An Englishman Abroad

"I gulped down several Heinekens. I felt drunk. Bryan Ferry of Roxy Music stood at the back, watching the show. I went and introduced myself. He was puzzled, and polite. He said he was in Los Angeles to make a record. He was living in the Malibu colony house which had once belonged to Fritz Lang. I told him a story about a friend of mine, a film-maker who loved Lang's work and came to Los Angeles to interview him. This was in the 1970s, not long before Lang died. Somehow my friend never got round to the interview. He felt the city had robbed him of his will.
Ferry smiled. I told him I thought "Can't Let Go", a song he'd recorded when Jerry Hall was dumping him for Mick Jagger, was one of the best things written about LA: 'They said go west young man that's best, it's there you'll feel no pain, Bel-Air's okay if you dig the grave, but I want to live again.' I told him I thought the song was very good on the experience of feeling rootless in a foreign place. He looked embarrased. I told him I was an Englishman, having a bit of woman trouble myself.
He smiled again. He obviously thought I was wrong in the head. But the judgement of a man who had once appeared in public wearing toreador pants was not to be trusted."
Richard Rayner
Los Angeles Without A Map (1988)

Download: Can't Let Go - Bryan Ferry (mp3)
Buy: "The Bride Stripped Bare" (album)