Songwriters have good reason to complain when po-faced journalists miss the joke, but misreading their intentions in the opposite direction can be more perilous. I once made the mistake of telling Morrissey how much I liked the witty self-parody of How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel and was rewarded with a withering glare. "It's amusing when you say it," he said unsmilingly. "I don't know why. Isn't it something we all feel at some stage?" The shrivelling of Morrissey's spirit since the Smiths can be measured by the fact that Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now is funny and How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel is not.
Re:Hmmm....
by Anonymous
(Score:1)
Sunday June 13 2010, @04:45PM
Eh?
(Score:2, Interesting)
I'm not quite sure how writing a darkly funny song in 1984 and a bitter song 20 years later is indicative of a shrivelling of the spirit.
In 2004, Morrissey also treated us to 'Irish Blood, English Heart', 'I Have Forgiven Jesus', 'Come Back to Camden', 'The Never-Played Symphonies' and 'Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice'. Hardly the products of a withered soul.
Deniston
-- Monday June 14 2010, @01:39AM
(#353040)
(User #21148 Info) I just want to keep everyone happy
How Can Anybody Possibly Know How He Feels
(Score:1, Interesting)
I did not interpret this song as self-parody. It sounds genuine to me. Morrissey has a unique life. Just because we relate to his ideas, thoughts, feelings, and theories doesn't mean we can possibly know how he feels. I was surprised to learn from one of this interviews that he is hyper-empathic. That's very different from me who is reasonably empathic.
Anonymous
-- Monday June 14 2010, @02:23PM
(#353112)
That's like when people say "I pissed myself laughing when I heard Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others...fookin' hilarious!"
Those songs are "funny?"
Not to me. Never have been.
This journalist made a typical, arrogant assumption that "he got" Morrissey's point....which means he knows nothing about Morrissey.