| The Smiths – Handsome Devil Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I think that we've discovered the source of the lyric "who will swallow whom?" Not only is "A Boy In The Bush" a title of a novel by D.H.Lawrence - there seems to be another reference to Lawrence in the lyrics, discovered by the poster Codreanu from Morrissey-solo forum. Here's what he posted: "Tonight, I was finishing 'Lorenzo: D.H. Lawrence and the Women who Loved Him' by Emily Hahn and noted the following passage on pg. 248 ... "Back in the Villa Bernarda, Frieda was not as quiet and friendly as Lawrence seemed to think. She was happy to be with the girls, but when she got a card from Lawrence that might well have been an olive branch -- a picture of Jonah threatened by a whale, with the message, "Who is going to swallow whom?" -- she may have smiled, but she did not relax. She was still angry." thought I would give the primary source of the quote: 'Not I But the Wind...' by Frieda Lawrence, pg. 181" |
|
| The Smiths – Handsome Devil Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Well, I don't think he comes to the conclusion that "none of that matters, what matters is art and literature". Morrissey said about the song: "The message of the song is to forget the cultivation of the brain and to concentrate on the cultivation of the body." | |
| Ludus – Mouthpiece Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| The last 4 lines were printed in the booklet which was sold together with the cassette "Pickpocket", the rest I've transcribed as I heard it. Morrissey fans will be interested to know that Linder said this in a 2004 interview: "At the moment, Morrissey and I both retire to bed with the poet Marianne Moore. We may be on different sides of the Atlantic but we know what makes for a good read. With Ludus I sang, "I steal your books and you steal mine". It was, of course, about him." | |
| Ludus – Inheritance Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| I transcribed these lyrics the way I heard them (and all the other Ludus lyrics I've submitted, except Mother's Hour and Patient, which were printed on the lyric sheet for the 7" single). I think that "a room of your own" here obviously refers to Virginia Woolf's 1929 feminist essay "A Room Of One's Own" (which, BTW, is the same one where she tells a fictional story about "Shakespeare's Sister"). In this essay, Woolf stated: "A woman must have money and a room of her own if she is to write fiction." | |
| Ludus – Nue au Soleil Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This is a cover of a song originally sung by Brigitte Bardot. | |
| Ludus – Little Girls Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| barefoot, I've talked to Shades by e-mail, and she says she just transcribed the lyrics as she heard them. As far as I know, most Ludus records didn't have lyric sheets, except the "Mother's Hour/Patient" single. The lyrics I have submitted for those 2 songs are taken from the lyrics sheets so they're 100% certain. "Pickpocket" cassette also had a booklet with some lines from the songs "Mutilate", "The Fool" and "Mouthpiece", but not all. I will try to transcribe as many lyrics as I can, but in some songs I just can't be sure about some of the lines. | |
| Magazine – I Love You, You Big Dummy Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
This is a cover of a Captain Beefheard song, but with different lyrics (apart from the title and the chorus "I love you, you big dummy..." which are the same), which Devoto performed first with the Buzzcocks. He seems to have had a lot of fun with this one, unlike in his other, more serious lyrics. He even makes a direct reference to his girfriend at the time (1976-77), Linder Sterling - "I stew in my own juice in another kitchen" (one of Linder's collages was called "Housewives stewing their juices in a different kitchen", which was proposed as the title of the Buzzcocks first album, but they shortened in to "Another Music In Different Kitchen"). BTW there's something interesting I noticed: Linder might have answered this a few years later - on Ludus song "Wrapped In Silence" from their (in)famous 1982 Hacienda gig, she sings, listing a series of stereotypical female roles: "the bride crying in the night, the girl next door, the little girl, the big girl... the bossy too big for her boots girl". Probably not a coincidence. |
|
| Magazine – My Tulpa Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
A tulpa - in Tibetan mysticism, a being or object which is created through sheer willpower alone - a materialized thought that has taken physical form (a thoughtform). Once the tulpa is endowed with enough vitality to be capable of playing the part of a real being, it tends to free itself from its maker¹s control. This makes me think that the 'young man' that the narrator in this song has such a strange, erotic fascination, is a kind of double he has invented - a version of himself that is mysterious and more attractive and pleasant (probably also better dressed and richer, judging by the mentions of wardrobe and furniture) than his real self, which seems troubled and insecure ("I'm so wretched - you are so fetching"), not independent enough, stifled by being too attached on his mother ("my skin will crawl back home to Ma"). In any case, there seems to be some tension and love/hate thing between him and his tulpa - both sides seem very nervous and apprehensive of each other, but their souls still "mingle uneasily". |
