Morrissey as cosmopolite. Did you saw it coming?

[Anonymous]

I think it's a great developement but I never saw it coming when he began his "career".

How did you imagine his "career" and life would went? Did you imagine family and kids? Did you imagine retirement and a statley home in the UK? Did you imagine a non-career and eventual Smiths reunion?

 

[Anonymous]

What?

 

[Amy]

Interesting topic. Morrissey always said he was very insular, almost xenophobic in his Smiths days, but maybe his horizons broadened as he got older. He seems to have become almost nomadic after leaving LA, so he’s been globe-trotting for a while now. I could never imagine him living in ordinary domesticity or having kids.

 

[Anonymous]

I've imagined not so much a retirement ,but less public apperances and living in a stately home in the UK or somehwre in Europe. I never thought he would make the political statements (esp. ones concerning things going on in the US)he has been making, and getting groped in airports at the age of 56 by over zealous security agents . At least he hasn't been too predictable. I doubt he'll go the Caitlyn Jenner route though.

 

[mcrickson]

Coming from someone who didn't experience the Smiths when they were around, it seems to me that it wouldn't have been predictable at that time, but now I think the transition makes sense. And his fairly recent (within the last ten years) proclivity for pursuing some world sounds while retaining a discernible Englishness seems to make sense of someone who's tastes have matured.

 

[Anonymous]

I think I imagined him having solo success and finding love to eventually retire to a more private life of living and traveling

 

[Famous when dead]

I totally saw him living out his Kenneth Williams fixation by killing himself over some medical condition or other.
Becoming a total curmudgeon and so grumpy nobody would go near him.
The 'oddness' I saw at gigs in the 80s seemed to segue in to ego-driven, calculated oddness thereafter.
I truly thought he wouldn't still be around now - I'm grateful he is, but it just didn't seem to match everything he loved that he hung around forever.
My token, non-anon opinion.
FWD

 

[Anonymous]

Kirsty: “Your life then is a sort of obsessive drive against normality, as you yourself have characterised it. Does that mean that sometimes you’re attracted to doing some things that are rather conventional but you still shy away from them? Or are you never naturally attracted to the conventions of life?”

Morrissey: “I never am, no. And by the conventions of life you really mean specifically what? Like feeding the pigeons in the park?”

Kirsty: No, I suppose I mean conventional things like settling down with somebody, like having children with somebody?

Morrissey: “Settling down? I’m waiting to explode. Settling down? No, I don’t want to settle down until I’m carried out feet first. I don’t want to be any kind of a happy couple with a photograph on the television set. I find it quite embarrassing. I’m happier with horses.”

Kirtsty: “Embarrassing that somebody would know you that well and get bored with you? Or what is it?”

Morrissey: “All of those things, yes. But specifically being in a frame on the television set.”

Kirsty: “You don’t have to that bit.”

Morrissey: “Yes you do. And you have to get involved with relatives and other people’s great aunt Bessie’s and things like that. And I’d rather not. I’m 50 years old now and a pattern emerges and I accept that and I don’t mind at all, really.”

 

[Anonymous]

Kirsty: “Your life then is a sort of obsessive drive against normality, as you yourself have characterised it. Does that mean that sometimes you’re attracted to doing some things that are rather conventional but you still shy away from them? Or are you never naturally attracted to the conventions of life?”

Morrissey: “I never am, no. And by the conventions of life you really mean specifically what? Like feeding the pigeons in the park?”

Kirsty: No, I suppose I mean conventional things like settling down with somebody, like having children with somebody?

Morrissey: “Settling down? I’m waiting to explode. Settling down? No, I don’t want to settle down until I’m carried out feet first. I don’t want to be any kind of a happy couple with a photograph on the television set. I find it quite embarrassing. I’m happier with horses.”

Kirtsty: “Embarrassing that somebody would know you that well and get bored with you? Or what is it?”

Morrissey: “All of those things, yes. But specifically being in a frame on the television set.”

Kirsty: “You don’t have to that bit.”



