The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

• +4
  Memory:I identify with this song sooooo very much. My entire family passed away in a freak plane accident and orphaned me in July '10 and this song summed up exactly how I felt right after the accident. I had come back to my hometown and was surrounded by my friends the entire time. I'll explain further as the lyrics go:
  
  "Take me out tonight. Where there's music and there's people. And they're young and alive"
  -My friends took me out the night the accident happened and we went TPing and acted like high schoolers even though we were 24-25. I was so thankful for that momentary break from being so unbearably sad and depressed.
  
  "Driving in your car, I never never want to go home, Because I haven't got one, Anymore"
  -My boyfriend drove most of the night and we never went to my parents house at all. We stayed at my uncles because I truly felt that I didn't have a home anymore, it wouldn't be the same now that it was empty. I never wanted the night to end because going home meant having to lie there and process what happened that day.
  
  "Take me out tonight, Because I want to see people and I Want to see life"
  -Again, just another plea to keep my mind off of everything. I didn't want to be faced with the reality of death, I wanted my friends and family to keep me occupied.
  
  "Driving in your car. Oh, please don't drop me home . Because it's not my home, it's their home, and I'm welcome no more"
  -Again, I just really didn't want to be alone. I didn't want to go to my house and though it wasn't like I wasn't welcome, but the thought of going through their personal things just seemed like such a privacy violation and it made me uncomfortable.
  
  "And if a double-decker bus. Crashes into us .To die by your side, Is such a heavenly way to die. And if a ten-ton truck Kills the both of us To die by your side
  Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine"
  -This has kind of a double meaning to me. One being that I envisioned my family saying something similar about the plane crash. That they were fortunate to die together and quickly and without pain. I am glad they were able to be together, but at the same time, I almost wished I could've been there with them. "The privelege is mine"
  -The second meaning was kind of how I felt about my boyfriend and I. I didn't want to die, or him to die, but if we were going to, I wanted to be with him when it happened. I don't know, perhaps it was really morbid thinking on my part given the circumstances or what.
  
  "Take me out tonight. Take me anywhere, I don't care I don't care, I don't care"
  -This really just pushed the feeling that I had of not knowing where I wanted to be, I couldn't be happy anywhere, I just wanted my mind off of anything and I wanted to keep running away from the situation at the time.
  
  "And in the darkened underpass. I thought oh God, my chance has come at last
  (but then a strange fear gripped me and I Just couldn't ask)"
  -I think this hints to the brief notion that I kind of was suicidal, or had at least wished I was with them when they died so we could have all died together, but then I was snapped out of that notion, not necessarily by fear, but with a realization that I couldn't leave everyone else I loved.
  
  "Take me out tonight Oh, take me anywhere, I don't care I don't care, I don't care"
  -Still pushing that point.
  
  "Driving in your car I never never want to go home Because I haven't got one, da...
  Oh, I haven't got one"
  -Still reiterating that I didn't feel like I had a home if they weren't going to be there. The "la da da" part really felt fitting because I felt so matter-of-fact about the situation. Like, I recalled telling a gas station cashier that my family died like it was no big deal. I was a bit numb at that point.
  
  "Oh, there is a light and it never goes out
  There is a light and it never goes out...(repeat)"
  -This totally just seems like it was talking about their memories. Like they were the lights and their lives and memories would never be forgotten. They may have passed but we were all going to do our best to remember them and we always will.

  Flag buerketton April 12, 2013   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:the lyrics are:
  "because i havnt got one to roll in on"

  Flag Gunot69on December 28, 2012   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:"And in the darkened overpass..."
  
  Oh my, that has to be the greatest Smith's line ever. Unrequited love for an ignorant friend (?): hope and anxiety; shyness; despair.
  
  Imagine the elation of the speaker when he's about to confess/ask something that has burdened his mind for so long, and the inevitable despair that follows because he is just to apprehensive to bring it up. Better despair than disappointment?

  Flag NikoMackeyon October 28, 2012   Link

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• +3
  General Comment:The part about not having a home and not being welcome there seems to suggest it is also about a teenager/young adult who feels no sense of belonging anywhere. So they wish to enjoy themselves and literally get lost in the moment like many of their peers seem to be doing. As a young adult who often feels isolated and depressed I can really relate to this song. This is about social anxiety, they feel unsociable so they go out to counter their phobia expecting to become someone with a sense of self worth by the end of the night. In reality when 'a strange fear gripped me and i just couldn't ask', they end the night the same feeling as bad as before.

  Flag matb5829on October 03, 2012   Link

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• +1
  General Comment:I think it's about somebody with their loved one, having a wonderful night, awakening almost. Their just...happy. Where they want to be in life forever. So I'm not sure if it's a death wish...entirely. I think it's just a really passionate statement of love. You love someone so much and you're so happy that you feel you could just die. It's beautiful.

  Flagged youngoneon September 13, 2012   Link

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• +10
  My Interpretation:To me, this song is about someone that's felt isolated and depressed for so long, and finally they've broken out of their misery and into the world. They 'want to see people and want to see life'. Finally they're out there, living it up, but they're scared that the moment's going to end and so they want to die there and then, at their happiest. Such a bittersweet song.
  
  I described that pretty badly and rambled a lot, but that's my interpretation. I absolutely adore this song. It definitely makes my all time top ten favourites.

  Flagged w0nderfulon July 30, 2012   Link

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• +1
  My Interpretation:I like all the different interpretations there are for this song... most make more sense than mine I guess now that I read them. :)
  "There is a light that never goes out".. that simple line right there, I will always interpret it in my mind as "There is a love that never Ends" no matter what, even after death.

  Flagged vgal77on July 07, 2012   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:the world is wonderfully interesting place & to live in any time of confinement such as following society, you need to escape , live & be completely free. The song is about exactly this and about founding the key to his escape, a woman. Everything is light and everything is funny, life is light though it is not sunny.

  Flag EscapeToWonderlandon June 09, 2012   Link

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  General Comment:I think this song is about suicide and I've always interpreted it that way since I heard it for the first time in 1987. It expresses Morissey's respect for the courage it takes for someone to follow through with the act of suicide. There's certainly a love interest and likely about a joint suicide between two lovers..one in particular that is not welcome at home. He's probably been disowned (because he's gay?) or at least not accepted. Morissey has expressed his regard for suicide as a valid option in the past. There is probably some dark humor to the lyrics but the general feel of the song is somber.

  Flag pchristensen20on April 08, 2012   Link

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• +6
  General Comment:The light that never goes out is hope for eternal love. Here's a Morrissey quote:
  "When you’re a teenager and in your early twenties it seems desperately eternal and excruciatingly painful. Whereas as you grow older you realise that most things are excruciatingly painful and that is the human condition. Most of us continue to survive because we’re convinced that somewhere along the line, with grit and determination and perseverance, we will end up in some magical union with somebody. It’s a fallacy, of course, but it’s a form of religion. You have to believe. There is a light that never goes out and it’s called hope."
  from "I've always felt like an exile" by Andrew Billen in The Times (30th May 2006)

  Flag MrFatPenguinon March 15, 2012   Link

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