The Moz/Smiths Top 100, Part 219: WIDE TO RECEIVE

[Houdini]

Let's compile our own Morrissey/Smiths Top 100 by rating all 232 Moz/Smiths-songs.

Song for Today: WIDE TO RECEIVE

Voting should be something along these lines:
10: Perfection
9: Near perfect, brilliant
8: Really good Moz/Smiths song
7: Good Moz/Smiths song
6: OK, Nothing special
5: Uninspired
4: Poor
3: Bad
2: Should never have been released
1: He/They should be ashamed

The songs so far (voting is still open, click to vote):

Part 218: Why Don't You Find Out For Yourself?
Part 217: Whatever Happens, I Love You
Part 216: What's The World
Part 215: What She Said
part 214: What Difference Does It Make?
Part 213: Well I Wonder
Part 212: We'll Let You Know
Part 211: We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Part 210: Vicar In A Tutu
Part 209: Used To Be A Sweet Boy
Part 208: Unloveable
Part 207: Unhappy Birthday
Part 206: Trouble Loves Me
Part 205: Tony The Pony
Part 204: Tomorrow
Part 203: To Me You Are A Work Of Art
Part 202: This Night Has Opened My Eyes
Part 201: This Is Not Your Country
Part 200: This Charming Man
Part 199: These Things Take Time
Part 198: There's A Place In Hell For Me And My Friends
Part 197: There Speaks A True Friend
Part 196: There Is A Light That Never Goes Out
Part 195: The Youngest Was The Most Loved
Part 194: The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores
Part 193: The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils
Part 192: The Queen Is Dead
Part 191: The Public Image
Part 190: The Ordinary Boys
Part 189: The Operation
Part 188: The Never Played Symphonies
Part 187: The National Front Disco
Part 186: The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get
Part 185: The Loop
Part 184: The Lazy Sunbathers
Part 183: The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
Part 182: The Headmaster Ritual
Part 181: The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye
Part 180: The Hand That Rocks The Cradle
Part 179: The Father Who Must Be Killed
Part 178: The Edges Are No Longer Parallel
Part 177: The Draize Train
Part 176: The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Part 175: The Boy Racer
Part 174: That's Entertainment
Part 173: That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
Part 172: Teenage Dad On His Estate
Part 171: Sweetie Pie
Part 170: Sweet And Tender Hooligan
Part 169: Sunny
Part 168: Suffer Little Children
Part 167: Suedehead
Part 166: Such A Little Thing Makes Such A Big Difference
Part 165: Stretch Out And Wait
Part 164: Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before
Part 163: Still Ill
Part 162: Spring-Heeled Jim
Part 161: Speedway
Part 160: Southpaw
Part 159: Sorrow Will Come In The End
Part 158: Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others
Part 157: Slum Mums
Part 156: Skin Storm
Part 155: Sister, I'm A Poet
Part 154: Sing Your Life
Part 153: Shoplifters Of The World Unite
Part 152: Sheila Take A Bow
Part 151: Shakespeare's Sister
Part 150: Seasick Yet Still Docked,(follow this link to first 149 songs).

Best performing songs, parts 1 to 149 (click to vote):

Part 147: Rubber Ring
Part 145: Reel Around The Fountain
Part 140: Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want
Part 136: Panic
Part 135: Paint A Vulgar Picture
Part 128: Now My Heart Is Full
Part 126: November Spawned A Monster
Part 124: Nobody Loves Us
Part 104: Life Is A Pigsty
Part 101: Late Night, Maudlin Street
Part 100: Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me,
Part 96: Jack The Ripper
Part 93: Irish Blood, English Heart
Part 88: I've Changed My Plea To Guilty
Part 83: I Won't Share You
Part 81: I Want The One I Can't Have
Part 77: I Know It's Over
Part 65: How Soon Is Now?
Part 61: Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
Part 57: Handsome Devil
Part 56: Hand In Glove
Part 55: Half A Person
Part 54: Hairdresser On Fire
Part 50: Girlfriend In A Coma
Part 42: First Of The Gang To Die
Part 41: Everyday Is Like Sunday
Part 36: Disappointed
Part 26: Cemetry Gates
Part 21: Bigmouth Strikes Again
Part 14: Asleep
Part 1: A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours

[Not Right in the Head]

[nugz]

hahahaha. agreed.