Morrissey: “Yes you do. And you have to get involved with relatives and other people’s great aunt Bessie’s and things like that. And I’d rather not. I’m 50 years old now and a pattern emerges and I accept that and I don’t mind at all, really.”

i guess i thought love would tame and overwhelm him

 

[Amy]

Kirsty: “Your life then is a sort of obsessive drive against normality, as you yourself have characterised it. Does that mean that sometimes you’re attracted to doing some things that are rather conventional but you still shy away from them? Or are you never naturally attracted to the conventions of life?”

Morrissey: “I never am, no. And by the conventions of life you really mean specifically what? Like feeding the pigeons in the park?”

Kirsty: No, I suppose I mean conventional things like settling down with somebody, like having children with somebody?

Morrissey: “Settling down? I’m waiting to explode. Settling down? No, I don’t want to settle down until I’m carried out feet first. I don’t want to be any kind of a happy couple with a photograph on the television set. I find it quite embarrassing. I’m happier with horses.”

Kirtsty: “Embarrassing that somebody would know you that well and get bored with you? Or what is it?”

Morrissey: “All of those things, yes. But specifically being in a frame on the television set.”

Kirsty: “You don’t have to that bit.”

Morrissey: “Yes you do. And you have to get involved with relatives and other people’s great aunt Bessie’s and things like that. And I’d rather not. I’m 50 years old now and a pattern emerges and I accept that and I don’t mind at all, really.”

Bitter nonsense on Morrissey's part. Settling down is embarrassing, great aunt Bessie etc, etc - bullshit. He's been looking for love (and writing about the lack of it) his whole life.

 

[Anonymous]

I like this interview. He loves his freedom, he, being a humasexual, doesn't need sex on a regular basis so he does not have to marry or be in a committed relationship. He is emotionally mature because he has never had to solve partnership problems besides those in his band, and thus was able to focus and work out his own problems and get rid of them.

Interesting enough, i was at this Philip Toledano photo exhibition today which deals with exactly the same topic: http://www.mrtoledano.com/maybe/01

The pictures are just breathtaking.

A few things that from your posts one can tell you are not quite aware of:
Morrissey is a confirmed porn watcher and likes to maturbate.
He has been ongoing in relationships for at least the past 25 years with both men and women.
And then relationships were never really ended before he started the new ones because he just moved on to another city.
He has also confirmed that he does need sex and he is all about sex. You have to judge him by his concerts and lyrics and not by his drivels in his interviews to sell tickets and albums to the largest amount of people. In his interviews you get the least honest Morrissey. Judge him by his concerts and what else goes on his life.
Following a concert trail through countries and across continents set by the music industry and also followed by other musicians also does not make you a cosmopolite and neither does staying in always the same five star hotels that look more or less incredibly much alike no matter where you go, which is intentional so that people like him and business people don't have to adjust too much. Throwing a national flag around you is easy. Try it. You don't have to know anything about the country to do so. But even though I can easily "adjust" to people from other countries when I have my conversations with them, I'd never do it, I'd rather learn their language. He showed a hint of having learned Italian while he lived in Rome with his sex partner there. How fluent is his Spanish after years of his special relationship with his Mexican fans? He has obviously exposed himself also to the culture of the country of origin of his girlfriend's parents, but apart from this? He knows about the gay scenes in different countries, but is this sufficient to make him a "cosmopolite", especially if homosexuals are apparently so well connected across boundaries nowadays following the same scripts irrespective of local realities? He is obviously hanging out with secular Jews a lot in the media and music business who have an interesting effect on his whole business. There are incredibly many, I wouldn't have thought it possible, and it is strange, because what makes them particularly qualified for all this opposed to others? You have also undergone years and decades of brainwashing of allied occupiers, they don't apply the same standards to themselves that they apply to others. You better sit back and read a little more and longer here and elsewhere and you'll soon notice their double standard. It is to their benefit, but none of them practise what they preach, including Morrissey, thus this difference between what he says in interviews and what he does in reality.