|
| Magazine – Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin) Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This is a cover of the song by Sly & The Family Stone. | |
| Massive Attack – Man Next Door Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This is a cover of a song originally performed by reggae artist John Holt in 1961. It has also been covered by The Slits. | |
| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Interlude Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Actually, I thought Morrissey's vocal was perfect. Siouxsie was all right too, but even though I am a big fan of both, I don't think their voices sounded perfect together. to Suzarella: the fact that you dislike him doesn't make him either an idiot (check the meaning of the word: a highly intelligent man like Morrissey can't be an 'idiot') or a bad singer (another thing he most obviously isn't). But a comment such as that one makes YOU look like an idiot. |
|
| Ludus – Little Girls Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| Shades, I just want to ask you where you took the lyrics from? Or did you just transcribe them? I suppose the lyrics to this song are easier to make out than some other Ludus songs, but I'm not sure about the "Every time, don't give in to me" (?) part. Was there a lyrics sheet with the original single? | |
| The Associates – Stephen, You're Still Really Something Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
I'm leaning towards the 'publicity stunt' theory ;) I don't think Morrissey and Billy McKenzie were rumoured to be lovers in the 80s, as far as I know the rumour only started because of this song. They met once for a few hours in 1984, as part of a press-staged 'date', and apparently they didn't get along especially well, at least according to what Morrissey said when asked about it in an interview shortly afterwards (he said they tried to find common ground, but there wasn't any, and he was 'shocked' when Billy walked out with his copy of a James Dean biography, or something like that). The theory further falls down more than slightlly when you consider that it is highly unlikely the song "William, It Was Really Nothing" was written abotu Billy McKenzie, since 1) the lyrics don't suggest that (why would Morrissey sing about Billy being engaged to a 'fat girl'? Was he even engaged at the time? I don't think I've ever heard any information of that kind), 2) to anyone who's ever seen the 1960s film "Billy Liar", it should be more than obvious that the scenario of "William, It Was Really Nothing" is taken from that film, and that the eponymous William is in fact William Fisher aka Billy Liar, played by Tom Courtney - a young man from small-town, stuck in a job he hates (with an annoying boss called Mr Shadrock), and engaged to two rather obnoxious girls at the same time, one of them being quite plump (an engagement ring plays quite a part in the film, too). He is unsatisfied with his life and escapes the reality by daydreaming about himself as a great writer, a leader of an imaginary country called Ambrosia, etc. Finally he gets the chance to turn his dreams into reality and go to London with the girl of his dreams (played by Julie Christie) to become a writer for a famous comedian... (and I'll stop here so I wouldn't spoil the film completely.) It's also quite obvious that the film was the inspiration for two other Smiths songs: "Frankly, Mr Shankly" and "London", and there are a number of other phrases Morrissey took from it ("We could walk where it's quiet" - The Queen Is Dead, "combating ignorance and disease" - Vicar In A Tutu). |
|
| The Chameleons – Less Than Human Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
part of Mar's note on the official site: "My big mouth has always got me into trouble, more so in those days and I think I must have been feeling guilty about something. The second verse came much later and stemmed from a conversation I'd had with a girl friend." |
|
| The Chameleons – Here Today Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "Coming as they did quickly in the wake of the John Lennon murder (he had been shot dead a couple of months earlier) I'd always believed that they had stemmed from that. But it is now my belief that they are in fact snatches of my own future." |
|
| The Chameleons – Don't Fall Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "The Words to 'Don't Fall' were written about an hour before our first 'show-case' in London. A 'show-case' was a gig hastily promoted in order to get as many industry people there as possible to see the band. We'd be so eager to play new songs that I would often end up singing what came to be called 'yogurt' in the early stages, i.e., singing whatever felt good whether it made any sense or not. But I wasn't eager to do that on this occasion and typical me, I left it to the last minute to finish the words. They came from an experience I'd had a couple of weeks before when, due to a combination of my own stupidity and lateness I'd found myself alone at night, wandering the streets tripping on magic mushrooms. It was a long night, the details of which I won't bore you with but the result was 'Don't Fall'." |
