Originally recorded by American rock band Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show with the name spelled “Jordon”, the song tells a story of an unhappy middle class housewife who regretfully looks back at her life and has a fantasy of living “the glamorous life”.
“The Ballad of Lucy Jordan” was released as the lead single from Faithfull’s critically acclaimed seventh studio album Broken English (1979) which marked her musical comeback after years of suffering from heroin addiction and anorexia. The single eventually reached number forty-eight on the UK Singles chart while peaking inside the top forty in most countries.