What she said :
"How come someone hasn't noticed
That I'm dead
And decided to bury me?
God knows, I'm ready!"
La-la-la...

What she said was sad
But then, all the rejection she's had
To pretend to be happy
Could only be idiocy
La-la-la...

What she said was not for the job or
Lover that she never had
Oh...
No no no...

What she read
All heady books
She'd sit and prophesise
(It took a tattooed boy from
Birkenhead
To really really open her eyes)

What she read
All heady books
She'd sit and prophesise
(It took a tattooed boy from
Birkenhead
To really really open her eyes)

What she said :
"I smoke 'cause I'm hoping for an
Early death
And I need to cling to something!"

What she said :
"I smoke 'cause I'm hoping for an
Early death
And I need to cling to something!"
No no no no...



Lyrics submitted by Idan

Track duration: 02:43

"What She Said" as written by Steven Patrick/marr Morrissey

Lyrics © Warner/Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group

Lyrics powered by LyricFind


What She Said song meanings
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14 Comments

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  • 0
    General Comment:what a song.

    I think that looking at the morrissey and marr relationship in line with the song is maybe reading too much into it but it is a nice interpretation.

    I think that it is a great description of the post modern stance that values experience ahead of theory and science. "a tattooed boy from birkenhead" taught the protagonist more about love than the classic romantics, the scientists of love, ever could.

    Possibly, this is also a reflection of how morrissey felt after music and stardom afforded him the confidence and opportunities to be swept away by experience, rather than take a considerably lesser pleasure from reading about the experiences of others.
    Flag johnbetjemanon August 15, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:It's about me.
    Flag Dashkyon July 02, 2012   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:In my opinion, the lyrics are pretty simple. About an edgy guy who meets a sullen bookish girl. She is complaining to him about her life, not necessarily something going on it her life ("Not for the job or troubled lover..."), just the way she lives and how life is treating her.


    Also: I totally agree with SAMO, the above statement practically is Morrissey's story.
    XD
    Flag mediocremurphyon October 08, 2010   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:i also think samo as hit it on the head. Every line makes sense if you look at it that way
    Flag papajackon November 28, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:I love SAMO's explaination.
    Flag jodeanon June 12, 2008   Link
  • +6
    General Comment:I think this song may be a description of Morrissey's relationship with Johnny Marr. Morrissey being the girl in question, and Marr being the "tattooed boy from Birkenhead".

    Morrissey describes a depressed and lonely person, taking words from Elizabeth Smart's prose, as he would have thought she could describe his feelings better than he ever could. He describes never having a job or a lover, and sitting at home reading great literature, but finally being rescued by the "tattooed boy"; Marr, a working class Manchester lad.

    In case you don't know what I'm referring to, Morrissey spent the majority of his teenage life alone in his bedroom, reading books such as By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. He was very lonely and suffered greatly from depression, until he was eventually rescued one day by Johnny Marr who knocked on his door out of the blue and asked him to join a band, which later became The Smiths.

    I think the song may be based on this.
    Flag SAMOon April 17, 2008   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:The reason why The Smiths are so popular, is because they wrote songs that were so easily identifiable to people who had experienced similar emotions, and in the process musician and listener gain comfort from each other. Philip Larkin puts it better than me somewhere!
    Flag the-princess-is-madon November 07, 2006   Link
  • 0
    General Comment:a good rockin' song similar in style to London and Sweet & Tender Hooligan. Another depressed character.. but then thats what we expect. Life is depressing.
    Flag CharmingManon March 12, 2006   Link
  • +1
    General Comment:"I have learned to smoke because I need something to hold on to."
    "...I wonder why no one has noticed that I am dead and taken the trouble to bury me"
    -By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept, by Elizabeth Smart
    Flag marquiceriseon December 28, 2005   Link
  • +2
    General Comment:I think the character is depressed about herself as a person (not as a worker or lover) so she tries to find her place and meaning in life by reading these classic, philosophical books which actually don't have any more insight into life than she has. Rather, a real person (the tattooed boy from Birkenhead) is the only one to show her the world the way it truly is.
    Flag marbleryeon January 28, 2005   Link

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