|
| The Chameleons – A Person Isn't Safe Anywhere These Days Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "I was watching some TV while the backing track was being finished, about an extremely violent individual and recounting the time five blokes had leapt from a car and attacked me with hammers and sticks as well as stories which were becoming increasingly common, of old people being beaten and robbed in their own homes by junkies. When the time came to do the take this is what came out. We knew it was a single but didn't know what to call it. We were in a cafe when Dave showed me a news paper cartoon, a funny looking guy with a speech bubble that said..." |
|
| The Chameleons – As High As You Can Go Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "A song about selling your soul for fame and fortune, compromising oneself for the sake of your dreams. It came in the wake of CBS. They'd dangled a dream in front of us and when we wouldn't be what they wanted they dropped us. We weren't bothered though, we had each other." |
|
| The Chameleons – Thursday's Child Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "The title is taken from an old poem, I can't remember it all, or it's title, but it goes "Wednesday's child is full of woe; Thursday's child has far to go." I realised that I was actually growing up and leaving my childhood behind me. I was asking myself. What kind of man would I become?" |
|
| The Chameleons – Up the Down Escalator Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "The title was actually Reg's suggestion for a band name before we settled on The Chameleons, I liked it so much I remembered it and it just seemed apt for this particular idea. A further inspiration came from Dave when he told me he'd seen an item about a very young child genius who written something like "Someone told me tomorrow never comes, but I've seen it end lots of times." 'Escalator' deals with helplessness in a world gone stark, raving mad." |
|
| The Chameleons – Second Skin Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from the official site: "The song went through two titles before it finally became 'Second Skin.' It started it's life as 'Dreams In Celluloid' and then became 'Films' and had different lyrics, dealing with the immortality of cinema stars. It evolved after I read a book about the study of 'Near Death Experiences' and subsequently dealt with another form of immortality altogether." |
|
| The Chameleons – Monkeyland Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Mark's note from their official site (www.thechameleons.com): "By the late seventies Middleton had become a very dull and insular place to live. Although nearby Manchester has always been a fresh and interesting place to hang out, whenever I was skint, which was most of the time, I'd feel very trapped in Middleton. The first section really refers to people I found myself surrounded by early on in the band's development, all of which served to remind me of the depth of the rut we had all seemingly fallen into. The song as a whole was inspired by what the author Colin Wilson described as "the triviality of everydayness". Ironically, several years later, Middleton's nickname with those that lived in other areas around Manchester was 'Monkeytown'." |
|
| Magazine – You Never Knew Me Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Probably my favourite Magazine song. The lyrics don't need explaining, they're pretty strightforward but great. One of the best summaries of a dysfunctional and mutually destructive relationship. Isn't it like this most of the time - you never really get to know the other person, or the other way round, you never can really know the way they feel. My favourite parts: "You're what keeps me alive You're what's destroying me Do you want the truth? Or do you want your sanity?" and even better: "You were hell And everything else was just a mess I found I'd stepped into the deepest unhappiness" and "We had to kill too much Before we could even kiss" Brilliant. |
|
| Siouxsie and the Banshees – Obsession Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| This song was inspired by a real life person, a friend of Siouxsie's (I don't know if it was a man or a woman), who became obsessed with a neighbour and broke into their house, leaving a lock of his/hers pubic hair. | |
| The Organ – Steven Smith Lyrics | 17 years ago |
|
Delusional?! LOL You're delusional if you believe that Wikipedia is the world's most reliable source of information. The Organ are massive Smiths / Moz fans. from an interview with Katie Sketch (http://www.blogotheque.net/article.php3?id_article=424): "One last question : is “Steven Smith” really a sort of tribute to Morrissey? Can you believe that you’re the first person to ask me that ? I’ve read many reviews that have flat out stated that it is, but nobody has bothered to ask me. My answer in short is : yes. They were right." |
|
