The Smiths – The Boy with the Thorn in His Side

• -1
  My Interpretation:Um, I was hoping for a decent interpretation here but it seems like people haven't even gotten as far as the reference to Paul in Corinthians:
  
  "And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure."
  
  There are different interpretations of what the thorn in Paul's flesh is - contemporary protestants usually think it's blindness, others interpret it as his inability to convert everyone. There's another interpretation, though, that it refers to Paul's homosexuality, since it's pretty well established that he was a closet case.
  
  My guess is that's what the song is about, since blindness makes a lot less sense in context. Plus Morrissey is himself a closet case.
  
  That said, is he just taking thorn in the side to be homosexuality? I was wondering if there was more nuance here.

  Flag alex284on December 23, 2012   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:I think it's Moz, talking to the media, and society and people around him just asking them all to believe what he says to them, for example the sexuality thing, HE ISN'T SURE, or at least refuses to put a label on it and wants everyone to believe him. He just wants to be loved, no matter how or why -- he isn't that strange, and feels he should fit in with everyone.

  Flag youngoneon October 17, 2012   Link

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• +3
  General Comment:There seems to be a lot of people saying that this song is about a gay relationship that is misunderstood
  by the society that surrounds them.
  I think that isn't necessarily true, but is about how Morrisey feels in terms of his surrounding society and people's views towards him and his sexuality.
  The song shows to me that Morrisey wants to be loved like everybody else, but finds it difficult because society will not accept him. He struggles to blend in if that makes any sense. People ''don't believe us'' referring to others like Morrisey and ''how do you start'', ''where do you go'' - he simply doesn't understand why he cannot fit into normal society.
  There is an underlying sense of wit and humour in this song, I have no idea why? But like a lot of Smiths song there is a funny side to them. But is it to hide embarrassment? Trying to fit in with Society normally? Or to enjoy their music, as Morrisey doesn't seem to enjoy a lot else? Lyrically Brilliant and not subtle

  Flag edmonds21on February 17, 2012   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:It's about someone who is a player/sleazy when he finds someone he loves all his friends who all know what he's like just think he's bullshitting but in reality he actually loves her. I can totally relate to this, thats why i completely adore The Smiths!

  Flag patwaddingtonon October 27, 2011   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:It's the story of my life.

  Flag TimmyGCon April 08, 2011   Link

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• +2
  General Comment:uh morrissey is a good songwriter and all, but he was hardly the first person to use the phrase "thorn in his side" which is a common figure-of-speech. odd how people will seize upon a single word in a song and extrapolate endlessly, ignoring everything else. if it were "the boy with a chip on his shoulder" we'd get dissertations on whether he was writing about barkdust or chocolate chip cookies.

  Flag foreverdroneon December 06, 2009   Link

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• +3
  General Comment:Isnt 'the boy with a thorn in his side' a referance to the story of 'Androcles and the Lion' in which a lion with a thorn in its paw is misjudged to be an angry agressive lion but is infact in pain and in need of help. I thought that Morrissey was saying that his critics had misinterprated his songs and lyrics juding him as a bitter, miserable man but in fact he has a desire for love. I also think the 'thorn' in his side may represent the depression and lonliness he suffered from growing up (and may still suffer from), that would also support the ending lyrics of 'when you want to live, where do you start, where do you go, who do you need to know?'- his desire for love that is being prevented by his depression.

  Flag aldc84on June 21, 2009   Link

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• 0
  General Comment:not important, but shouldnt it be:
  
  "How <> they see the Love in our eyes
  And still they don't believe us ?"
  
  instead of
  
  "How can they see the Love in our eyes
  And still they don't believe us ?"

  Flag beitbeon June 13, 2009   Link

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    0

    i mean "can't", instead of "can":
    
    How can't they see the Love in our eyes
    And still they don't believe us ?
    
    How can they see the Love in our eyes
    And still they don't believe us ?

    Flag beitbeon June 13, 2009  
• -2
  My Opinion:not that I'm disagreeing with anybody, it's just my first impression of this song was of Dallas from The Outsiders and this quote:
  
  /////
  The human heart needs to love. It’s something built into us from the moment we’re born, if not before. We come out of the womb squalling and frightened, evicted from the warm darkness that’s the only home we’ve ever known, where we needed nothing, into a cold loud bright place where we suffer hunger and thirst, and then we’re placed into our mother’s arms. Our mothers feed us and burp us, wipe us when we’re dirty, kiss us when we cry. She’s the sun and we’re little seedlings; we grow toward her as the source of all that’s good.
  
  Even if she isn’t all that good. Even if she didn’t want children, even if she’s neglectful, we love her anyway. We have no other choice. For a while, she’s all we need.
  
  Then things get complicated. Around about age two, we start realizing we’re separate people and we practice saying “No!,” just to prove it, and over the next several decades we just keep on growing away, but we do not lose the need to love, to touch, to be touched. The need for intimacy. Somewhere along the way, the hormones kick in, and sex only complicates the whole issue.
  
  If we’re lucky, we develop into a person who’s capable of maintaining a long-term intimate relationship and having a family of our own. If we’re unlucky, we wind up living with a triple-digit number of cats and no one notices we’re dead until the smell gets too bad.
  
  If we’re not just unlucky, but cursed, if through mistreatment and punishment, the ability to love gets broken, the need still doesn’t go away. It becomes something else. It becomes rage. And the person becomes a psychopath.
  /////
  
  fanfiction.net/u/1247882/…
  
  So I'm just thinking maybe Morissey is singing to a psychopath who doesn't believe in good anymore. It reminds me of a hardened/toughened person whose heart becomes cold and incapable of love, but on a humane level, still desires to be loved. A person who doesn't remember what goodness is anymore. So it's like Dallas Winston, he's going to reject goodness because he hasn't seen it in a long time, and won't believe anybody that tells him it still exists.
  
  "Still they don't believe me?
  Will they ever, they ever, believe me?"
  
  It's probably not the real interpretation (I haven't read all the comments on this song) but it's just an opinion for my first impression of the song

  Flag Memqueenon December 21, 2008   Link

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• +3
  General Comment:Talking about whinings.
  I love to choose a song and then read all the reviews on this site while I'm listening to the track itself. I like when they say "it's about Jesus", then: "don't dare to compare the Smiths with Jesus", "has to do with homoerotic feelings", and: "has nothing to do with gays at all" The only thing that I don't take is a little somebody who dares to write "It's so sad how low the level of discourse is on this site" OK, smart ass: Speak your mind and let the others speak their minds as well. This is democracy. Comments like "we have the incessant whinings... and then we have the teenage literalists[...]" make people fear of saying a word at all, and this is a place where listeners make their own reviews high or low, not some spoon-up-i-know-it-all-snobbish rubbish show as you seem to expect. How hard would Morrisey kick your ass off.
  
  On the opposite, tef I loved your review, and I don't think is stupid at all. And everybody write what you want. Cause I love to read everything you say, wittiest comment or just "I loved this song" stuff. This is simply a small Forum, not University. Not Church.

  Flag le fer et le feuon March 27, 2008   Link

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