the pole cat joke was funny

Very interesting. Thank you Torr, for putting those letters up (though I did have a bit of a guilty conscience for reading Morrisseyīs private letters).

I found those letters as telling as his song-lyrics...he seemed to be hiding his insecurity behind a rough, sarcastic facade - & isnīt he still doing so today? He seems to have felt a bit lost, the young Morrissey, though not half as lost as one might think after reading interviews of his.

Iīm totally surprised that there was a B52īs title on his hit-list, somehow I find it hard to imagine Morrissey listening to 6060842 & getting a kick out of it...but I think itīs great: the B52īs are such a fun band, thereīs nothing gloomy about them & itīs good to know Morrissey was able to enjoy some simple fun as well as the deep, meaningful sadness of life (or art). :-)

Have a good 2008 everybody! (I know Iīm a bit late with this, but better late than never, no?)

Hilarious! The young Morrissey clearly needed a slap. Then again, so did I at that age. And probably still do. Loved the little glimpse of a passport photo of Moz at 21. Good to see he'd stopped trying to look like David Johansen.

Ha ha - what an out and out queen! I love it! Wonder if Boz has seen that mention of The Polecats...

That's just about the most excruciating pieces of text I've ever read. Even more embarrassing than the lyrics to "How can anyone possibly know how I feel". Dear oh dear.

Where is the letter where he talks about loathing Pakistanis because they smell?

How embarrasing....
I would just die if someone found letters I wrote at that age and published them.
Terrible!!

talk about a dead horse.......... those letters should have always remained private

I bet he cringes when he reads them. At least I hope he does.

Morrissey would have been one of those AOL IM addicts if he was born at a later date.

The man seemed desperate for communication, but terrible at it in practice.

I bet the man he was writing to was exhausted by his constant need to quip, and simply wanted to talk.

It seems no-one is actually interested in knowing whether these letters are actually real.

There's every possibility they aren't.

Just a thought, kids.

Sure, young Steven went a bit overboard with the clever quips and insults, but I find the writing quite interesting...The quips are mostly quite clever and I found myself entertained and impressed whilst reading this.

Moz seemed very lonely. Sad.

or is this only me? As many a shy kid I could easier write than talk to someone. And nowadays I'm writing here ... erm. But I've got a real live as well ;)
I cringe indeed when I read one of my own letters from the past, but it's not so bad if it is someone else's. Gets me rather nostalgic. And, let's face it, his are funnier than mine.
If they are a fake, the're faked good. You can easily imagine that they are real (I mean, the real Steven's). I don't feel too bad about reading them - when I wrote letters in my day, I always thought about the possibility that they might get published later on when I had become famous ... (not going to happen though).

it's too late, of course, but still. He doesn't want any of his old letters made public.

He sounds really lonely and a little manic, like he was desperate to impress the penpal. Like the only way he could be free was on paper. They weren't written by Morrissey, they were written by Steven.