| Joy Division – No Love Lost Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Yes, really. Joy Division took their name from the novel "The House Of Dolls" by Jewish author Ka-Tzetnik 135633 (real name Yehiel De-Nur), an Auschwitz survivor (his pen name means "Concentration Camper", and 135633 was his number). He wrote about the horrors committed by the nazis. "The House Of Dolls" is about 'Joy Division' - Jewish women in concetration camps who were made into sex slaves for the pleasure of Nazi soldiers. He claimed it was inspired by the fate of his younger sister who did not survive the Holocaust. The spoken part from 'No Love Lost' is taken directly from the book. |
|
| Morrissey – Speedway Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Accordin to his own interviews, he stopped being celibate about 10-11 years ago (check The Face 1997 interview, the Janice Long 2002 BBC interview, the NME 2006 interview) and if you're so bloody interested, he's bisexual (check the Face 1990 interview and the Observer 1992 interview) - though he doesn't use the actual word because he hates labels. Who exactly he loves or who he sleeps with and if he is sleeping with anyone at all, he doesn't say and shouldn't be your business anyway. Are you all satisfied now?! Can we please move on?! Who or what this song is actually about, I don't know. Some of these interpretations are ridiculous enough (wow, how exactly did you see that it was about an affair with a married man?! why not a married woman? or why not an unmarried man/woman, a cat... :D), but not as ridiculous as the NME's interpretation - they thought it he was adressing them and that he meant that the racist allegations were true... yeah, right. In any case, anyone can interpret it however they like it. |
|
| Morrissey – Found Found Found Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
No, it's not about Michael Stipe. That story only originated because someone misread an interview. Morrissey was asked about this song, then the next question the interviewer asked was about his friendship with Stipe. Neither the interviewer nor Morrissey made any connections between the song and Stipe. You can read the interview at the www.motorcycleaupairboy.com site (I can't remember which interview it is exactly). Johnny Rogan also explained in his book 'The Complete Guide to the Music of The Smiths and Morrissey / Marr' that that was how the misunderstanding originated. in an interview he gave to an Italian magazine this year, Morrissey was asked if it was about Stipe, and he said no. |
|
| Morrissey – Used To Be A Sweet Boy Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
"Is this song about Morrissey himself" I believe it's one of his most personal songs, adressing his own strained relationship with his father. |
|
| Morrissey – Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
well, what an imaginative interpretation. I see no reference to homicide in this song and I always thought he felt sympathy for the girl and NOT for the lifeguard, who is shown to be insensitive and lazy (the ironic line 'doesn't she know he had such a busy day?'); and that it was one of those songs where Morrissey identifies with the tragic female heroine (as in This Night Has Opened My Eyes, What She Said, November Spawned A Monster...) - she 'swam too far against the tide' = she dared to be different, she wanted too much... The line 'Don't worry, she was nobody's nothing' sounds so tragic. But if you want to read stories of "Sal Mineo-like obsessions" into it, then that's what it means for you. I do wonder why the lifeguard seems so unsympathetic, if he's supposed to be the object of love, and why the girl seems so tragic - but that's just me... |
|
| Morrissey – I'd Love To Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
it is 'waste', I think it says so in the lyric sheet of the compilation My Burglary Years. And IMO it's the opposite, it makes more sense that way. When you are spending every night dreaming of someone and feeling so much love and desire, which remains unconsummated - it is a terrible waste, isn't it? I think this is a really beautiful, romantic and heartbreaking song, one of the most moving love songs he ever wrote. I can totally relate to it. |
|
| Morrissey – Interesting Drug Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
for those interested: Morrissey's political orientation: definitely liberal / on the left (don't pay attention to those idiots who tell you he's racist - it's absolutely not true). Not sure how exactly ro define him - I would say he is closer to anarcho-individualism (for want of better word) than socialism (if you consider his views on work). Morrissey sexual orientation (which has no bearing here, but someone had to bring it up anyway); he has NO orientation. "I am open to everything. If I met somebody tomorrow, male or female, and I loved them and they loved me, I would tell them whatever they were. People should be loved whatever their gender, whatever their age." Got that? So can we please move on now? Give up the ridiculous talk about the 'gayness' or Morrissey's lyrics. Someone might retort with 'Wonderful Woman' or 'Half A Person' or 'Handsome Devil' again, for that matter (only Morrissey can write a song with the line 'Let me get my hands on your mammary glands' and a line with a double entendre on the word 'bush' - 'A boy in the bush is worth two in the hand' - and have people call the song 'obviously homoerotic'! :D ) These debates will lead you nowhere, so just give it up. |
