I don’t do posts like this very often, but I’m on a Roxy Music kick. I will be including not only the videos but the lyrics for the 10 songs I picked. Please feel free to skip as much or as little as you’d like, but you have my personal guarantee that these are all excellent tunes. I made sure to get some live videos, but some I chose for the sound quality. One thing I noticed on my search for the best videos was one that has been “AI-enhanced” (Manifesto) and my stomach turned.  No thanks!

per wikipedia, Bryan Ferry went solo from 1984 – 2001, Roxy Music reunited from 2001 – 2011, Bryan went solo again from 2011 – 2020, and Roxy Music reunited again from 2021 to the present.

I’ve only covered Roxy Music favorites up to 1982 here. Bryan solo will/may be another post. Not sure if new albums were created by Roxy Music after they reunited but if they did, that could be another post.

I was going to rank these songs, but I like the way they fell out chronologically with one song from each album, except for their 3^rd album, from which I chose 3.

Ladytron from their eponymous debut studio album, Roxy Music, released in June 1972.  One of the best lyrics ever in this song.  See if you can pick them out.

You’ve got me girl on the run around run around
You’ve got me all around town
You’ve got me girl on the run around
And it’s getting me down, getting me down
Lady if you want to find a lover
Then you look no further
For I’m gonna be your only
Searching at the start of the season
And my only reason
Is that I’ll get to you
I’ll find some way of connection
Hiding my intention
Then I’ll move up close to you
I’ll use you and I’ll confuse you
And then I’ll lose you
Still you won’t suspect me

Songwriter: Bryan Ferry

Do the Strand from their 2^nd studio album, For Your Pleasure, released in March 1973.

There’s a new sensation
A fabulous creation
A danceable solution
To teenage revolution

Do the strand, love
When you feel love
It’s the new way
That’s why we say
“Do the strand!”

Do it on the tables
Quaglino’s place or Mabel’s

Slow and gentle
Sentimental
All styles served here
Louis Seize he prefer
Laissez-faire Le Strand

Tired of the tango
Fed up with fandango

Dance on moonbeams
Slide on rainbows
In furs or blue jeans
You know what I mean?
Do the strand! (Ooh!)

Had your fill of Quadrilles
The Madison and cheap thrills
Bored with the Beguine
The samba isn’t your scene

They’re playing our tune
By the pale moon
We’re incognito
Down the Lido
And we like the strand

Arabs at oasis
Eskimos and Chinese

If you feel blue
Look through who’s who
See La Goulue
And Nijinsky
Do the strandsky!

Weary of the Waltz
And mashed potato schmaltz

Rhododendron
Is a nice flower
Evergreenin’
It lasts forever
But it can’t beat strand power

The Sphynx and Mona Lisa
Lolita and Guernica
Did the strand

Songwriter: Bryan Ferry

Street Life from their 3^rd studio album, Stranded, released November 1973.

Wish everybody would leave me alone -yeah
They’re always calling on my telephone
When I pick it up there’s no one there
So I walk outside just to take the air
Come on with me cruising down the street
Who knows what you’ll see, who you might meet
This brave new world’s not like yesterday
It can take you higher than the milky way

Now I’m blinded I can’t really see, yeah
No more bright lights confusing me, no
Don’t ask me why I’m feeling blue
‘Cause loving you is all I can do
Hey good-looking boys, gather around
The sidewalk papers gutter-press you down
All those lies can be so unkind,
They can make you feel like you’re losing your mind

Street Life
Street Life
Street Life
What a Life

Back to nature boys, Vasser girls too
Watch what you say, or think, or do
Continental-style strasse girls might
But you know exactly if it’s wrong or right
Education is an important key, yes
But the good life’s never won by degrees, no

Pointless passing through Harvard or Yale
Only window shopping, it’s strictly no sale
Week end starts Friday soon after eight
Your jet black magic helps you celebrate
You may be stranded if you stick around
And that’s really something

Songwriter: Bryan Ferry

Amazona from their 3^rd studio album, Stranded, released November 1973.  God I love the funky bass riffs, guitar screams,  and the timing on this song.  The recording is stunningly crisp.  I want an audio system like this one.

Amazona
Is a zone where
There is no doubt
No more fall-out
Why don’t you step
Through the mirror and see?

From Arizona
To Eldorado
Sure is a mighty long way.
Hey little girl
Is something wrong?
I know it’s hard
For you to get along

The bell-tower rings
It tolls a hollow sound
But your castles in Spain
Still maybe realized
And longings more profound.

You see, every cloud
Has a silver lining
And sometimes paradise
Around your corner lies.
In Amazona everything is nice

Little one, come take my hand?
I’ll try to help you there
I’ll take you there.

Amazona’s
Getting closer
Soon you’ll see.
Journey’s over
We almost there!

Songwriters: Bryan Ferry / Phil Manzanera

Mother of Pearl from their 3^rd studio album, Stranded, released November 1973. The first minute and a half is pretty frantic but it slows down nicely after that.

