'England is mine and it owes me a living' - discuss

Sheridan Whiteside

Sweet and Tender Hooligan
Does anyone think that this lyric has any racial connotations at all?

I am of the opinion, it does not (I wont bore you with the detail). But as it mentions the word England some people think its a bit near the knuckle shall we say.

Cheers
 
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Does anyone think that this lyric has any racial connotations at all?

I am of the opinion, it does not (I wont bore you with the detail). But as it mentions the word England some people think its a bit near the knuckle shall we say.

Cheers

I was always of the opinion to those who don't work because they claim it is their right to live their life this way etc...

It's never even crossed my mind that this line had racial connotations.
 
The opening line sets the scene

"I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving"

then brings it down to the personal

"England is mine and it owes me a living"

The creed of greed promoted by Thatcherism, personified

or a commentary on a society where the poorest have little hope of advancement through work and the richest take for granted they will get what they want.

I like the ambiguity. I think the cultural context is relevant.
 
"I decree today that life is simply taking, and not Giving"
is a fantastic opening line to ANY "Song". Especially in the Duran-Duran coke filled Daze of the kajagoogoo -tastic '80's.
"England is mine, and it owes me a living" I shouldn't really comment on, as I was employed at the time the song was released.....But I will have a try...( if nobody minds....)
I have since ( after 13 years of "Dole-drums"....) agreed to agree with that lyric.
Not sure about any "Racist" content contained in the song, but Also at the time when I was at work,, me and a "Black" skinned ( or is it "Mixed race", or "Afro English", these days??) gentleman used to swap tapes, to listen to (...on our "Joan of Arc" walkmans....).
He asked me to record my Smiths albums, as he wanted to hear more, and I, of course obliged.( ...Ooops...now Mozzer will probably sue me for copyright infringement....)
A few years later, he ( Not Morrissey...) came with me to an Alice Cooper Gig ( ..Admit it, you don't see many Afro Americans/Uk afro/mixed race chappies at those sort of "Rock monster" gigs...).
I don't really know what i am trying to say here, but,...If "other coloured skinned" people can like Smiths/Morrissey....where's the Racism????
thanx for letting me waffle....
cheers.
 
I don't think it has racial connotations but it does have a sort of National Front theme to it. and of course the skinheads were very big around the time he wrote this.

And Morrissey loves being naughty with his lyrics
 
This made perfect sense to me, a stupid American, and had nothing to do with Race or Thatcher. Now Morrissey of course draws in many influences, and is affected by and comments on the world around him, but my point is that the logic of these fantastic lines is not dependent on any context other than Morrissey's world view.

He's mocking the idea of a decree, in the first place, but also saying that the power that we have is the power that we take. He's mocking but he's also making a bold statement.

It could be paraphrased to say "I owe society nothing, but society owes me, simply because of my marvelous existence". Is that so far away from the attitude that Morrissey has projected since you were first aware of him?

"If you must go to work tomorrow, well, if I were you I really wouldn't bother" comes to mind as an obvious related bit of Morrissey attitude, to place this in context.

"You should not go to them, let them come to you, just like I do."
"I never had a job, because I never wanted one."

I could go on, but I'll spare you.

If you want to talk about the line as it does relate to the outside world, it's not Thatcher that I think of but the royal family. "Royal decree" is what I think of and the idea of owning a land and being owed a living. I think it's Morrissey "flipping the script" to use old slang, and saying that we are all entitled if anyone is entitled. It's a different way of saying "anarchy in the UK", less confrontational, but no less subversive.

However, from my perspective, no outside context was needed, and while the line is influenced by and possibly reflects an outside world, it's not needed to find something that the line is "about" for it to work perfectly well.
 
Does anyone think that this lyric has any racial connotations at all?

I am of the opinion, it does not (I wont bore you with the detail). But as it mentions the word England some people think its a bit near the knuckle shall we say.

Cheers


No idea why you made this post. If you are of the opinion that it is not racial why would you want to call on any party that would think otherwise and hear what they have to say?

I think the sky is blue. Does anyone agree?
 
No idea why you made this post. If you are of the opinion that it is not racial why would you want to call on any party that would think otherwise and hear what they have to say?

I think the sky is blue. Does anyone agree?

Because I am about to get it tattooed on my arm! I am interested to hear peoples interpretations of these specifc lyrics.
 
Not that one, but others, yes.

Boils down to patriotism v racism though, as discussed in Irish Blood.
 
Morrissey isn't as literal as you always suspect.

What is England? It's a country. Say it. Phonetically it's a c***-ry and a very old one at that.

Now what is the oldest profession? Prostitution. Why does England owe Morrissey a living? Because is working the same profession that he owns because he is his. He want's himself, the oldest working whore in history.

It's complicated but that's what the song is about. The only reason I bother to write it is to caution you NOT to get it tattooed on your arm.
 
OMG :sick:

I suppose, if you try really hard, every Moz lyric can be interpreted as racist...

Say, maybe when he was singing "Heaven knows I'm miserable now", he really meant he was miserable because there were non-white people living in England...

and "Girl Afraid" - she was probably afraid of all the Pakistani people around...

and "Ask, ask me ask me ask me" means "ask me to join the National Front"...

:rolleyes:
wacko.gif
 
I would guard against assuming it is Morrissey saying "England is mine.." I think the song is sung in character. And I'm not sure Morrissey likes the character he is portraying.
 
I would guard against assuming it is Morrissey saying "England is mine.." I think the song is sung in character. And I'm not sure Morrissey likes the character he is portraying.


Good point.

Many of his lyrics are telling stories which don't have to be Morrissey himself.
 
It's clearly more about the dole than anything.

He'd still probably rather not live in a country full immigrants though. Oh wait, he doesn't.

I do think America has a higher percentage of Americans than we do Brits.
 
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OMG :sick:

I suppose, if you try really hard, every Moz lyric can be interpreted as racist...

Say, maybe when he was singing "Heaven knows I'm miserable now", he really meant he was miserable because there were non-white people living in England...

and "Girl Afraid" - she was probably afraid of all the Pakistani people around...

and "Ask, ask me ask me ask me" means "ask me to join the National Front"...

:rolleyes:
wacko.gif

;)

That's what I've always thought that's what those lines meant :rolleyes:
 
This is like when people study poems, extracting every line to look for some obscure meaning or other, when it's doubtful the poet really meant that :p

I think the line is sung as a persona within the song, as if Moz is quoting someone, "England is mine and it owes me a living" maybe it represents the mentality of people of some people at that time, I don't know. :o
 
Perhaps he was referring to his mastery of "Englishness," as an artist, and asserting his right to be famous (in England) for it. That would be the simplest explanation.
 
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