 

[Anonymous]

A few things that from your posts one can tell you are not quite aware of:
Morrissey is a confirmed porn watcher and likes to maturbate.
He has been ongoing in relationships for at least the past 25 years with both men and women.
And then relationships were never really ended before he started the new ones because he just moved on to another city.
He has also confirmed that he does need sex and he is all about sex. You have to judge him by his concerts and lyrics and not by his drivels in his interviews to sell tickets and albums to the largest amount of people. In his interviews you get the least honest Morrissey. Judge him by his concerts and what else goes on his life.
Following a concert trail through countries and across continents set by the music industry and also followed by other musicians also does not make you a cosmopolite and neither does staying in always the same five star hotels that look more or less incredibly much alike no matter where you go, which is intentional so that people like him and business people don't have to adjust too much. Throwing a national flag around you is easy. Try it. You don't have to know anything about the country to do so. But even though I can easily "adjust" to people from other countries when I have my conversations with them, I'd never do it, I'd rather learn their language. He showed a hint of having learned Italian while he lived in Rome with his sex partner there. How fluent is his Spanish after years of his special relationship with his Mexican fans? He has obviously exposed himself also to the culture of the country of origin of his girlfriend's parents, but apart from this? He knows about the gay scenes in different countries, but is this sufficient to make him a "cosmopolite", especially if homosexuals are apparently so well connected across boundaries nowadays following the same scripts irrespective of local realities? He is obviously hanging out with secular Jews a lot in the media and music business who have an interesting effect on his whole business. There are incredibly many, I wouldn't have thought it possible, and it is strange, because what makes them particularly qualified for all this opposed to others? You have also undergone years and decades of brainwashing of allied occupiers, they don't apply the same standards to themselves that they apply to others. You better sit back and read a little more and longer here and elsewhere and you'll soon notice their double standard. It is to their benefit, but none of them practise what they preach, including Morrissey, thus this difference between what he says in interviews and what he does in reality.

This is the drivel one gets when mentally retarted people are allowed access to the internet. : D

 

[Anonymous]

A few things that from your posts one can tell you are not quite aware of:
Morrissey is a confirmed porn watcher and likes to maturbate.
He has been ongoing in relationships for at least the past 25 years with both men and women.
And then relationships were never really ended before he started the new ones because he just moved on to another city.
He has also confirmed that he does need sex and he is all about sex. You have to judge him by his concerts and lyrics and not by his drivels in his interviews to sell tickets and albums to the largest amount of people. In his interviews you get the least honest Morrissey. Judge him by his concerts and what else goes on his life.
Following a concert trail through countries and across continents set by the music industry and also followed by other musicians also does not make you a cosmopolite and neither does staying in always the same five star hotels that look more or less incredibly much alike no matter where you go, which is intentional so that people like him and business people don't have to adjust too much. Throwing a national flag around you is easy. Try it. You don't have to know anything about the country to do so. But even though I can easily "adjust" to people from other countries when I have my conversations with them, I'd never do it, I'd rather learn their language. He showed a hint of having learned Italian while he lived in Rome with his sex partner there. How fluent is his Spanish after years of his special relationship with his Mexican fans? He has obviously exposed himself also to the culture of the country of origin of his girlfriend's parents, but apart from this? He knows about the gay scenes in different countries, but is this sufficient to make him a "cosmopolite", especially if homosexuals are apparently so well connected across boundaries nowadays following the same scripts irrespective of local realities? He is obviously hanging out with secular Jews a lot in the media and music business who have an interesting effect on his whole business. There are incredibly many, I wouldn't have thought it possible, and it is strange, because what makes them particularly qualified for all this opposed to others? You have also undergone years and decades of brainwashing of allied occupiers, they don't apply the same standards to themselves that they apply to others. You better sit back and read a little more and longer here and elsewhere and you'll soon notice their double standard. It is to their benefit, but none of them practise what they preach, including Morrissey, thus this difference between what he says in interviews and what he does in reality.

Too True

 

[Anonymous]

interesting.

Interesting? I hope this is irony on your part, otherwise ... oh well, what can one say.

