I really don't think this is about child abuse. First take what Morrissey said in an early interview:
Where did a song like 'Hand That Rocks The Cradle' come from?
"Well, that comes from a relationship I had that didn't really involve romance. So if we're talking about romance, well, I don't really know that much about it. But in other things, I'm quite capable of making an observation."
Morrissey, Melody Maker, March 16, 1985
When I first heard it I was stuck by the beauty, of the lyrics (Ceiling shadows shimmy by/And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey/There's sadness in your beautiful eyes), his delivery and Marr's arrangement. It first struck me as a song of fierce parental love, but I think it typifies passionate love in general (you can think about it many ways).
The child abuse angle is old hat, and so many fans/critics think that they're so clever seeing these allusions in Morrissey's writing that can obliquely be about child abuse. I give him more credit as a lyrical genius than that. He obviously would've realised that it was a possible interpretation people would make, but I think there are more layers and emotion and depth than that. It's at once stunningly beautiful, passionate and slightly ominous, as ever...
'Climb onto my knee, sonny-boy/Although you're only three, sonny-boy' are from Al Jolson anyway, but I don't see anyone rushing to claim he wrote about child abuse!
Apart from 'Suffer Little Children' which was by default related to real child abuse I just don't see it in his writing though, in this song or 'Reel Around the Fountain' (which he explained as being about your first sexual experience). Sorry folks, dig deeper I say. To accuse Morrissey of singing about child abuse does a disservice to his depth of talent.
I really don't think this is about child abuse. First take what Morrissey said in an early interview:
Where did a song like 'Hand That Rocks The Cradle' come from? "Well, that comes from a relationship I had that didn't really involve romance. So if we're talking about romance, well, I don't really know that much about it. But in other things, I'm quite capable of making an observation."
When I first heard it I was stuck by the beauty, of the lyrics (Ceiling shadows shimmy by/And when the wardrobe towers like a beast of prey/There's sadness in your beautiful eyes), his delivery and Marr's arrangement. It first struck me as a song of fierce parental love, but I think it typifies passionate love in general (you can think about it many ways).
The child abuse angle is old hat, and so many fans/critics think that they're so clever seeing these allusions in Morrissey's writing that can obliquely be about child abuse. I give him more credit as a lyrical genius than that. He obviously would've realised that it was a possible interpretation people would make, but I think there are more layers and emotion and depth than that. It's at once stunningly beautiful, passionate and slightly ominous, as ever...
'Climb onto my knee, sonny-boy/Although you're only three, sonny-boy' are from Al Jolson anyway, but I don't see anyone rushing to claim he wrote about child abuse!
Apart from 'Suffer Little Children' which was by default related to real child abuse I just don't see it in his writing though, in this song or 'Reel Around the Fountain' (which he explained as being about your first sexual experience). Sorry folks, dig deeper I say. To accuse Morrissey of singing about child abuse does a disservice to his depth of talent.