Ladytron
12. In Every Dream Home A Heartache
11. Pyjamarama

10. Out Of The Blue
9. The Thrill Of It All
8. Do The Strand
7. Re-Make/Re-Model
6. If There Is Something
5. More Than This
4. Editions Of You
3. Street Life
2. Virginia Plain
1. Mother Of Pearl

thanks, Charlie. great poll

Any top 40 that doesn't have room for "Oh Yeah!" is crazy strong.

Wonderful poll, charlie h. Thanks so much for doing this!

THANK YOU EVERYONE!
it has been a blast.
please join me in a few hours when, as mentioned, i will present the ILM Bryan Ferry Solo Honour Roll. i will also provide a list of how the non-charting songs fared.
in the meantime, if you could kindly refrain from posting ballots just for now. many thanks!

thanks man!

dilettante comes from Italian, so yeah rhymes with pesante rather "ou est la plume de ma tante?"

Thanks, charlie!

MoP my number one, and the very greatest thing.

I think, yes, that is how you'd traditionally pronounce dilettante (we got it from Italian, not french like debutante). I'm not sure I've really heard it that much myself though.

And thank you Charlie h, you have been a great host for a great poll.

Still, who else but Ferry is gonna throw a word like "dilettante" into a rock song (again, except maybe Dylan)?

"mother of pearl" was the track that gobsmacked me and sent me down the rabbit hole back when, like most americans, i only knew roxy music as the "more than this" one-hit wonder plus i guess "boys and girls"

wouldn't change it for the whole world.

Producer Chris Thomas was astonished-and so was everyone else in the studio- when Bryan came in and sang over a seemingly long instrumental track, the whole of the lyric of Mother Of Pearl from beginning to end. No-one until that moment had heard or even seen a single line of the song.

again, it astonishes me that Ferry in this period allowed himself to be possessed in a way he never would again.

Someone upthread said they thought Cole Porter would have appreciated Bryan Ferry, and I agree. I think the lyrics to "Mother of Pearl" are so well crafted and beautiful. I 've always wanted to hear a modern jazz singer a la Kurt Elling cover it.

Pro-grade polling, charlie, thanks for doing this one!

MoP was my #2 as well.

iirc, he did the same thing with "Love Is The Drug," singing over what the band thought would remain an instrumental, and nailing it in one take.

xxp

Thank you very much for running this, charlie h. It will live forever in the Grey Lagoons of my heart.

Mother Of Pearl has always been my #1, nothing else is close.

apparently Ferry admitted best pal Simon Puxley helped him with the lyric, but I need a source.

i wouldnt trade you for another poll

interesting on Puxley - Bracewell's book has him as an important lyrical sounding-board for the early albums, essential for Ferry writing those lyrics (confidence issues iirc).

i've thought some of the romantic/victorian traces come in via him (doctoral thesis on Swinburne or Rossetti?)

Bryan dedicated this song to the Late Dr. Simon Puxley at Roxy Music's first performance in London for over 18 years at Wembley Arena 22nd June 2001, acknowledging that Simon had helped him write it.

(from vivaroxy.com)

i wouldnt trade you for another poll

― |$̲̅(̲̅ιοο̲̅)̲̅$̲̅| (gr8080), Friday, February 21, 2014

tbh always assumed this would be the title of the results thread :D

(vivaroxymusic.com rather)

i'll be offline for the next 48+ hours. bummed to miss the Ferry rollout and ballot posting but man, what a great poll.

thanks charlie h and ILRM team!