Hear Marianne Faithfull, Nick Cave Channel Shakespeare on Stirring New Song ‘The Gypsy Faerie Queen’

Marianne Faithfull and Nick Cave channel William Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on their enchanting new song, “The Gypsy Faerie Queen.” The track will appear on Faithfull’s upcoming album, Negative Capability, out November 2nd via BMG.

“The Gypsy Fairie Queen” finds Faithfull singing from the perspective of Puck, the famous sprite from the Shakespeare comedy. Faithfull’s vocals fall like a fog over the track, which begins as a sparse ballad, with Cave providing the piano. Soon, the song settles into a steady shuffle that crackles with old magic as Faithfull and Cave sing, “And I follow, follow, follow/ My gypsy faerie queen/ We exist, exist, exist/ In the twilight in-between.”

In a statement, Faithfull explained how the collaboration with Cave came about, saying, “It’s a little miracle. I asked Nick if he would put music to it and he wrote back saying, ‘I’m so busy.’ I said, ‘I understand, sorry to bother you.’ Then he just wrote back, ‘Thank you so much for understanding; here’s the song.’ It’s just gorgeous.”

Negative Capability is available to pre-order and marks Faithfull’s first studio album since 2014’s Give My Love to London, and follows her 2016 live effort, No Exit. Faithfull recorded Negative Capability at La Frette studio outside Paris, working with producers Rob Ellis and Warren Ellis (who both play with Cave in the Bad Seeds). Along with the Cave, the album will feature contributions from Ed Harcourt and Mark Lanegan.

“It’s the most honest album I’ve ever made,” Faithfull said. “I’ve always tried not to reveal myself. There’s nothing like real hardship to give you some depth. I’ve had terrible accidents and I’m really damaged. It’s changed my life forever. I’m in a lot of pain and worked really hard to get strong so I can do my work. The great miracle is I was able to make this beautiful record. I really had no idea how it would turn out. I just jumped in and hoped I would be able to do it. This is all what’s happened to me since my life changed but obviously if I do something I must do it really well.”