Lyrics for Frankly, Mr. Shankly as interpreted by weezerific:cutlery

Frankly, Mr. Shankly Lyrics
Frankly, Mr Shankly, this position I've held
it pays my way and it corrodes my soul
I want to leave you will not miss me
I want to go down in musical history

Frankly, Mr Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck
I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck
I must move fast, you understand me
I want to go down in celluloid history Mr Shankly

Fame, fame, fatal fame
it can play hideous tricks on the brain
but still I rather be famous
than righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day

But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
making Christmas cards with the mentally ill
I want to live and I want to love
I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

Frankly, Mr Shankly, this position I've held
it pays my way and it corrodes my soul
oh, I didn't realise that you wrote poetry
I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry Mr Shankly

Frankly, Mr Shankly, since you ask
you are a flatulent pain the arse
I do not mean to be so rude
but still, I must speak frankly, Mr Shankly, give us money

Interaction
Mail to a friend Send Lyrics to a Friend
Share on Facebook

Stumble It
Add to Del.icio.us Add to Del.icio.us




  • 29 Comments
  • Printer Friendly Lyrics
oldest first     Expand All
TheAlmightyMagz
07-01-2002

Rated 0 
Great song - with one of my favourite basslines. Fun to listen to and to play. Fairly obvious what it`s about: wanting to be famous and not wanting to work for a boss you hate in a job you hate but needing the money.

Log in to reply
cactusdave
07-01-2002

Rated 0 
This is about a record executive for the Smith's record label. Morrissey had no respect for the guy. One day the exec showed Morrissey some poetry he had written, which Morrissey obviously didn't like ("I didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry ")

Log in to reply
BERC-3000
03-28-2003

Rated 0 
Now that I know what this song is about, I like it even more. I recommend swaying your head back and forth when listening to this song.

Log in to reply
Corrupted-tomato
04-12-2004

Rated 0 
I think it also makes fun at the pepole who try to become famemos and quit ther job, a cynical, smiths way.
"Fame, fame, fatal fame
it can play hideous tricks on the brain
but still I rather be famous
than righteous or holy"

Log in to reply
Little Timmy
06-25-2004

Rated 0 
Actually, this song is a bit of a tribute to the book "Billy Liar" by Keith Waterhouse, like the song Billy Liar by the Decemberists.

Check it out. It's very good.

Log in to reply
highlyrefined
10-23-2004

Rated 0 
whats the connection between Frankly Mr Shankly and the Billy Liar the book? (the decemberists own by the way)

i recommend checking out the cover of this song by the band Cursive. Its on a cover album called How Soon Is Now - The Songs of The Smiths

Log in to reply
blackaliss
03-03-2005

Rated 0 
this song is about what we all would like to say sometimes to some aspects of our lives honestly. i love it and the lyrics and the music go so well together... i love how he goes "shhhhankly" in a particularly exaggerated way after he says "didn't realise you wrote such bloody awful poetry"

Log in to reply
suspieria
05-05-2005

Rated 0 
Cocksure fantasy resignation, and linked to songs like 'Heaven Knows' in the anti-work ethic. The 'bloody awful poetry' was linked to a record executive, Morrissey's boss-of-sorts, showing him some poetry he'd written. He saw himself as his intellectual equivalent, but Morrissey obviously didn't see it that way.

Log in to reply
MrDevilBunny
05-30-2005

Rated 0 
Does this song remind anyone of Tom in "The Glass Menagerie"?

Log in to reply
jimbrim
05-30-2005

Rated 0 
i love this song it makes me laugh everytime i hear it, the lyrics are about Geoff Travis (the head of rough trade records). At the end of the song morrissey says 'give us money' which isnt included on the album sleeve, its about the band complaining that rough trade arent giving them the right amount of money, very funny and typical morrissey lyrics!

