It starts with a 17-year-old girl in a party dress. She looks like a porcelain doll, but when she opens her mouth, something feels slightly off. Not bad—just different. If you stop what you're doing to listen to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By, you aren't just hearing a pop song from 1964. You're hearing the exact moment the "Swinging Sixties" found its melancholy soul.
Andrew Loog Oldham, the mastermind behind the early Rolling Stones, saw her at a launch party for Adrienne Posta. He didn’t care if she could sing. He just saw that face. He saw the blonde hair, the convent-girl eyes, and the aura of someone who belonged in a high-fashion magazine but probably read Keats in her spare time. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards hadn't even written a hit for themselves yet. They were still grinding out blues covers in smoky clubs. But they had this little baroque ballad kicking around, originally titled "As Time Goes By" before they realized—oops—that title was already taken by a pretty famous movie.
They gave it to Marianne. And history just... happened.
The Song That Changed Everything for the Stones
It’s weird to think about now, but "As Tears Go By" was the first "real" song Mick and Keith wrote together. Before this, they were purists. They thought writing pop was beneath them. Oldham literally locked them in a kitchen and told them not to come out until they had a song. Talk about pressure. What they emerged with wasn't a blues stomper; it was a fragile, acoustic reflection on aging and observation.
When you listen to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By, you’re hearing the genesis of the Glimmer Twins as songwriters. They didn't think it fit the Stones' tough-guy image. They were right, at least for 1964. The song needed a specific kind of vulnerability that a bunch of guys trying to be Muddy Waters couldn't quite grasp. Faithfull brought a weird, detached innocence to the track. Her voice back then was high, clear, and vibrato-heavy. It sounded like a choir girl who had seen something she shouldn't have.
🔗 Read more: Blink-182 Mark Hoppus: What Most People Get Wrong About His 2026 Comeback
Why the 1964 Version Hits Different
Most people think of the Stones' 1965 version with the lush strings and Mick’s slightly mocking, weary vocal. But the Faithfull original? That’s the blueprint. It’s got this harpsichord-led, baroque-pop arrangement that feels like a foggy London morning. It’s short. It’s under three minutes. Yet, it manages to capture a specific type of British sadness that influenced everyone from Vashti Bunyan to Nick Drake.
Honestly, it’s the lack of grit that makes it so haunting. We know what happened to Marianne later—the struggles with addiction, the homelessness, the transformation of her voice into a whiskey-soaked growl. Hearing her sing "doing things I used to do, they think are new" as a teenager is devastating in hindsight. She was singing about the end of childhood while she was still technically in it.
The 1987 Re-recording: A Ghost Story
If you really want to experience the depth of this track, you have to compare the 1964 hit with her 1987 re-recording for the album Strange Weather. This isn't just a singer revisiting a hit. It’s a survivor looking at a ghost.
By '87, Faithfull’s voice had been ravaged. Severe laryngitis in the 70s, combined with years of heavy smoking and heroin use, lowered her register by an octave or two. She didn't sound like a porcelain doll anymore. She sounded like a woman who had lived ten lives and regretted about five of them.
💡 You might also like: Why Grand Funk’s Bad Time is Secretly the Best Pop Song of the 1970s
When you listen to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By in this later version, the lyrics take on a terrifying weight. "It is the evening of the day." In 1964, that was a metaphor. In 1987, it sounded like a literal truth. She drags the syllables. The arrangement is sparse and nocturnal. It’s one of the few times in music history where a remake arguably surpasses the original because the life of the artist has finally caught up to the wisdom of the lyrics.
The Technical Magic of the Arrangement
- The Original: Produced by Andrew Loog Oldham. It used Mike Leander’s string arrangement to create a "wall of sound" that wasn't aggressive, but rather enveloping.
- The Vibe: It’s often categorized as "Chamber Pop."
- The Contrast: While The Beatles were singing "She Loves You," Faithfull was singing about watching children play and feeling totally alienated from them. That’s dark for 1964.
Beyond the Music: The Cultural Impact
Marianne Faithfull wasn't just a singer; she was the "It Girl" who paid a much higher price than her male counterparts. The media treated her like a muse or a cautionary tale, rarely as an artist. But "As Tears Go By" gave her a permanent seat at the table. It’s a song that bridges the gap between the Brill Building pop era and the introspective singer-songwriter movement of the 70s.
You can hear its echoes in modern indie folk. When artists like Lana Del Rey or Cat Power lean into that "sad girl" aesthetic, they are walking through a door Marianne opened. The song is about the passage of time, sure. But it’s also about the gaze. Watching the world go by without being a part of it.
Common Misconceptions
A lot of people think the Stones wrote it for themselves and she just covered it. Nope. It was written specifically for her to launch her career. Another myth? That she hated the song. While she definitely had a complicated relationship with her early "innocent" image, she’s performed it throughout her life. She recognizes it as the foundation. Without this song, we don't get Broken English. We don't get the icon.
📖 Related: Why La Mera Mera Radio is Actually Dominating Local Airwaves Right Now
How to Best Experience the Track
Don't just play it through crappy phone speakers while you're doing dishes. That’s a waste. To truly listen to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By, you need a bit of atmosphere.
- Find the Mono Mix: If you can get your hands on the original mono single mix, do it. The layers of strings blend in a way that the stereo remasters sometimes mess up.
- The Double Feature: Listen to the 1964 version. Immediately follow it with the 1987 version. It’s a jarring, beautiful experience that tells a story no biography ever could.
- Check the Lyrics: Really pay attention to the shift in the third verse. The transition from watching children to the realization that "all I hear is the sound of rain falling on the ground" is peak lyrical minimalism.
It’s easy to dismiss 60s pop as "simple." But "As Tears Go By" isn't simple. It’s a meditation on observational loneliness. Marianne Faithfull took a song written by two guys who were trying to make a quick buck and turned it into a haunting piece of performance art.
Actionable Next Steps
If this song hits a chord with you, don't stop there. The world of 60s baroque pop and Faithfull's later discography is a goldmine.
- Explore the "Strange Weather" Album: This is where the 1987 version lives. It’s produced by Hal Willner and features tracks that sound like they belong in a smoky 1930s Berlin cabaret.
- Read "Faithfull: An Autobiography": If you want the real story behind the song and the chaos of the 60s, her book is one of the best rock memoirs ever written. No ghostwriter fluff, just raw honesty.
- Compare the Covers: Check out The Rolling Stones' version from December's Children (And Everybody's). It’s great, but notice how Mick’s delivery feels more like a performance, whereas Marianne’s feels like a confession.
- Listen to "Sister Morphine": If you want to see how her songwriting evolved (and her legal battles for credit), this is the essential next track.
The beauty of music is that it's a time machine. When you listen to Marianne Faithfull As Tears Go By, you're stepping into 1964, but you're also seeing the future of rock and roll through the eyes of a girl who was about to lose everything and then win it all back on her own terms.