Nails?

[Exit Smiling]

What sort of nails did the tough kid who swallows nails swallow?

I'd always though it meant metal nails (for nailing wood), which would indeed be tough, but also pretty masochistic, and probably fatal so not something to be done repeatedly (or 'sometimes'). I've always been confused by the line.

It's only just occurred to me after 20+ years that it might be fingernails, which is far more realistic, but really not that tough. Especially for someone who killed a policeman.


What nails did Morrissey actually mean?

[Irregular Regular]

What sort of nails did the tough kid who swallows nails swallow?

I'd always though it meant metal nails (for nailing wood), which would indeed be tough, but also pretty masochistic, and probably fatal so not something to be done repeatedly (or 'sometimes'). I've always been confused by the line.

It's only just occurred to me after 20+ years that it might be fingernails, which is far more realistic, but really not that tough. Especially for someone who killed a policeman.


What nails did Morrissey actually mean?

A tough kid who sometimes swallows nails...

The implication being that the character is perhaps not so tough after all. He sometimes resorts to biting/swallowing his own fingernails, which in itself is a sign of nervousness.

This is my interpretation anyhow.

[nothappynotsad]

A tough kid who sometimes swallows nails...

The implication being that the character is perhaps not so tough after all. He sometimes resorts to biting/swallowing his own fingernails, which in itself is a sign of nervousness.

This is my interpretation anyhow.

When you consider the line in context with the verse, he is very clearly talking about the kind of nails that you hammer.

[Amy]

It was adapted from a director's description of James Dean that said he was 'a tough kid who sometimes slept on nails' - Morrissey changing it to 'swallows nails' was supposedly a euphemism for oral sex.

[Orson Swells]

Morrissey changing it to 'swallows nails' was supposedly a euphemism for oral sex.

One of many such ephemisms throughout his work - it's something of a running motif.

[Anonymous]

It was adapted from a director's description of James Dean that said he was 'a tough kid who sometimes slept on nails' - Morrissey changing it to 'swallows nails' was supposedly a euphemism for oral sex.

Wow, I've never heard this before. Where was it from exactly?

That totally makes sense now, with Morrissey borrowing quoes/lines from here and there.

[Anonymous]

One of many such ephemisms throughout his work - it's something of a running motif.

You're not in A-level English class now and even if you were, the pop songs of Morrissey wouldn't be on the curriculum anyway. Relax.

[Amy]

Wow, I've never heard this before. Where was it from exactly?

That totally makes sense now, with Morrissey borrowing quoes/lines from here and there.

Apparently Howard Sachler (sic - it's Sackler) said it. The Moz reference is here:
http://www.compsoc.man.ac.uk/~moz/ly...u/iwantthe.htm

Of course, we know from James Dean Is Not Dead that Morrissey thinks Dean is bisexual, so the "nails" thing makes sense in light of that.

[Orson Swells]

You're not in A-level English class now and even if you were, the pop songs of Morrissey wouldn't be on the curriculum anyway. Relax.

Stranger topics have made a curriculum - but, no, you're probably right that "Oral Sex and the Morrissey Canon: from Reel Around The Foutain to a bullet in the gullet" isn't likely to be up for rigorous academic scrutiny quite yet.

[CrystalGeezer]

A clipped fingernail looks like a moon. A tough kid would be the sun who devours the moon, robbing it of it's confusing lull in the son's work. Also an interesting time sensitive lyric choice since the sun devouring the moon is how ancient people described what they saw during an eclipse.




Haterz gonna miss me when I'm gone.

[Kewpie]

CrystalGeezer, please stop distracting the discussion.

Thank you very much.

[mcrickson]

CrystalGeezer, please stop distracting the discussion.

Thank you very much.

Doesn't this post in itself further distract the discussion?

[CrystalGeezer]

CrystalGeezer, please stop distracting the discussion.

Thank you very much.

That is my opinion about that lyric though.

[Kewpie]

That is my opinion about that lyric though.

OK then.

[Mozzer's Left Eyebrow]

Why reprimand her like that? She hasn't done anything wrong, she has just as much of a right to express her views as you do.

Thank you very much.

[Anonymous]

Stranger topics have made a curriculum - but, no, you're probably right that "Oral Sex and the Morrissey Canon: from Reel Around The Foutain to a bullet in the gullet" isn't likely to be up for rigorous academic scrutiny quite yet.

Quite so... ...particularly since "the Morrissey Canon" - like the output of every other pop singer - amounts to no more than a resource for commodified leisure.

[joe frady]

Quite so... ...particularly since "the Morrissey Canon" - like the output of every other pop singer - amounts to no more than a resource for commodified leisure.

I love you Joey Barton.

[Anonymous Bosch]

A clipped fingernail looks like a moon. A tough kid would be the sun who devours the moon, robbing it of it's confusing lull in the son's work. Also an interesting time sensitive lyric choice since the sun devouring the moon is how ancient people described what they saw during an eclipse.




Haterz gonna miss me when I'm gone.

You are fucking awesome. I mean it.

[dave.jay1@ntlworld.com]

A Tough kid who can swallow/eat nails is/was a northern UK way of pointing out that somebody( usually a ruffian sort of bloke) was a bit of a tough chappie, who you would not like to have as an Enemy, and does indeed refer to the Wood-working variety of Nail....it has absolutely SOD all to do with swallowing another mans semen....please stop pushing homo-erotic guff down Morrisseys throat ...not EVERY fucking line he ever wrote is about being a screaming homo, you know....

[joe frady]

....please stop pushing homo-erotic guff down Morrisseys throat ....

Titter-ye-not.