This is one band, for one reason or another, that I’ve never posted. I tell people that their early music has some of the best bass sound of anyone. Ferry’s vocals in this song remind me a little of Lou Reed.
When I first saw the title Virginia Plain, I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect. That’s part of the charm of the song. It was released in 1972 as the debut single by Roxy Music; this song pretty much announced that this was not going to be just another rock band. It was glam, strange, catchy, and different.
Roxy Music was led by Bryan Ferry and featured a really good lineup that included Brian Eno. Ferry wrote this song and took the title from a painting he had created while attending art school. The song is interesting. The lyrics are full of images and characters that seem to come and go like scenes in a movie. I always heard it as a song that is more about creating a mood.
The recording was produced by Peter Sinfield; he was best known for his work with King Crimson. Musically, the song blended old rock and roll influences with futuristic sounds. It’s different thanks in part to Eno’s synthesizer and Ferry’s vocals. The result was something fresh and exciting. Although it was recorded after the band’s debut album had already been completed, the song was later added to subsequent editions because it quickly became one of their signature tracks.
This song was successful in the UK and helped establish Roxy Music as one of the most important bands of the glam rock era. Looking back, it still sounds unique. More than fifty years later, it remains a perfect introduction to a band that never seemed interested in following the rules. If you want to hear the moment Roxy Music arrived, this is a pretty good place to start.
The song peaked at #4 on the UK Charts and #6 in New Zealand. The album peaked at #10 in the UK in 1972. BTW… the model featured on the cover of Roxy Music’s album is Kari-Ann Muller. No, she, unlike their other models, didn’t date Bryan Ferry. She married Chris Jagger, Mick’s brother.
Virginia Plain
Make me a deal and make it straight
All signed and sealed, I’ll take it
To Robert E. Lee, I’ll show it
I hope and pray he don’t blow it ’cause
We’ve been around a long time
Just tryin’ to, tryin’ to but you
Make the big time
Take me on a roller coaster
Take me for an airplane ride
Take me for a six days wonder but
Don’t you, don’t you throw my pride aside besides
What’s real and make-believe?
Baby Jane’s in Acapulco
We are flyin’ down to Rio
Throw me a line, I’m sinking fast
Clutching at straws, can’t make it
Havana sound, we’re trying
A hard edge, the hipster jiving, oh
Last picture shows down the drive-in
You’re so sheer, you’re so chic
Teenage rebel of the week
Flavours of the mountain streamline
Midnight blue casino floors
Dance the cha-cha through ’til sunrise
Opens up exclusive doors, oh wow
Just like flamingos, look the same
So me and you, just we two
Got to search for something new
Far beyond the pale horizon
Some place near the desert strand
Where my Studebaker takes me
That’s where I’ll make my stand, but wait
Can’t you see that Holzer mane
What’s her name? Virginia Plain
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For me, still the best song from the debut album. A frenetic mix of synth plasma, an improvised guitar solo, and Brian Ferry’s wonderfully decadent chic: “Baby Jane’s in Acapulco, we are flying down to Rio.”
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To me it’s like a controlled chaos that works so well. It’s exciting to hear because they go close to the edge and then pull it back.
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love it love it. One day I will do a karaoke copy of Ferry singing this 🙂 Pete Sinfield went on to co-write a bunch of classy 80’s and 90’s pop hits for Bucks Fizz, Cher, Celine Dion and more, from Prog to Pop, and Bucks Fizz, despite being the more-or-less successors to ABBA in the UK singles chart still struggle with credibility, despite Pete’s status as a poet/songwriter – the band are still going strong though, with new pop tracks as The Fizz.
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I think I’ve heard of them…maybe on Stewart’s #1 blog maybe…but I have heard of them.
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Great song and what a way to arrive on the scene. They were always changing but always good, and interesting. Also were the first concert I went to!
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Thats a great first concert! Yea this kicked down the door arriving to the public with this song.
