New Filter interview on main page

[Claudia2006]

I don't think he meant it literally. He has said once before he didn't know if his songs were songs or if they were "outbursts or showers of panic." He's also compared his method of writing to automatic writing... as in, it just comes out with no conscious effort or plotting involved. Saying that he doesn't understand them himself is basically just another way of saying they come from his soul and not necessarily the logical part of his brain.

 

[Fulham Road Lights]

Very good points people, thanks for explaining it to me. My love and adoration of Morrissey has thus not wavered.

 

[dunya]

If Morrissey says he doesn't understand the songs then he can't be expected to explain them. I think he's fobbing off the interviewer, to avoid explanation. Why?
Because a lyric explained has no mystery, no challenge, is no longer open to interpretation or endless discussion. By going *shrug* he's doing himself and his audience a favour.

 

[Vauxhall95]

Personally, this quote really captured my attention and helped explain to me the 180 degree change that was YOR: the lack of the usual lyrical wit and humor, the depth, the originality..

"But, ah, the album’s most visible component—the man and the child of the cover—could it be? Has the man birthed a new perspective?
"undoubtedly."

“Something within me triggered the understanding that absolutely nothing matters,” he says. “This came from a lifelong worrier. I always over-worried about everything, and over-analyzed and thought really too deeply about every aspect of life. Then suddenly I thought, well, how can anything possibly matter? It doesn’t give one license to be violent or erratic or destructive, but nothing actually matters, and I say that with half a giggle, but it’s true.

“I mean, it’s not as if any of us are of any particular importance. We are just matter floating around the universe, and anything we do and say has practically no bearing on anything. So, why fold yourself up in a ball of confusion about life?"

For someone who has recorded some of the keenest insights into humanity and rolled them up into brilliant pop songs, *I'm worried* he just doesn't seem to give a flying f*** anymore. If he stops using his 'intelligence' doesn't he run the risk of becoming just like every other pop artist? All of which is why I loathe YOR, it's so damn commonplace. I don't hear him trying or caring. I can't wait to hear a record based around the concept, "...nothing actually matters!?" He's gone from being wonderfully over-dramatic to a nihilist. It just saddens me. I fear I'll never hear lyrics like this again:

"The envy is beyond me
I'm not gonna pine for the things that can never be mine
Do not expect me to
I'm happy to be who I was in the first place

Honey you know where to find me
Honey you know where to find me
Kicking away from the mundane everyday"

Brilliant... Brilliant. I don't want it to end.

 

[mcrickson]

I find this the most interesting passage from that interview:

"I really don’t give any consideration to the audience. I don’t give any consideration to people who are listening, and I don’t have a great explanation for any recordings because, in most instances, I personally don’t understand them."

Does this mean that the many threads we have on here searching for layers of meaning within Morrissey's lyrics are worthless? Are all of our ideas about Morrissey worthless if he doesn't understand his own songs?

Yes. I've figured this was the case for awhile anyway. Good thing I prepared myself

From the front page- the Editor of Filter says

"So the whole thing came out really well and what's funny about that interview is—and of course I wasn't there—but Cameron (the interviewer) is really young, 24 or so, and Morrissey kind of f***ed with him at the beginning of the interview. On the tape, you can hear that Cameron was a little unsure of how to take it, but he totally won him over and they had a real conversation. It's really awesome and I'm so proud of that one. Cameron is an amazing writer."

Perhaps Morrissey gets bored of being asked the same old questions, to which he is not going to give an answer anyway. The Editor suggests Morrissey was pushing the interviewer. Maybe to sus him out, see how strong/open an individual he was.

:
Why do they give Moz rookies?

Many thanks.

I kind of like the idea of a drunken Morrissey roaming around in a cemetery in the middle of the day.

Kind of like certain posters I know

It doesn't mean the threads discussing about meaning of the lyrics are worthless.
Great to exchange the ideas and opinions.

What will you say when Moz says that our threads and discussions are worthless?

 

[sistasheila]

I find this the most interesting passage from that interview:

"I really don’t give any consideration to the audience. I don’t give any consideration to people who are listening, and I don’t have a great explanation for any recordings because, in most instances, I personally don’t understand them."

Does this mean that the many threads we have on here searching for layers of meaning within Morrissey's lyrics are worthless? Are all of our ideas about Morrissey worthless if he doesn't understand his own songs?

i rather view that in relation to the music and not in relation to the music i have read more than once (in interviews and if im not mistaken in the linernotes as well) something along rhe lines that its a mystery to him how the music occurs..for example he decribed a certain sound to his producer and alain (or was it n boz) and it occured

I don't think he meant it literally. He has said once before he didn't know if his songs were songs or if they were "outbursts or showers of panic." He's also compared his method of writing to automatic writing... as in, it just comes out with no conscious effort or plotting involved. Saying that he doesn't understand them himself is basically just another way of saying they come from his soul and not necessarily the logical part of his brain.

he talked not abou the songs of the past (being outbursts of panic" but of songs stem fron a current recording (if I remember correcty last year)

 

[JD93]

Personally, this quote really captured my attention and helped explain to me the 180 degree change that was YOR: the lack of the usual lyrical wit and humor, the depth, the originality..