|
| Morrissey – Dear God, Please Help Me Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
LOL at comments about 'coming out'. To quote Morrissey's answer when he was this silly question: "Fans call 'Dear God Please Help me' your coming out song..." Moz: "Coming out? Where from?! Where to?! I am myself, period." :D |
|
| Morrissey – Alsatian Cousin Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
to cactusdave and Bayoustorm: and what exactly makes you think it's about two men? How can you know if it's about a man suspected of sleeping with a man, or a woman suspected of sleeping with a man? Let's see the characters in the song: 1) the Narrator ("I") 2) the person he's adressing ("you") - could be male or female 3) "He" - the man this person is suspected of having sex with. "Were you and he Lovers ? And would you say so if you were ? On a forecourt On a Friday Passing my way Oh..." "A note upon his desk "P.S. Bring Me Home And Have Me!" Leather elbows on a tweed coat -Oh!- Is THAT the best you can do ? So came his reply : "But on the desk is where I want you!" So I ask (even though I know): Were you and he Lovers ? " yeah, right, so "obvious" that it's about two men... nonsense. So please tell me how do you *know" that 'no women are involved in this song. What made you think so? Apart from the fact that you have heard people say Morrissey is gay, and you believed it to be true, well, because... people say it, so it must be true? If this was a Nick Cave song, would you say that there were no women involved?! |
|
| The Smiths – Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
""Last Night Was Meant For Love" is a single by Billy Fury (who features on the single sleeve) " Yes, and to add a few other interesting facts about the sleeve: the original 12-inch sleeve design was to feature 2 quotations: "please keep me in mind" (from Well I Wonder) and "when I sleep with that picture beside me...I really think it's you" (the line that Morrissey would later include in Late Night, Maudlin Street from his first solo album Viva Hate). |
|
| The Smiths – Wonderful Woman Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
here's what Morrissey later said about this song (as quoted in Simon Goddard's book 'Songs That Saved Your Life'): "In a monotonous way, it's quite tongue-and-cheek. The wonderful woman is actually an incredibly vicious person but still at the end of the day she had this incredible magnetic ray to me. All the things that she wanted to do, nasty as they were, were completely forgivable due to whatever reason. It's all metaphysical." So basically he admited it was autobiographical, whoever it was about. Whether it was about Linder or someone else, we can't know for sure. The femme fatale in question is described as a really vicious person, which makes it odd if it is about her - however, I am well aware that human relationships are complex and that there's a thin line between love and hate and all that, so it is still very possible. Though it doesn't prove anything and it might be just a coincidence, it is still interesting that in 2002 Morrissey introduced Linder on stage at the second of his his Royal Hall concerts, where she was officially taking photos, as "Linder Sterling - a wonderful woman". |
|
| The Smiths – Miserable Lie Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
according to the book Songs That Saved Your Life, in the first version of the song the lyrics were a lot more repetitive and the line about 'criminal world' was repeated a lot; Morrissey sang in falcetto: "What have I done to deserve this?" There is another line which isn't on the version of the song from Smiths debut, or in the lyric sheet, but Morrissey use to sing it live. He even sang it at their last gig at the Brixton Academy in 1986, in medley with London: to the melody of "I'm just a country mile behind the world" - "I'd run a hundred miles away from you" |
|
| The Smiths – William, It Was Really Nothing Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| I wrote that before I saw Billy Liar, now that I have seen it, it really is even more obvious. There is indeed a rather plump fiancee in the movie, and an engagement ring plays quite a role in the story. | |
| The Smiths – Half a Person Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
"But, correct me if I'm wrong: Isn't "she wrote to me on the hour" supposed to be "she wrote to me equally dour"? I thought that it sounded slightly more accurate... " Yes, you are right, he sings "she wrote to me, equally dour" but for whatever weird reason, in Louder Than Bombs lyric sheet it says "she wrote to me on the hour" (?!) That's not the only case that the lyrics in the lyric sheet are different from what Morrissey actually sings in the song. |
|
| The Smiths – I Won't Share You Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