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In Europe at least! I loved ‘Love is the Drug’ but other than that, didn’t hear them until 1980 when a couple of songs off ‘Flesh + Blood’ got a little radio play , got that album, thought it was great so started working backwards through their catalog, then soon Ferry’s solo material. Always changing but always great musicianship. Must of been one of very few rock/glam bands in the day to have a full-time sax man (other than the horn-based Chicago, Lighthouse and BS&T)
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E Street band was the other I would say…I’ve done that as well…worked backwards through someone’s out put…of course like you…when I first find someone.
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I think it was Roxy Music’s second album ‘For Your Pleasure’ that really got me into them. I did like the debut album and have them all up to ‘Siren’.
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I still haven’t checked the bulk of their music out…but I will…I’ll try that album to start with. As always…thanks Glyn.
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Nice song, Max and it was good to learn more about this group.
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I’m a Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry fan but I hadn’t heard this one before. I like it a lot. It’s very experimental. They were the North Star, pointing the way to New Wave.
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I really like this…I like their earlier music a little more but I do like them. I can’t believe I’ve never covered them before.
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So much going on in this band. All good for me.
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This track…is a hell of a band introduction. I like it a lot…it’s differrent now and it was different then. Still sounds fresh.
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I liked where they went after musically and I also followed the solo careers of a few members. Rewarded with lots of great music.
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Eno was probably the only one I knew afterwards but popcharts wrote about someone else I’m going to look up.
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I followed Eno closely, Manzanera and Mackay. None hit the charts I dont think but they hit my interest.
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I’ll check them out. One thing about this band…they are hard to put in a box.
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Yup. They didnt hit me right away but it was because they had their own box. Like I said to you before, Ferry’s vocals took some warming up to on my part
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Yea his vocals in this early period reminded me a little of David Byrne and a little… of Lou Reed…but only in spots. It had to sound really different when it came out.
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Look up 801 with Phil Manzanera.
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Listening now to Big Day by Phil right now…I like this
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Whoa, lots of Roxy Music of late, especially between you and Dave. As I mention to him it was not until “Love is the Drug” that I picked up on them. But I know this song via the accolades bestowed by it’s placement on the Rolling Stone 500 songs list I do believe.
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I can’t believe this is the first time I’ve ever posted about them! This is one of my favorite songs by them. I liked them more earlier than I did late but I like them.
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I agree with you about the way it feels like its all about to fall off the rails, unspool, tip over… and then it just rights itself. There’s a lot going on there, and Ferry vamps up the lyrics beautifully.
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Thats what I like about these chaotic songs…they always seem to pull it from disaster at the last minute.
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Ferry is turning up everywhere I turn at the moment. Radio, blogs, even flipping through the library’s (very battered) CD selection, there’s Bryan Roxy.
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That is what Randy said! I guess I picked a good time for my first Roxy Music post…you are all primed!
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It’s an amazing single, encapsulates them in a single song. Feel the same way about Remake/Remodel too.
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It is a great debut single…hard to put them in a box. I like that one as well after listening to this album this week.
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Mr. Bryan Ferry, aka Hawt Stuff. They also had some sizzlin album covers. I’ve been putting time into getting to know their discography better. I also love watching their videos, which set the bar for glam in my book. Every player in this band pulls together for a unique sound and such a pleasant vibe. Good write-up, Max.
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You asked me a long time ago if I ever posted this band before…I never had for some dumb reason. I’m glad I started with this debut single…it’s awesome! I agree…they set a high bar.
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I only know relatively few songs by Roxy Music, mostly from the radio (no pun intended), but once I started playing the clip, “Virginia Plain” definitely rang a bell – great song! Sometime in the ’80s, I got my hand on a Roxy Music and Brian Ferry greatest hits compilation, which I believe included this song. I also seem to recall that same collection featured a neat Brian Ferry solo cover version of Dylan’s “A Hard Rain’s a-Gonna Fall.”
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He does covers really well! Yea man this song is chaos but in the right way.
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