I just really dislike this song. ALOT. just....no! if someone tries to give this song a 10, i wanna hear a damn good explanation....

[Skinner]

I don't know what to rate this song because it just makes me laugh. I often have an argument with a certain Moz fan about the true meaning of the song. Let's just say the interpretation that I get is a bit more naughty than Morrissey may have intended...tee hee hee. Or did he????

[Not Right in the Head]

I don't know what to rate this song because it just makes me laugh. I often have an argument with a certain Moz fan about the true meaning of the song. Let's just say the interpretation that I get is a bit more naughty than Morrissey may have intended...tee hee hee. Or did he????

Whatever could you be talking about?

Turn on, plug in
then just walk away



Plus size? Hahahaha!

[zither]

Nugz I rated this song 9, do you still want me to explain why?

[Corrissey]

Stick a sock in it, dood!

hahahaha. agreed.

I just really dislike this song. ALOT. just....no!

ooh nugzie ... well, at least you said dislike and not hate


Well,

unlohhhhck, prohhhcess … it gets a 7 from me.

The music is ‘perfectly lazy’ for Moz and Alain’s buttah-like! vocals.

Who doesn’t love the line: And I don’t get along with myself and I'm not too keen on anyone else.

I like its placement on Maladjusted – Ammunition/Wide to Receive/Roy’s Keen is one of my fave Moz trifectas.

[Not Right in the Head]

Stick a sock in it, dood!

Pttttht. I still gave it a 6.

[nugz]

Nugz I rated this song 9, do you still want me to explain why?

haha, yes please!

[nugz]

The music is ‘perfectly lazy’ for Moz and Alain’s buttah-like! vocals.

hahaha, "buttah-like." Corrissey, I'll let you get away with giving the worst Moz songs high scores if you keep coming up with adjectives like that!

[nugz]

*clears throat*...dzhemini, I'm waiting...

[Corrissey]

hahaha, "buttah-like." Corrissey, I'll let you get away with giving the worst Moz songs high scores if you keep coming up with adjectives like that!

OK, then I'll let you get away with giving good Moz songs bad scores Deal?

[nugz]

OK, then I'll let you get away with giving good Moz songs bad scores Deal?

ooooh, sneaky...

...deal!

[jeniphir]

It's like a five-and-a-quarter so it gets a 5 from me. There's something not-awful about some of the lyrics, but otherwise, a snoozer.

--jeniphir

[Jamie]

hahahaha. agreed.

I just really dislike this song. ALOT. just....no! if someone tries to give this song a 10, i wanna hear a damn good explanation....

Nugz,

It's not a 10 in my book, but I'd be happy to explain why a nine for me.

One of the serial themes in Morrissey's ouevre is the inability of human beings to connect--even as recently as I Will See You In Far-Off Places ("it's so hard for our hearts to combine"), he can still be found to address it. I think he does a fine job in giving the lie to how "together" people can seem to be via the Internet. I.e., you can have a multitude of options but, ultimately, you are alone in a room with a code that you can't put your arms around. Knowing that it comes just after the depression of the post-Southpaw era and hard on the heels of the first Joyce battle, it seems fraught with numbness and disconnection. As if to say, all I want is someone to physically connect with--to what extent and how far you push the double entendre of the title, I leave it to the individual listener--but all I have is this disembodied "voice." Yet he has the level of self-deprecation to acknowledge he feels he has nothing to offer back or would not care to. If he's not to keen on anybody else, the voice in the song seems to beg the queston why try? Innate human curiosity and the desire for connection.