as I said before, I've never believed it was about Johnny Marr, and it seems even less probable now after reading this information from Simon Goddard's "Songs That Saved Your Life": "For a start, there's a clue in the first verse where Morrissey stipulates gender ('the note I wrote as she read') which could of course be a red herring. Until, that is, one considers a rarely seen sleeve note which Morrissey wrote in the winter of 1985 for a retrospective of Linder Sterling's band Ludus. The album, scheduled for release on the Belgian Crepuscule label, was cancelled. The complimentary text was, therefore, never made public. But viewed in the contexr of 'I Won't Share You' penned eighteen months later, its last sentence - a veritable carbon copy of the song' departing cry - now seems quite a revelation. 'Oh Linder. Oh Linder. I will see you sometime, somewhere.' " |
|
| Morrissey – I Have Forgiven Jesus Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
I also like the mention of humiliation and condescention. I always think that all those people who think they're figured him out and who give him advice on what he should do (such as thoe who maintain he's gay and needs to 'come out' and then everything wil be peachy and swell ) are so annoyingly condescending. But everyone whois single over a larger period of time and doesn't manage to keep it hidden from people, is likely to I be subject to humiliating and condescending attitudes shown by others. I know I have had enough of such experiences, and I'm not a celebrity, so I don't have to face it all the time. Oscar Wilde said that "Abstinance is the only sexual perversion." And in Margaret Drabble's novel The Millstone, the main character hides her lack of sex life because she feels that there is a shameful stigma nowadays, a scarlet letter A - only it once stood for Adulteress, but now is stands for Abstinance. I |
|
| Morrissey – I Have Forgiven Jesus Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Huh. I thought this song was one of the most straightforward of all Morrissey's songs, and people still manage to interpret it in different ways. I really want to know where did you see homosexuality in this song? If he says he's unhappy, this must mean he's unhappy because he's gay?! How smart. If he's gay, why does't her just find a guy to have a relationship with? Morrissey never had any prejudeices against homosexuality, he also had no problems admitting that he has been attracted to men as well as women and had sexual encounters with both women and men in his early youth. He has no prejudices against bisexuality, either. Though he hates all those classifications and believes that people are simply sexual and have all th same sexual needs. But he does have problems with intimacy/'relationships that are far deeper. Just read what he said on the subject in his interviews over the years. And I know that "I" in Morrissey's songs doesn't alway refer to himself.. but I think it does in this song. Nevertheless, I identified with the character in this song since I've first heard it (and guess what, I'm a heterosexual female). It describes what you feel when you feel so much love and desire inside you, when you have so many dreams and you wish to unlock that love and give it to someone, but you just can't find anyone to love. It's frustrating and painful beyond words. Maybe because you expect too much and you're not able to just have loveless sex or some half-arsed relationship that so many people have. Sometimes if you can only be conttent with finding real love, if you want all or nothing, you end up with nothing. "And if 'desire' means anal sex to you, you are a sad sad individual. " That's well said. Morrissey doesn't seem asexual to me at all - since asexual means someone who has no sexual feelings and thought - but I think that he feels 'asexual' in the sense that he's never been interested in sex for its own sake, only in sex as an expression of love. I've always felt Morrissey's songs were full of desire, but not any specific homosexual or heterosexual desire, but DESIRE as a need to be close to another person, to feel a fulfilled love and intimacy. But instead, there is this constant painful frustration, an inablitiy to ever fulfill that desire, which I think is something that a great number of people can identify with, regardless of their sex, sexual orientation, age, etc. That is why I feel that Morrissey is in a way super-sexual, because he can express the experiences, feelings and desires of all kinds of different people! |
|
| The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
