The Smiths – Back to the Old House

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  General Comment:I love this song. The music by itself is enough to make it a terrific song, but the lyrics make it a great song. I love the feelings of contradiction Morrissey expresses, which he carries through most of his catalogue- he would rather not go back to the old house and yet at the end he says that he would love to go back to the old house. Perhaps he would love to go back and see the one that he loved and see if he can start something with that person. But in the end he knows that he will never go back due to the bad memories and perhaps in the knowledge that he was a failure in getting he loved to notice him then and he is likely to fail again now.

  Flag BillyBuddon April 27, 2010   Link

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    One more observation about this song. i think this is the first song wherein Morrissey emphasizes a weakness and a failing on his part to divulge a feeling for another person- "and you never knew, how much I really liked you, because I never even told you" This frank and public admission of lack of courage and personal failings is a signature theme in many Smiths and Morrissey songs and makes Morrissey a person who is easy to relate to and symphathize with.
    

    Flag BillyBuddon April 30, 2010  
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  General Comment:This song is one of the rare Smiths ones that is straightforward and brutally honest (don't get me wrong, I love Morrissey's songwriting!) His past always comes across as something he'd rather not talk about in interviews, and it sounds like his family life wasn't all that happy. So the old house could be a symbol of his childhood. I don't know when this song was written in relation to his return to Manchester, but he had quite a love/hate relationship with the place. Or maybe it doesn't refer to the family house, but instead the home of a dear friend/sweetheart who he never really got to tell how important they were to him.
  
  As for me, I can definitely relate to the sentiments in the song.

  Flag ArtOfMeon April 20, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:OK, the Louder than Bombs version knocks the shit out of the acoustic version.

  Flag tidalwaveon February 14, 2010   Link

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  General Comment:I've had similar feelings about someone from my past. It may be a universal experience.
  
  The electric version was the B-side of the 7-inch single of "What Difference Does It Make" (the 12-inch also included "These Things Take Time").
  
  Many of the songs on Louder than Bombs were collected from earlier singles. Though I think it might be a US-only compilation, while in the UK the Smiths' singles compilation was called The World Won't Listen (with similar but not identical tracks, and a different running order).
  
  I still regret selling (for pre-eBay-era prices) all those precious 12-inches I had, after I'd bought Louder than Bombs on CD. "How Soon is Now" sounded great on 12-inch vinyl. (Having put it on the B-side of "William It Was Really Nothing", Rough Trade evidently didn't anticipate what a defining moment for the band that track would be.)

  Flag foreverdroneon November 29, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:oh morrissey... so many missed opportunities. i feel ya, brotha

  Flag gochnatiaon November 24, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:I don't understand how anyone could prefer the HoH version. It's nice and all, but the LTB version has a doo-wop feel that better suits the subject of the song. It sounds like something a teenager would listen to while driving a chrome Cadillac up to make-out point.

  Flag timothyrealon February 01, 2009   Link

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  General Comment:ive been to the house of the boy i once loved, and il never go back again. its a shame but i dream about him from time to time. but il never go back to the old house

  Flag Loves_young_dreamon November 28, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:this song in sense can be very sad, yes.
  
  but really, i have never ever thought a smiths song was sad. beautiful yes. but never sad or depressing. just morbidly humorous.

  Flag smothermemotheron October 11, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:I know that many Smith tunes are melancholic or whatever but this one is just too much. There are no uplifting guitar parts to make it bearable either. The whole thing is sad...to be reserved for sad break-ups, death and other serious issues.

  Flag tonester34on April 02, 2008   Link

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  General Comment:R E G R E T.
  i dont think i should feel so much at 16...

  Flag AladdinInsaneon March 17, 2008   Link

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