Musically, I think it's one of Lillywhite's best productions. The compression on the drums and the machinistic hum in the background draw out the weariness of the vocal. Alain's bent blues-like notes and exquisite harmony vocals punctuate everything beautifully. Boz's clarinet solo was a bold and welcome choice for the middle eight, carrying more emotional weight than a standard guitar break. And, personally, I feel the 12-string guitar coda is one of the finest musical sections of any Morrissey or Smiths song--just understatedly gorgeous. I think I always rated this song highly as well b/c it defies what one would expect from music written by a drummer. Spencer clearly had additional talents that, so far, none of the other drummers that have passed through the door have offered.

I know many have complained that it is musical Ny-Quil, but, to me, it's a measured, spare slowness. Somehow it feels like a window of bare introspection at (almost) the center of the album.

May I leave the witness stand?

Cheers,
Jamie

[nugz]

Nugz,

It's not a 10 in my book, but I'd be happy to explain why a nine for me.

One of the serial themes in Morrissey's ouevre is the inability of human beings to connect--even as recently as I Will See You In Far-Off Places ("it's so hard for our hearts to combine"), he can still be found to address it. I think he does a fine job in giving the lie to how "together" people can seem to be via the Internet. I.e., you can have a multitude of options but, ultimately, you are alone in a room with a code that you can't put your arms around. Knowing that it comes just after the depression of the post-Southpaw era and hard on the heels of the first Joyce battle, it seems fraught with numbness and disconnection. As if to say, all I want is someone to physically connect with--to what extent and how far you push the double entendre of the title, I leave it to the individual listener--but all I have is this disembodied "voice." Yet he has the level of self-deprecation to acknowledge he feels he has nothing to offer back or would not care to. If he's not to keen on anybody else, the voice in the song seems to beg the queston why try? Innate human curiosity and the desire for connection.

Musically, I think it's one of Lillywhite's best productions. The compression on the drums and the machinistic hum in the background draw out the weariness of the vocal. Alain's bent blues-like notes and exquisite harmony vocals punctuate everything beautifully. Boz's clarinet solo was a bold and welcome choice for the middle eight, carrying more emotional weight than a standard guitar break. And, personally, I feel the 12-string guitar coda is one of the finest musical sections of any Morrissey or Smiths song--just understatedly gorgeous. I think I always rated this song highly as well b/c it defies what one would expect from music written by a drummer. Spencer clearly had additional talents that, so far, none of the other drummers that have passed through the door have offered.

I know many have complained that it is musical Ny-Quil, but, to me, it's a measured, spare slowness. Somehow it feels like a window of bare introspection at (almost) the center of the album.

May I leave the witness stand?

Cheers,
Jamie

haha, well DAMN. yes...yes you may. case dismissed! ...err, but not before you tell me what the hell ouevre means?

[EPbabe]

haha, well DAMN. yes...yes you may. case dismissed! ...err, but not before you tell me what the hell ouevre means?

Work (of art). I think.

[Rosso]

Probably one of my least listened to Morrissey songs.

[TLOTFamousIP]

An under-rated gem, some of the lyrics and the mood of the music just seems to sum up how I feel most days.

I don't get along with myself
And I'm not too keen on anyone else - Love it.

[Vauxhall95]

unlohhhhck, prohhhcess … it gets a 7 from me.

The music is ‘perfectly lazy’ for Moz and Alain’s buttah-like! vocals.

Who doesn’t love the line: And I don’t get along with myself and I'm not too keen on anyone else.

I like its placement on Maladjusted – Ammunition/Wide to Receive/Roy’s Keen is one of my fave Moz trifectas.

I find the end of the song carries on a bit, it's like yes I get it, wiiiddddeeee, wiiidddeeee, enough. Still, I like the word you used to describe it: "lazy." A bit tedious, I'm leaning toward 6, but like you wrote, "And I don’t get along with myself and I'm not too keen on anyone else." That's just fucking brilliant, self-obsessed, overly dramatic Morrissey at his best.

P.S. Plus, you're in my posse, so I'll go with a seven...

Also, don't you love the irony of "Ammunition" with "Sorrow Will Come In the End?" It's as if he was inches from happiness and then BAM! court case. All bets are off.