The Smiths – William, It Was Really Nothing

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  General Comment:this song is about billy mackenzie of the associates, who morrisey had an affair with in the early 80s. billy mackenzie wrote a retort called stephen you're really something

  Flag eag200on March 13, 2013   Link

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  My Interpretation:i always thought this song was dedicated to a guy (william) with whom morrysey had sex, althought william was going to marry the "fat girl".
  it was really nothing >>> morrisey (and william..) knows what happened it's not going to ruin the marriage
  god knows i've got to live mine >>> but morrisey did what he felt to do, without caring about the marriage...
  i don't dream about anyone, except myself>>>could be a william's sentece? Meaning he's not in love with the fat girl, neither with morrisey
  This point of view comes to me from all the times my gay friends tell me about having had sex with "straight" guys who's got girlfriends but as well the curiousity to try new things...coming back in the arms of their gf right after.....my friends keep thinking about convincing them to accept they're gay...with few results...poor girlfriends :)!

  Flag lolaroidon October 13, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:This song is just about about North England. The fat girls, the reckless individualism (I don't dream about anyone, except myself) sometimes so deep that's even not conscious (everybody'S GOT to live THEIR life and GOD KNOWS I'VE GOT to live MINE), the rain falls hard on a humdrum town, this town has dragged you down.
  I hope to have enough money to get soon out of here, in the meanwhile, thank you Steve.

  Flag externalglanceon April 09, 2011   Link

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  General Comment:I cannot believe anyone hasn't brought up the obvious before - William it was really nothing? He is clearly talking about their own gay sexual, or close, interlude(s) with William and then finding out William takes the most comfortable route out of a gay life (a fat, greedy, sad, most importantly accepted socially - Wife). He is trying to say - How could you (I know what you are) and that their own experinces were mesningless? William it was really nothing.. it was your life (but one you will later regret - Time will out on this, it always does, you cannot fool nature)... All of this coming from a straight girl.

  Flag declan1023on February 27, 2011   Link

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    Since first hearing this song I've wanted to know what it meant, and although I still don't (everyone seems to have a different interpretation) I am going with your explanation:) I suppose the "fat girl" phrase would go along with comfort; the mundane; and boring. We fat girls are always being dissed. The way I look at it, if catastrophe strikes the world; the food supply runs low; and ya need a new food source, at least with a fatty you have a better chance of living longer ;) I need to find me a man like my tall thin wonderful grandfather...he loved 'em big...the bigger the better!

    Flag ComeOnEileenon October 09, 2011  
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  General Comment:I think he is saying 'How can you stay with [her]' because she obviously 'doesn't care about anything'.
  
  1) Think about it - 'who'll say would you like to marry me and if you like you can buy the ring' he is saying she doesn't even care enough about her own ring/wedding.
  
  2) 'with a fat girl' - I think the fact that she is a 'fat girl' is just to emphasise that she doesn't care about anything because she doesn't care enough to keep herself healthy.
  
  3) 'William it was really nothing. It was your life' shows how he is similarly uncaring about his own life.
  
  Just my take on it.
  
  

  Flag marriecoron December 17, 2010   Link

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• -1
  General Comment:Like almost all of Morrisey's sthick, this song is about the trials of being a self concious, self loathing, self absorbed homo.
  
  Morrisey had teenage crush on his friend William.
  
  William got engaged to this girl he really doesn't love, cuz that's what's expected in the drab working class town he grew up in. Morrisey is planning to leave..cuz it's too conservative and dull.
  
  One weekend William pannics, gets drunk and the two of them rub weiners like it's Brokeback Mountain UK.
  
  Morrisey is elated and thinks the two of them are gonna run off together but the following Monday William tells him he's not going. William is this very straight laced boy and he feels guilty as hell about his weekend of man love
  
  And Morrisey, crushed but trying to salvage his dignity, reassures William by telling him what happened over the weekend was "really nothing" and William isn't gonna go to hell or anything...and it's all ok cuz "everyones gotta live their life the way they see fit.
  
  But mid song, Morrisey breaks down and tells Willi his true feelings..."how can you stay with a fat girl who'll say..."
  
  What he's saying is "OK..it's your right to choose...but how can you do this William? This girl doesn't love you. She's boring and only cares about what people around her think! I, on the other hand, live you dearly...and if you want to buy someone a ring it should be with me!"
  
  I always imagined that right after Morriseys charater in the song leaves for London and becomes a famous drag queen and William stays, marries and ends up working in a factory.

  Flag Munkybrainon July 10, 2010   Link

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  Lyric Correction:These lyrics are incorrect. The second marriage proposal is not supposed to be in quotations. It is supposed to be:
  
  How can you stay with a fat girl who'll say:
  "Would you like to marry me
  And if you like you can buy the ring"
  She doesn't care about anything
  Would you like to marry me
  And if you like you can buy the ring
  I don't dream about anyone
  Except myself
  
  The lyrics in their current form with the incorrect quotation marks changes the meaning of the song completely. The second marriage proposal is actually the marriage proposal of Morrissey (or whoever's POV it is) to William, not the fat girl's repetition of the first proposal.
  
  It is really astonishing that a site dedicated to interpreting song lyrics could present them incorrectly so often.
  

  Flag noshowon May 03, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:Again, another perfect example of a serious and moving first few verses with a funny chorus. I can see it in different ways: the narrator being a friend who gives William advice; the narrator being an ex-lover of William's--they once had an affair, but then William decided to get married and the narrator realized their relationship meant nothing.
  
  "I don't dream about anyone except myself" is, again, both amusing and depressing depending on how you look at it.

  Flag ArtOfMeon April 20, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:As A new fan of the Smiths, at the tender age of 18 neither of my parents liked the Smiths so I've picked them up for myself. Song with such a lovely melody, Very Morrisey. One of the first Smiths songs I listened to and hooked me.

  Flag BackInTheGameon October 05, 2009   Link

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• +4
  General Comment:Honestly I thought the song was referring to Billy Pilgrim, the protagonist of Slaughterhouse-Five. In Kurt Vonnegut's novel, Billy Pilgrim marries a fat girl that he absolutely despises just because she's rich, and he buys a ridiculously expensive diamond ring for her. Billy leads a very sad and empty life, he becomes successful but it brings him no happiness. Every day of his life after he comes home from fighting as a teenager in WWII is just dismal, empty, or "humdrum". I think the dreams referred to in the song are how Billy Pilgrim has delusional fantasies about how he would like his life to be, married to a beautiful movie star and living on a different planet where his life makes sense.
  I have no idea if Morrissey ever read the book or not, I just think the coincidences are cool.

  Flag rachfreckon September 30, 2009   Link

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