Well I’ve been up all night again
Party time wasting is too much fun
Then I step back thinking
Of lifes inner meaning
And my latest fling
Its the same old story
All love and glory
Its a pantomime
If youre looking for love
In a looking glass world
Its pretty hard to find
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldnt trade you
For another girl
Divine intervention
Always my intention
So I take my time
Ive been looking for something
Ive always wanted
But was never mine
But now Ive seen that something
Just out of reach glowing
Very holy grail
Oh mother of pearl
Lustrous lady
Of a sacred world
Thus even zarathustra
Another time loser
Could believe in you
With every goddess a let down
Every idol a bring down
It gets you down
But the search for perfection
Your own predilection
Goes on and on and on and on
Canadian club love
A place in the country
Everyones ideal
But you are my favorita
And a place in your heart dear
Makes me feel more real
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldnt change you
For the whole world
You’re highbrow holy
With lots of soul
Melancholy shimmering
Serpentine sleekness
Was always my weakness
Like a simple tune
But no dilettante
Filigree fancy
Beats the plastic you
Career girl cover
Exposed and another
Slips right into view
Oh looking for love
In a looking glass world
Is pretty hard for you
Few throwaway kisses
The boomerang misses
Spin round and round
Fall on featherbed quilted
Faced with silk
Softly stuffed eider down
Take refuge in pleasure
Just give me your future
Well forget your past
Oh mother of pearl
Submarine lover
In a shrinking world
Oh lonely dreamer
Your choker provokes
A picture cameo
Oh mother of pearl
So so semi-precious
In your detached world
Oh mother of pearl
I wouldnt trade you
For another girl

Songwriter: Bryan Ferry

Out of the Blue from their 4^th studio album, Country Life, released November 1974.

All your cares
Now they seem
Oh so far away
All your fears
I fear I once shared
Now I know

There’s a future
For all of us
Not so long ago
I was so scared
You seemed so sad
I could see

Through your twisted smile
So unsure
Always confused
Pale blue eyes
Gazing down
From your ivory tower
Through the haze

All broken and bruised
Then: out of the blue
Love came rushing in
Out of the sky
Came the sun
Out of left field
Came a lucky day
Out of the blue
No more pain
I don’t mind
If it’s only
A passing craze
Throwaway lines
Often ring true
If I were you

I would stay
For a little while
I you were me
Would you walk out
In style?

Songwriters: Bryan Ferry / Phil Manzanera

Love is the Drug from their 5^th studio album, Siren, released in October 1975.

It ain’t no big thing
To wait for the bell to ring
It ain’t no big thing
The toll of the bell

Aggravated, spare for days
I troll downtown, the red light place
Jump up, bubble up, what’s in store?
Love is the drug and I need to score

Showing out, showing out, hit and run
Boy meets girl where the beat goes on
Stitched up tight, can’t shake free
Love is the drug, got a hook on me

Oh-oh, catch that buzz
Love is the drug I’m thinking of
Oh-oh, can’t you see?
Love is the drug for me

Oh-ooh-oh
Oh-ooh-oh

Late that night I parked my car
Staked my place in the singles bar
Face to face, toe to toe
Heart to heart as we hit the floor

Lumber up, limbo down
The locked embrace, stumble round
I say go, she say yes
Dim the lights, you can guess the rest

Oh-oh, catch that buzz
Love is the drug I’m thinking of
Oh-oh, can’t you see?
Love is the drug, got a hook in me

Oh-oh, get that buzz
Love is the drug I’m thinking of
Oh-oh, can’t you see?
Love, the drug for me

Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh

Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh-oh
Oh

Oh-ooh-oh
Oh-ooh-oh

Love is…
Love is…
Love is the drug

Songwriters: Bryan Ferry / Andrew Edwin Mackay

Manifesto from their 6^th eponymous album, Manifesto, released in March 1979.

I am for a life around the corner
That takes you by surprise
That comes leaves all you need
And more besides
I am for a life and time by numbers
Blast in fast ‘n’ low
Add ’em up, account for luck
You never know
I am into friendship and plain sailing
Through frenzied ports o’ call
O shake the hand to beat the band
With love is all
Or nothing to the man who wants tomorrow
There’s one in every town
A crazy guy, he’d rather die
Than be tied down
I am for the man who drives the hammer
To rock you ’til the grave
His power drill shocks
A million miles away
I am for the revolution’s coming
I don’t know where she’s been
For those who dare because it’s there
I know I’ve seen
Now and then I’ve suffered imperfection
I’ve studied marble flaws
And faces drawn pale and worn
By many tears
I am that I am from out of nowhere
to fight without a cause
Roots strain against the grain
With brute force you’d better
Hold out when you’re in doubt
Question what you see
And when you find an answer
Bring it home to me.

Songwriters: Bryan Ferry / Phil Manzanera

Eight Miles High, from their 7^th studio album, Flesh and Blood, released in May 1980.  No, I still prefer the original but I love how they make the song their own here.

Eight miles high
And when you touch down
You find you’re
Stranger than known
Signs in the street
That say where you’re going
Are somewhere

Just being their own
Nowhere is there
Warmth to be found
Just those afraid
Of losing their ground
Rain gray town
Known for its sound
In places

Small faces abound
Round the squares
Huddled in storms
Some laughing
Some just shapeless forms
Sidewalk scenes
And black limousines
Some living
Some standing
Alone

Songwriters: David Crosby / Gene Clark / Roger McGuinn

More Than This from their 8^th and final studio album, Avalon, released in May 1982.  Hella good!

I could feel at the time
There was no way of knowing
Fallen leaves in the night
Who can say where they’re blowing?

As free as the wind
Hopefully learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this
You know there’s nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
Ooh there’s nothing

It was fun for a while
There was no way of knowing
Like a dream in the night
Who can say where we’re going?

No care in the world
Maybe I’m learning
Why the sea on the tide
Has no way of turning

More than this
You know there’s nothing
More than this
Tell me one thing
More than this
No there’s nothing

More than this
Nothing
More than this
More than this
Nothing

Songwriters: Bryan Ferry

If you use Spotify, here’s the playlist.

Did I miss any of your favorites?

Final note: Apologies for not mentioning the obvious at the beginning of the post — Bryan is one suave mofo; his voice and style worship-worthy.