Is Morrissey's music life-negating?

[CrystalGeezer]

Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep
I'm tired and I, I want to go to bed
Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone
Don't try to wake me in the morning
'Cause I will be gone

I know it's gonna happen someday to you
Please wait
Don't lose faith

Why should it be an either/or question? I'd say that Morrissey's music is both life-affirming and life-negating. To quote Goethes Faust: "In me there are two souls, alas, and their/Division tears my life in two." Should I live or should I die? Is love available to me or not? Morrissey hasn't given just one answer to these questions. Another quote:

I am a poor freezingly cold soul
So far from where I intended to go
[...]
But my love is as sharp as a needle in your eye
You must be such a fool to pass me by

Very well done.

 

[KenzieW]

Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep
I'm tired and I, I want to go to bed
Sing me to sleep, sing me to sleep
And then leave me alone
Don't try to wake me in the morning
'Cause I will be gone

I know it's gonna happen someday to you
Please wait
Don't lose faith

Why should it be an either/or question? I'd say that Morrissey's music is both life-affirming and life-negating. To quote Goethes Faust: "In me there are two souls, alas, and their/Division tears my life in two." Should I live or should I die? Is love available to me or not? Morrissey hasn't given just one answer to these questions. Another quote:

I am a poor freezingly cold soul
So far from where I intended to go
[...]
But my love is as sharp as a needle in your eye
You must be such a fool to pass me by

I completely agree. He makes me so happy and sad, and he can be a good influence and a bad influence on me. I am very shy and sometimes when I go out I think, "Shyness is nice, shyness can stop you" and it kind of pushes me to try. Other times when I am out at a party, I can feel over-whelmed by all the people I don't know there, and they seem so different, and "How soon is now?" plays in my head and I don't even try. It sounds silly, and it's not like he overpowers my life and I am thinking "what would Morrissey do?" it's just that his words are floating about in my head, and depending on my mood and situation, a lyric of his will come to me and tells me what I probably subconsiously want or feel. Even without "How soon it now?" I am already feeling over-whelmed and different and wanting to go home.

 

[Qvist]

But take a song like I Know It's Over. I mean, Morrissey actively describes the death of his protagonist. A death from a broken heart... Or even, death from a heart that will never be able to be broken because it will never be able to be loved by anyone. This is pretty life-negating to me.

I really don't hear him describing the death of his protagonist in I know it's over, to be quite honest.

EDIT: Just as an unrelated aside, I'm listening to the song now and I've just noticed something new, after hundreds of listens to the song, that when he says the word 'guts' I think it's the most northern I've ever heard him sound, in a song or in speech!

Very true!

 

[billy scissors]

But take a song like I Know It's Over. I mean, Morrissey actively describes the death of his protagonist. A death from a broken heart... Or even, death from a heart that will never be able to be broken because it will never be able to be loved by anyone. This is pretty life-negating to me.

EDIT: Just as an unrelated aside, I'm listening to the song now and I've just noticed something new, after hundreds of listens to the song, that when he says the word 'guts' I think it's the most northern I've ever heard him sound, in a song or in speech!

what about Michaels Bones?

 

[Karl Pilkington]

Morrissey doesn't own social-awkwardness or shyness. It's a natural human trait.
Thinking about your life in Morrissey lyrics is a bit over-the-top for me, though. It reminds me of the analogy of a pet eventually resembling it's owner.

 

[Qvist]

In "The importance of being Morrissey", there's a great scene in which a fan in New Zealand who's won some competition to see him backstage tells him as she leaves, "Thank you Morrissey, you've brought such happiness to me and so many others".

To which Morrissey replies, throwing his arms out apologetically: "Well, I never meant to".

In that exchange lies the heart of this matter.

 

[Fulham Road Lights]

Everyone, I like your points about Morrissey having it two ways, about the fact that he writes both positive and negative songs. I also quite liked your points about art, and indeed good music, by definition being life-affirming. But I was perhaps considering a different definition of life-negation, something that I outlined earlier in the thread: that if people want to take inspiration from the message conveyed in these supposedly "life-negating" songs, they are not going to get very far in life. If you disagree that this equals life-negation, then what would you argue that it means?

@billyscissors: I'd forgotten about that one!

 

[Happy Maudlin]

In "The importance of being Morrissey", there's a great scene in which a fan in New Zealand who's won some competition to see him backstage tells him as she leaves, "Thank you Morrissey, you've brought such happiness to me and so many others".

To which Morrissey replies, throwing his arms out apologetically: "Well, I never meant to".

In that exchange lies the heart of this matter.

Beautiful point! Morrisey's suffering was the antidote for his fans unhappiness. Almost like a savior.

 

[joe frady]

Beautiful point! Morrisey's suffering was the antidote for his fans unhappiness. Almost like a savior.

"He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!"

Sorry, couldn't resist...

 

[not_me_not_I]

"He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy!"

Sorry, couldn't resist...

But kinda true...