for Hand In Glove: All I can see from the lyrics is that it is about a great love, and that the narrator feels that together the two of them can defy society and their own lack of means - "Yes, we may be hidden by rags, but we have something they'll never have!" (and Morrissey has commented on that aspect of the song - ). Who those two people are, is completely open to interpretation. As if the reason why people "stare" at them. Of course, it may be a homosexual couple. Or an interracial couple. Or a couple with a big age difference. Or the "good people" may be staring at them simply because they are "hidden by rags" (which is the first thing I would think on hearing the song) - a poor, possibly homeless couple (maybe even a bohemian, punk rock couple?) "No, it's not like any other love/This one is different because it's us" - isn't that what any two people in love feel like?! But some people think that this refers to a homosexual love? Which, I guess, is like no other love?! What about the love of any other two homosexuals? It's not like there's just one gay couple in the world, is it? LOL BTW, do you also consider No Ordinary Love by Sade and Strangelove by Depeche Mode to be 'gay anthems'? LOL So we're left with the line 'sun shines out of our behinds'... well, of course you can see that as reference to homosexuality... especially since it's a well known fact that women have no behinds... no, wait, they do? ;) Well, you can always see sexual meanings if you want to. There's a possible double entendre in every lyric, if you want to look for it. And I don't mean just Morrissey's lyrics, you know. Some other opinions: Johnny Rogan says the song spoke to "star-crossed lovers, budding teenage romatics and to-be-declared homosexuals alike". Andy Rourke thinks it was about the feeling of togetherness within the band. Mark Simpson in his 'Saint Morrissey' book has the idea that there is a similarity between Hand In Glove and a relationship from Morrissey's favourite book, Taste of Honey. he quotes a dialogue between the main character, Jo, and her best friend Geoff, where they express defiance at the society. (I know I've also read somewhere tha the last line "I'll probably never see you again" is from Taste of Honey. and furthermore, Simpson has the idea that Moz identified with the main character, the girl Jo.. But as far as I have read, Jo is a teenager who has an opressive mother, is bored to death at school, and finds herself pregnant after a one-night stand with a black man (Jimmy); and then she finds rescue in a relationship with a gay fellow student, Geoff (who shows her the joy of life, "taste of honey"). failure/disappointment in romantic love, then rescue in a platonic love/friendship - yes, I guess I see the connection.Well, Simpson's idea is that Johnny and the band were for Morrissey what Geoff was for Jo, and he says that the band is his 'Hand In Glove'. (But he also makes a connection with Rebel Without A Cause, with Moz as the James Dean character, the outsider, and Johnny as the Nathalie Wood character who helps him blend in. That part of the book was quite funny, BTW.:)) Well, obviously that's one of the ways to see Hand In Glove. But you might just take the song as a universal statement - it can even be from fantasy / the book and also from some personal experiences, whether romantic love (real or imaginary) or friendship, togetherness, and the band, as you said. It might mean all those things. Do we have to pick just one meaning? |
|
| The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
"The favourite lyric I have written appears in a song called 'Hand In Glove'. The lines which are most precious to me are: 'The good people laugh/Yes we may be hidden by rags/But we have something they'll never have'. Which is how I felt when I couldn't afford to buy clothes and used to dress in rags but I didn't really feel mentally impoverished. "The inspiration? Just the very idea of people putting enormous importance on what they had and how they dressed and this very materialistic sense of value which is completely redundant. It goes back to the old cliche of what one has inside is really what one is. And that was it really. "I remember vividly the night I wrote 'Hand In Glove'. It was just over a year ago. I just wanted to use the theme of complete loneliness. It was to be our first record and it was important to me that there'd be something searingly poetic in it, in a lyrical sense, and yet jubilant at the same time. Being searingly poetic and jubilant was, I always thought, quite difficult because they're two extreme emotions and I wanted to blend them together. "I was in my room, alone, with a cassette with a guitar tune on it and I was surrounded by lots of words, and I just sat there for two hours and threw the whole thing together." - Morrissey, Star Hits, 1985 |
|
| The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
HungryLikeTheWolf: "Morrissey is a big old gay man and that's why he's so unhappy. A lot of his songs are about his sexual orientaion and his confusion and his struggle to be open with it. He doesn't parade it around but if if you were the ask him if he was gay he wouldn't say no. Listen to 'I have forgiven Jesus' and 'What difference does it make' two of the smiths "gay" songs. " ROTFL HungryiketheWolf, you are so hilarious LOL LOL LOL I Have Forgiven Jesus is a 'gay' song? LOL Just how did you get to that conclusion? What Difference Does It Make is 'obviusly gay? HUH? "He doesn't parade it around but if if you were the ask him if he was gay he wouldn't say no. " Well, actually he would - and he did. "I'm gay? Well, that's news to me." (Morrissey in Rolling Stone, 1990) Your reasoning is really dumb. He's unhappy because he's gay?! Why would that make him unhappy?! He's never had any prejudices against homosexuality, and he had no problems mentioning he's felt