I would think that, even if he isn't a fan, he would have certainly read some Gaskell, given that he likes Charles Dickens and Dickens was an admirer of her (and vice-versa, until they had a falling out, sort of like Sandie Shaw & Morrissey), and that Elizabeth Gaskell wrote with a similar blend of pain, humour and irony as Morrissey. Also, there's the fact that her stories are generally based in the north, often in Manchester.

I think the phrase "rattle his bones" is much too common to pinpoint where Morrissey borrowed that lyric from. However, there is a passage from Ulysses that makes much more sense as a source:

Rattle his bones. Over the stones. Only a pauper. Nobody owns.

Would it matter to anyone if he read Archie Comics? There's a story where Archie and the gang kind of look like the 50's era people from the Sing Your Life video. Do you think he's an avid admirer and used those images in his video?