Log in to reply
1imaginarygirl
12-20-2005

Rated 0 
Most people don't get the line:

"i want to catch something that i might be ashamed of"

because it's about STDs and they think "well, who would want to catch an STD" but actually it's about being so deperate for a partner of any kind that they couldn't care less where they've been before.

Log in to reply
marquicerise
01-13-2006

Rated 0 
it is generally acknowledged in music business circles that such lyrics as "I want to leave/you will not miss me/I want to go down in musical history" are oblique reference to the Rough Trade Records/Smiths dispute, with Geoff Travis cast in the central role as "righteous", "holy" and "a pain in the arse". Absent from the lyrics sheet was the spiteful coda "give us your money".

Log in to reply
teapot
01-22-2006

Rated 0 
I don't know why, but this is one of my favourite Smiths songs.

Log in to reply
ringroad29
01-24-2006

Rated 0 
rasist fuckin poo head mentaly ill thats affencive

Log in to reply
michaelwood
06-20-2006

Rated 0 
Billy Liar is about a guy who works in an undertakers in Bradford who wants to leave to write for a stand up comic. Billy drifts into a kind of fantasy world where he is doing what he wants to - "I want to live and I wat to love" echos this.

There is no Mr Shankley in Billy Lair but Leonard Rossiter plays a Mr Shadrack. Now probably because it is really hard to come up a decent rhyme for Shadrack Moz changed it probably to Shankley because it fitted with Frankly. Bill Shankly was a long serving the Liverpool Football Club manager and it is very probably that Morrissey had heard the name and done the word play for sometime.

Billy Liar also gives the final Smiths album its name with one character shouting "Borstal Here We Come" at the end. Borstal is teenage prison and swaps out for Manchester prison Strangeways

Log in to reply
mopo976
06-25-2006

Rated 0 
"I want to live and I want to love
I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of"

Jesus, I laughed out loud when I heard that line. I thought it was so brilliant. This is probably the best song off Queen, unless it's the There is a Light, or the title track.

Log in to reply
Knife2aGunFight
09-27-2006

Rated -1 
The band Cursive covered this song, they did a really good job if you ask me.

Log in to reply
SoundgardeNirvana
03-17-2007

Rated 0 
But sometimes I'd feel more fulfilled
making Christmas cards with the mentally ill.

Log in to reply
Dr Strangelove
03-31-2007

Rated 0 
OH give us ya money! LOL. Always cracks me up.

Log in to reply
Trent_is_here
04-28-2007

Rated 0 
ringroad29 your SPELLING is O-F-F-E-N-S-I-V-E.

this song makes me want to write a song about someone i despise.

Log in to reply
JumpinJackFlash
05-27-2007

Rated 0 
An ode to ringroad

Log in to reply
suede_head
06-12-2007

Rated 0 
Ringroad29 - how elloquently put... I suggest you visit the ludicrous place your name suggests and lie down in the middle of it ready for oncomming heavy traffic!

Log in to reply
suede_head
06-12-2007

Rated 0 
The mentally ill also make brithday cards, basket weavings and the like.... and i should know.

Log in to reply
icanfeelthesoil
12-08-2007

Rated 0 
i love this song :)

everyone else has pretty much explained it, but,

"Frankly, Mr Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck
I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck
I must move fast, you understand me
I want to go down in celluloid history Mr Shankly"

perhaps that could be about how he feels his life is going too fast, and there isnt enough time for him to write enough songs etc to become famous and be remembered.

Log in to reply
LeonDo
03-24-2008

Rated 0 
He words it so nicely but its so insulting...Last 3 words

Frankly, Mr Shankly, I'm a sickening wreck
I've got the 21st century breathing down my neck
I must move fast, you understand me

I guess he wants to get everything out in order to leave his job?...

Log in to reply




  • Add Your Comments
What does this song mean to you?

You must be logged in to post your comments.

Feel free to create an account with us, or log in with your existing account, to start adding your comments to songs.





Popular
Top:   Lyrics, Artists, Albums
Random:   Lyric, Artist, Album

Your Ad Here