attraction for men AS WELL as women, and that he's had sexual encounters with both women and men. He's never been afraid to be really controversial and speak his mind, but you think he's less brave than Elton-f***ing John?! People like you who think they understand Morrissey when they have no bloody idea would be trully annoying with their condescening attitude, if they weren't that absurd. If Morrissey was gay and that was all to it, his life would be much simpler. He would have found a guy, and not just that, he would then fit into your silly little categories, and that would make him into more of a regular and 'normal' person by your standards. hell, it would even give him less problems with the media - he would be a 'gay artist', which is such a popular thing to be in the days of political correctness! But I think he knows much better than any of you what he is, or at least what he isn't, and he knows that he does not fit into your categories, even though there are so many people like you who feel they just need to pigeonhole such a complex and unique person! He's far more complicated than that and he has far deeper problems, which you would be aware of if you REALLY paid attention to his songs! |
|
| The Smiths – Rusholme Ruffians Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
From Johnny Rogan's book on The Smiths songs (this is one of those where every song is discussed): "Morrissey borrowed freely from the pen of comedienne Victoria Wood and hijacked her song 'Fourteen Again' for his own satiris purposes. What emerges is a striking adaptation in which Wood's humorously affectioante reminiscences are subverted into a threatening landcsape where casual violence and the threat of romantic suicide are menacingly present." "As Marr points out, the primary idea was to create a song that captured the raw excitement of youths visiting a Manchester fairground. (...) Morrissey also travelled back to his earlier memories in dramatising the dazzling unpredictability of faiground life. 'As a child, I was literally educated on fairgrounds', he claimed. 'It was the big event. It was why everybody was alive. On threadbare Manchester council estates once a year fairs would come around. It was a period of tremendous violence, hate, distress, high romance and all the truly vital things in life...In Rushholme, it was the only thing people had." " |
|
| The Smiths – Shoplifters of the World Unite Lyrics | 18 years ago |
| adamndirtyshame, I agree with your explanation. | |
| The Smiths – Shoplifters of the World Unite Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
Record Mirror, 1987: 'Lyrically, 'Shoplifters' is an obscure affair, and the author is typically unhappy about expanding on the song's meaning. "Well, I never really like to say, I never really like to pin it down. Do you understand that? I mean, there's someone in Huddersfield who might have a fascinating, fiery explanation, and then I go and shatter it by saying it's about greyhound racing. Their life collapses." That's putting it a bit strongly, isn't it? "Well, you never know, it happens. I mean, I could talk about nuclear weapons, but it gets quite tiresome, doesn't it? Everyone gets quite bored with it. I often wonder why shoplifting can be such a serious crime when making nuclear weapons isn't. That should really be a crime, I think, but it isn't. We live in a very twisted world, with a very twisted morality." |
|
| The Smiths – Accept Yourself Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
"kilby, don't you find it strange how this song is telling people that they should accept themselves when at the same time this was written , morrissey was doing the exact opposite!?!?! " But that's exactly why he is saying it! Don't you feel that there are several songs where he is, in a way, talking to himself, telling himself what he should do? "Accept Yourself" is one, "Sheila Take A Bow" is another (though he is talking to a female version of himself there), and you can say the same about "Handsome Devil" ("there's more to life than books, you know") or "Ask". People who think that he is so negative should really listen to his songs and hear all the positive meeages. But, it is a sad fact that being aware of your own problems and knowing what you should do, is often not enough for you to actually do that! |
|
| The Smiths – Never Had No One Ever Lyrics | 18 years ago |
|
" i heard that morrissey lost his virginity when he was 13, hated it and has been celibate ever since. " Only partly true. He said that he lost his virginity "in my early teens, 12 or 13. It was an isolated incident, and accident. It all went downhill after that. I have no pleasant memories whatsoever." But that was NOT when he became celibate. He said that in his adolescence up to the age of 21,22,23, he had had a series of sexual encounters, with women as well as with a man, but they were all "very blunt, firunately brief, and horrendous experiences", but never a loving relationship, and that he finally decided to abstain from sex. as for the bad dream, well, I have no idea what he meant! he was 23 when The Smiths formed, so I don't see the connection! |
|
* This information can be up to 15 minutes delayed.