Marianne Faithfull: With You In Mind

With a sound likened to an old English ballad, Marianne Faithfull’s “With You in Mind” was written by one of her contemporaries – American Jackie DeShannon. DeShannon only recorded a demo of the song alone with a guitar and never released a commercial version of it. I came to know Marianne Faithfull’s rendition via a playlist on Pandora.

While the cut doesn’t include a guitar, the wooden instrument is a harp – and it works quite nicely. It appears that the harp is accented by a string quartet, a flute, and possibly an alto flute. The instruments of drums and electric bass also appear on the track as well as hand claps and harmony vocals. It sounds as though Faithfull is singing the harmony part as well.

Not released as a single, “With You in Mind” appears on Faithfull’s 1967 “Love in a Mist.” This was her last regular album release in a decade, as her personal demons came crashing down on her. “With You in Mind” is simply beautiful – while the song is performed in Cm the final chord resolves as a C major.