Tag: Roxy Music

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