A Rush and a Push - The meaning

[Danny]

"love fountain" is Victorian slang for a vagina. I've never seen the word fountain used to signify penis anywhere other than on Morrissey-solo.

 

[Aly Panic]

The line "I'am the ghost of troubled Joe" is off a Carry On film - I can't remember which one.

 

[left out]

A lot of very interesting comments here. Shows how clever the lyrics are, being open to many interpretations but not incomprehensible. Purposely ambiguous, consequently saying different things to different people.

Most songwriters stick to one narrative, or voice, but Morrissey breaks all the "rules" and comes up with some fascinating songs.
Part of this might be due to the song-writing process. Writing down phrases, ideas, over time, then selecting and mixing them in one song.

I wonder if this is part of the difference of ROTT from previous albums, the relative simplicity of the lyrics and the more complex musical arrangements? With these songs you get pretty much what the song title suggests with less of the ambiguity. The studio recording of ROTT is multi-layered and I hear something new each listen. Whereas the live set has a rockier, more aggressive quality. I wonder if the musicians were selected because of the sound M wanted to create, or whether the sound came out of the mix of characters and musical backgrounds? Probably a bit of both. Curiosity…

 

[Jones]

I don't think Morrissey "selects" his musicians. They are his band and that's that.

 

[nightandday]

"love fountain" is Victorian slang for a vagina. I've never seen the word fountain used to signify penis anywhere other than on Morrissey-solo.

See the list of slang terms for vagina (vulva, etc.) that I copy-pasted on the previous page.

Speaking of which, "fountain" was used as a metaphor for a woman in "Songs Of Songs" (4.12):

"A garden inclosed is my sister, my spouse; a spring shut up, a fountain sealed."

(I would love to say I remembered that because of my great literary knowledge, but the truth is, I read "Songs of Songs" long time ago and I would have never thought of this. But I was reminded of it the other day when I listened to the Ludus album "Danger Came Smiling" - there's one track called "I Stabbed At The Sheep" where she sings "I was a fountain sealed up (...) there were no flowers in my garden"...so I thought about the phrase 'fountain sealed' and realized it was a reference to "Songs Of Songs".)

 

[tender hooligan]

Well, he did seem to have quite an obsession with lynching. Why on Earth hanging should specifically refer to Ku Klux Klan style racism though (as was hinted by some errant journalist on the subject of 'Panic') i'll never know.

As for the lack of guitars, it was continued ... by Keane, unfortunately.

To me, 'A Rush and A Push', seems to be about the exhaustive effects of touring and the push for musical domination. Morrissey seems to be saying, 'if people uglier and with considerably less talent than you or i have acheived fame and fortune, then why the hell can't we? (meaning the band).
However, there's also the disallusionment with fame; i have no idea if 'troubled Joe' is a real person, but i see it as a reference to Morrissey (and other frontmen ... i.e. Joe Bloggs, the ordinary bloke turned famous) being pilloried for things he'd said in the press, for songs he'd written and for things he'd done. He returns home physically and mentally exhausted, to concerned family and friends who think he ought to have found happiness / companionship with fame: 'surprised to still be on my own'. Yet, he still finds the strength for a rallying cry to his band and his followers (comparisons with Robin Hood unintentional) that if they were to strive even harder they could take this country for their own (or at the very least, rule the airwaves).
He exhorts those who care about him not to mention love because if he were to think about it, it would destroy his desire to do anything; music and the band are replacements for love and his need to be loved by millions is a replacement for the close love of a soul mate. But i can never work out if the person he wants to phone him is just one, or one of many; is he reaching out to the fans (using the masculine to denote all), or has he really got his sights set on one person with whom he has studiously tried to avoid a relationship, only to give in at the last? This would account for the cry of disgust: 'Urrgh, i think i'm in love'. Indeed, 'young man' may be himself, the object of desire someone different. But in the end it amounts to one thing, if he were to settle down and be happy, then the music is over. The land that we stand on is ours only as long as we share the righteous anger and sense of uniqueness to make it so ... fall in love and we're doomed.

i could be hideously wrong with this interpretation ... but, "this theory of mine, well, this is what it is - my theory that I have, that is to say, which is mine, is mine".

I also think that your theory is ..vow! Thank you for that