 

[Jamie]

I think we can’t make assumptions that he is cosmopolitan, by definition, strictly on the basis of his frequent world travel. As one of the anonymous posts above touched on, how often does he actually leave the cloistered existence of his four- and five-star hotel rooms? It is known anecdotally (from band members and other associates) that he spends much of his non-stage time indoors and not “infiltrating” the local culture. Certainly his communiques to the fanbase – at least those not exclusively focused on animal rights issues, and even some of them - betray a reliance on internet headlines and the 24-hour news cycles. His newer “travelogue” songs (e.g., “Istanbul,” “Scandinavia”) read more like character-driven stories rather than personal observations with a peppering of “local flavor.” This contrasts with his time in Rome, where he appeared to put down roots and establish deeper connections, in songs and in photos.

Having only read it once, I can’t recall if he mentioned in Autobiography if Joyce, etc., continues to pursue him for payments/legal fees. Maybe that’s just “status quo” for his “business model.” But it’s much more difficult when you are a moving target – not to speak of the residual tax benefits. In essence, he becomes the British pop star in tax exile, without the spacious manse in Provence. (Leaving aside speculation about any properties he may or may not own abroad, i.e., Ireland, Sweden, et. al.)

All in all, the person he was at 28 – when Viva Hate was issued – does not seem a quantum leap from who he is now at twice the age. The difference is that he has the accumulated means and imperative to travel somewhat extravagantly, conjoined with the accretion of age and life experience to live more comfortably in his skin.

 

[Anaesthesine]

I think that Morrissey is quite cosmopolitan these days: equally at home all over the world and not belonging to any particular place.

Whether he puts down roots or simply takes a stroll in between shows, he's expressed a fondness for many cultures, and to writers, filmmakers and poets from all over the planet. It's one of those strange inconsistencies in his persona(lity): he often expresses an openness of heart that runs counter to the perception that he's an utterly closed and locked-down system.

I do find it somewhat fascinating.

 

[Anonymous]

he seems to go out quite a bit through with the pics of him walking places while on tour or not instead of being driven, the many stories of of noel talking about being out with him at different times, the shows he was seen at in la not long ago with various people, when he toured here he talked about the various sites he wanted to visit, the shop that he got those dean pics from etc etc are all examples him seeming to be pretty out and about. maybe there were times of self imposed sequester but it at appears to be balanced by equal amounts of time spent out

 

[Anonymous]

i agree with you. most great artists are highly-sensitive people, if i may use this now worn-out term here. morrissey seems to be a highly-perceptive person with the gift to crystallize the perceived into fascinating art. but in order to do that, they need to lock themselves away from the quotidian life ever so often, i guess.

If you look the writers, filmmakers and poets up, you can be certain before even looking that you will find a reference to their homosexuality or that they are considered to be a "gay icon". It is a detail that the person, whom you responded to, intentionally left out, because she knows this full well. She thinks that Morrissey is wonderfully subversive for this reason. Are half truths lies? I think this is the case. It is common amongst people like her. It is deemed perfectly acceptable by Green and CDU politicians alike. I had a "discussion" about half truths in the comments section of a newspaper about ten years ago. I wrote that lies are not acceptable and both the leader of the Green and the CDU party repsonded with their comments next to each other saying that half truth are acceptable. I wish I had a copy of it, because it is worth framing. When else do you get people of such different political spectrums admit their lies in public like this? Morrissey's whole image and business is based on half truths/lies and lies as well. I am sure you can perfectly live with it. It is not difficult to figure out what type of person you are yourself. It is a pitty that you cannot go to one of his concerts, because you would surely make new friends there, especially if you go to the concert in Cologne.

 

[Anonymous]

Is 'cosmopolite' another way of saying 'tax exile'?

 

[Hod]

Is 'cosmopolite' another way of saying 'tax exile'?

Haha, that's an interesting way of looking at it. I do sometimes wonder his reason for living so sporadically; obviously, wanting to leave the UK is more than understandable if you've ever spent more than a week here.