"But, ah, the album’s most visible component—the man and the child of the cover—could it be? Has the man birthed a new perspective?
"undoubtedly."

“Something within me triggered the understanding that absolutely nothing matters,” he says. “This came from a lifelong worrier. I always over-worried about everything, and over-analyzed and thought really too deeply about every aspect of life. Then suddenly I thought, well, how can anything possibly matter? It doesn’t give one license to be violent or erratic or destructive, but nothing actually matters, and I say that with half a giggle, but it’s true.

“I mean, it’s not as if any of us are of any particular importance. We are just matter floating around the universe, and anything we do and say has practically no bearing on anything. So, why fold yourself up in a ball of confusion about life?"

For someone who has recorded some of the keenest insights into humanity and rolled them up into brilliant pop songs, *I'm worried* he just doesn't seem to give a flying f*** anymore. If he stops using his 'intelligence' doesn't he run the risk of becoming just like every other pop artist? All of which is why I loathe YOR, it's so damn commonplace. I don't hear him trying or caring. I can't wait to hear a record based around the concept, "...nothing actually matters!?" He's gone from being wonderfully over-dramatic to a nihilist. It just saddens me. I fear I'll never hear lyrics like this again:

"The envy is beyond me
I'm not gonna pine for the things that can never be mine
Do not expect me to
I'm happy to be who I was in the first place

Honey you know where to find me
Honey you know where to find me
Kicking away from the mundane everyday"

Brilliant... Brilliant. I don't want it to end.

That's quite a nice theory...but I don't think that's entirely true. Perhaps YOR lacks his normal lyrical brilliance consistency, but certainly there are some great lines in there, and I don't think anyone other than Morrissey could write and sing songs like 'When Last I Spoke To Carol' or 'All You Need is Me'...his genius hasn't entirely abandoned him yet.

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

That's quite a nice theory...but I don't think that's entirely true. Perhaps YOR lacks his normal lyrical brilliance consistency, but certainly there are some great lines in there, and I don't think anyone other than Morrissey could write and sing songs like 'When Last I Spoke To Carol' or 'All You Need is Me'...his genius hasn't entirely abandoned him yet.

I agree. Moz has by no means always been lyrically consistent, but he has still produced some cracking lines recently- I am in particular agreement with you on 'Carol'.

EDIT: I am loving the interesting and intelligent debate on here actually

 

[JD93]

I agree. Moz has by no means always been lyrically consistent, but he has still produced some cracking lines recently- I am in particular agreement with you on 'Carol'.

EDIT: I am loving the interesting and intelligent debate on here actually

Yep, AYNIM is typical Morrissey lyrically, but When Last I Spoke To Carol is actually one of his best songs this decade IMO. His vocals on that song, especially the lines 'When last I...' are truly beautiful, quite nostalgic ala 'Come Back to Camden'.

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

Yep, AYNIM is typical Morrissey lyrically, but When Last I Spoke To Carol is actually one of his best songs this decade IMO. His vocals on that song, especially the lines 'When last I...' are truly beautiful, quite nostalgic ala 'Come Back to Camden'.

Yup CBTC is another one of my more recent favourites.

 

[sistasheila]

Oscar Wilde wrote his work without always real life experience of what he wrote. You can read and write about the moon, but you will only ever really understand the moon unless you have been there. It is always different to hear and read or really live something. You can see a picture of a place, but you don't know what the air feels like.

moz has said in a german interview from the 80ties(87,spex) (posted in the foreign interview thread:"i write only about things i have experienced or some i almost experienced. but most of them i have actually experienced."
and also his later solo lyrics are obviously not written from guesswork, just watch him sing seasick...but i guess thats not what you mean, hmm?.
..edit..oops i read your post wrong..did read it that way that you mean tht he writes from guesswork and overread also the always in your oscar wilde sentence.

 

[Vauxhall95]

I agree. Moz has by no means always been lyrically consistent, but he has still produced some cracking lines recently- I am in particular agreement with you on 'Carol'.

EDIT: I am loving the interesting and intelligent debate on here actually

I agree with the lyrical consistency but since the release of "That's How People Grow Up" things have been watered down. There are glimpses into the old Morrissey with "My Dearest Love" or "Children in Pieces" but they aren't as powerful or feel as completely realized songs as those in the past.