Lloyd’s solo after the second chorus is a beautiful masterclass in staying in step with the melody while still adding enough swaggering embellishments to cut its own path through the song. (Unusually, especially for the burgeoning post-punk scene, the solos were actually credited in the Marquee Moon liner notes.) Keep in mind, this is all in the first minute of a 10-plus song, and that sequence occurs two more times throughout its epic length.Īnd each time, Verlaine and Lloyd build and build towards a chorus that hits you like a crashing wave and recedes into a ripping solo. Fred Smith then adds an efficient but rumbling bass line for a few bars just before Billy Ficca joins the party with a kinetic drum fill. Guitarist Richard Lloyd cuts in with a double-stop guitar flourish that tightly zigs where Verlaine zags. Verlaine lays down an understated repetitive rhythm track-four strums of a B minor, four of a D5, over and over and over. The first 20 droning seconds are akin to a religious experience, something that could be looped to infinity and hypnotize a sweaty punk congregation. Written by frontman Tom Verlaine and produced by Andy Johns (the late brother of Glyn Johns, who produced albums from the likes of Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones and the Who), “Marquee Moon” clocks in at a whopping 10:39 (and regularly extended far beyond that when played live).
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