After ending her relationship with Mick Jagger in 1970 and losing custody of her son, Faithfull suffered from heroin addiction and lived on the streets of London.
It peaked at number 82 on the Billboard 200, becoming her first album to chart in the United States since Go Away from My World (1965) and giving Faithfull a first nomination for the Grammy Award for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.
After years of cigarette smoking and drug use, Faithfull's voice was in a lower register, far raspier, and had a more world-weary quality than in the past that matched the often raw emotions expressed in the newer songs.
The backing band of Barry Reynolds and Joe Mavety (guitars), Steve York (bass) and Terry Stannard (drums) had been formed in 1977 to tour Ireland with Faithfull promoting Dreamin' My Dreams.
[4] "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan", originally performed by Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show, is a melancholy tale of a middle-class housewife's disillusionment; Faithfull's version became something of an anthem[citation needed] and was used on the soundtracks of the films Montenegro (1981) and Thelma & Louise (1991).
[4] The song's profanity and explicit reference to oral sex (which earned the album a “Parental Advisory” label on some versions) caused controversy.
Festival had recently been through an expensive legal battle over Skyhooks albums that had been confiscated by the local vice squad on the basis of obscenity, and this is said to have motivated their refusal to release the song.
[5] Faithfull refused to have the album altered, but initial Australian pressings omitted "Why D'Ya Do It" anyway and instead included a 'bonus' 7" single of the extended version of "Broken English".
The ban did not extend to import copies, and the song was also played unedited on the Government-funded Double Jay radio station and Brisbane community broadcaster 4ZZZ.
Although the track did appear in some countries on the B-side of the 1982 Island anniversary 12-inch remix/re-issue of "Broken English", it was left off the deluxe edition because it was recorded as the introduction of an extended video for "Intrigue" from her next album Dangerous Acquaintances, the title of which was the literal translation of Les Liaisons dangereuses.
Faithfull notoriously performed the title track and "Guilt" on Saturday Night Live in February 1980 where her voice cracked and she seemingly strained to even vocalize at times.
Marcus notes that "Faithfull sings as if she means to get every needle, every junkie panic, every empty pill bottle and every filthy room into her voice – as if she spent the last ten years of oblivion trying to kill the face that first brought her to our attention.
The rest of the album features Faithlull's new wavish raspy vocals applied to John Lennon's "Working Class Hero," Shel Silverstein's "Ballad of Lucy Jordan" along with six originals.
"[18] Cashbox noted that "with a tight, near Velvet Underground band behind her, Marianne delivers crystal clear visions of reality that culminate themselves in the track "Why D'Ya Do It," which is probably the most sincere attempt at a "woman's song" this planet has ever heard."
[21] Alexis Petridis from The Guardian gave the deluxe edition a five star review, noting that "more impressive still, it retains its capacity to shock: not because of the language...but because there's something utterly believable about Faithfull's tone of contempt...Broken English careers by, its 35 minutes as bracingly full of venom and spite as anything her punk admirers could muster.
Faithfull included five tracks from the album on her 1990 live recording Blazing Away: "Broken English", "Guilt", "The Ballad of Lucy Jordan", "Working Class Hero" and "Why D'Ya Do It".
An unofficial remix produced by Baron von Luxxury led to the song being re-added to numerous DJ playlists, including BBC Radio 1, in early 2008.