"Virginia Plain" is a song written in 1972 by Bryan Ferry. It was recorded by his band Roxy Music and became their first single, backed with "The Numberer" (an instrumental composed by Andy Mackay). It became a Top 10 hit in the UK, peaking at #4.
The song was not present on the original UK LP version of the band's debut, Roxy Music, and had not even been recorded when the album was released. After the success of the album in the UK, it was included on later reissues. In 1977, it was re-released as a single, together with "Pyjamarama", originally the second Roxy Music single, to promote their Greatest Hits album, and reached #11.
"Virginia Plain" features bass guitarist Rik Kenton, who joined after Graham Simpson left the band. It begins with a deceptively quiet introduction, followed by an instant increase of volume as soon as the vocals come in on the first verse, this apparently being a deliberate ploy by Bryan Ferry to trap unwary radio and club DJs. The song was also notable at the time for its lack of chorus and for its synthesizer work by Brian Eno.
Former art student Ferry took the title "Virginia Plain" from one of his own paintings, featuring images of the cigarette brand of the same name and Warhol superstar Baby Jane Holzer. Holzer is also referenced in the lyric, "Baby Jane's in Acapulco / We are flying down to Rio".
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Roxy Music is an English art rock group founded in the early 1970s by art school graduate Bryan Ferry (vocals and keyboards). The other members are Phil Manzanera (guitars), Andy Mackay (saxophone and oboe) and Paul Thompson (drums and percussion). Former members include Brian Eno (synthesizer and "treatments"), and Eno's replacement Eddie Jobson (synthesizer and violin). Extant from 1971 through 1983, they reunited for a concert tour in 2001, and have announced that they are recording a new album for a yet-to-be-confirmed release date.
Roxy Music attained mainstream popular and critical success in the UK and Europe through the 1970s and early 1980s, beginning with their Top 10 debut album, Roxy Music, in 1972.[1] The band proved to be a significant influence on the early English punk movement, as well as providing a model for many New Wave acts and the subsequent New Romantic and experimental electronic groups of the early 1980s. Ferry and co-founding member Eno have also had broadly influential solo careers, the latter emerging as one of the most significant record producers of the late 20th century, with credits including landmark albums by Devo, Talking Heads, U2 and Coldplay. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Roxy Music #98 on its "100 The Greatest Artists of All Time" list.
