I've been a serious Smiths/Morrissey fan since 1983. I was a pen pal with Morrissey for a short time in 1984, this unfortunately only lasted for a month. I suppose he became too famous and busy, in the end my letters never reached him, so it all ended. Please see the 3 attached files which are the scans of the letter and postcards that I received from Morrissey in 1984. I hope you and all people looking at them find them interesting.
I can't describe the feeling of receiving the 1st letter from him, nobody ever believes me when I tell them that he once wrote to me. I'll give you a brief description of the subject matter of each item.
Morrissey letter (scan)
My initial letter enquired on when 'This night has opened my eyes' would be released commercially, it's only airing was from the John Peel sessions. I also mentioned how much I liked 'Girl afraid', which was of course one of the B sides on 'Heaven knows I'm miserable now'. I really like the way he ended the letter with 'Not happy/not sad'
Morrissey postcard 1 (scan)
I questioned Morrissey on his famous 'James Dean is not dead' book (I also had an unhealthy fixation on Mr Dean). Also mentioned was the 'James Dean - The first American teenager' documentary. I also asked whether my Smiths album and single covers could be signed if I sent them to him. I also mentioned that I'd recently heard 'Rusholme ruffians' from the latest John Peel session, but I wasn't sure of how to spell it, hence the correction.
Morrissey postcard 2 (scan)
I received all of my covers back - all signed by the man himself! He goes on to explain why the remaining Smiths didn't sign them. I sent him a cassette of a rare James Dean documentary that he hadn't heard before, he refers to listening to it on a train journey to Manchester. I also asked him if he had an extremely rare book on James Dean by an author called Bill Bast. Finally, I asked him whether a replica the famous red jacket worn by Dean could be bought in London.
I really wish my short-lived contact with Morrissey had lasted a lot longer, but it gives me immense pleasure that I was able to have the contact and actually expand his James Dean collection.
I met Morrissey directly after The Smiths set at the 10th summer festival at the G-Mex centre in Manchester in 1986. Very nervously, I introduced myself and he put his index fingers to his temples and after a few seconds thought, he simply said 'James Dean'. I remember it like it was yesterday, to think that he remembered someone from 2 years previous was amazing, I just wish I'd had a camera with me. I'll obviously never forget it and the letter and postcards will go to my grave with me.
· Mal Greenley
· scan
· scan
· scan
· More Fans/Events stories
· More Index stories
· Also by davidt
awesome (Score:0)
Brilliant! (Score:0)
Makes a nice addition to the other letters that were made public some years ago http://www.torr.org/moz/letters.htm [torr.org]
J
Lucky You (Score:0)
Those are wonderful - (Score:1)
xXx
(User #9489 Info)
So sweet! :) (Score:1)
I've never met the man myself, but I've heard he's got an amazing memory from everyone I know who has met him!
(User #7285 Info)
how were these cards delivered? (Score:0)
Question: These scans don't show any stamps. So were these postcards put into an envelope?
Question: How did you write him in the first place? Care of Rough Trade office?
Thanks is advance.
Re:how were these cards delivered? (Score:2, Interesting)
Yes again, I simply tried my luck by sending them to Morrissey C/O Rough trade records. No such luck these days. Cheers.
(User #17231 Info)
Parent
'I don't mind if you forget me' (Score:1)
You, Mal, are a blessed priviledged being!
(User #12673 Info)
Thank you for sharing! (Score:0)
innominatefan
There seem to be quite a few fans he did this for (Score:0)
Very Cool, Mal Greenley! (Score:1)
Thank you so much for sharing!
Best,
Jay
(User #454 Info | http://jaytando.tripod.com/meeting-morrissey/)
thank you (Score:0)
lovely (Score:1)
(User #3228 Info | http://listen.to/orangejuice)
Moz funny as usual (Score:1)
(User #14353 Info)
merci (Score:0)
gush, gush, gush, sigh, sigh, sigh
swoon...
Is that you Julia? (Score:0)
Whoa! (Score:1)
But i was born that year... so there's no way i could've been his penpal as you.
(User #13529 Info | http://www.fotolog.com/stgocity_girl)
he wrote to me once (Score:0)
thank you (Score:1)
It just reminds us that Morrissey is truly human, as we all knew anyway.
(User #14979 Info | http://hintofsarcasm.com/)
Nice... (Score:1)
(User #80 Info)
sigh* (Score:0)
Your handwriting is the work of art.
It makes me so warm inside.
I love you till the end of time.
So let me kiss you!
X
Very nice (Score:0)
They make a lovely read. I presume they are, indeed, real!
Thank you for sharing them on the internet. I guess one could pour scorn on such actions (i.e. putting private correspondance on the Internet) but I feel honoured to have seen them!
Best,
the_wrong_boy, Huddersfield.
Great (Score:1)
(User #10171 Info)
So Moz hates Kate Bush? (Score:0)
Thank God for that!
I'm sick of critics telling me how amazing she is. I just cannot stand the sound of her horrible singing voice; doesn't matter how great the music and the lyrics are.
At last I've finally found someone who feels the samw way!
J
Oh... (Score:1)
Does anyone really see this as a serious breach of Morrissey's privacy? I think he'd probably be quite amused that we find postcards written by him 20 years ago so amazing!
(User #15576 Info)
Re:Oh... (Score:2, Insightful)
And a further consequence would be that persons that don't have the decency of Mozmal are going to flood websites with "personal" letters from Morrissey, real or fake, so that in the future, genuine ones will again be harder to spot.
Don't get me wrong, it's a treasure for (s)he who owns these letters, but I don't think it's really necessary to post them literally.
The mere fact that Morrissey personally answered some of the fan mail sent to him during his Smiths days, or even during his Solo-days, has enough "little chestnut" feel about it to make one feel mildly, but deeply, happy.
(User #12729 Info)
Parent
Masterful! (Score:1)
(User #15207 Info)
Morrissey on the death of John Lennon (Score:0)
J
So sad about John. I almost cried. I have none of this records and didn't care about The Beatles. But when people who devote a part of their lives to 'peace' are shot 5 times for it, well, THAT disturbs me. It's always the wrong people. Nobody would assassinate our dear prime minister. Is all life sad? What are YOU going to do with your life? I always like to end my letters on a serious note. Be young, be foolish, and be happy. Steven
Good Stuff (Score:0)
Those early years, would have been great. I wonder would receiving a postcard from him still feel the same. Probably not.
His handwriting is a bit lower grade stuff, not very gracious.
Anyway, very sincere and touching stuff.
Only too seldom here.
(User #14586 Info)
great (Score:0)
Now there speaks a true friend
Has there ever been a better post? (Score:0)
It's the single best post i've ever seen on Morrissey-solo.
Morrissey has terrible hand writing (Score:0)
Alas, I have been stricken with similar handwriting.
Long-hand never made sense to me.
Another fool (Score:0)
I'm writing this to say.. (Score:1)
(User #14730 Info)
Thank You, Mozmal (Score:2, Interesting)
Regarding these postcards you received from Morrissey, what images were depicted on the flip side? Did Morrissey use a souvenir postcard from where he was currently staying, or a Smiths promo postcard, or a postcard of a movie icon?
The devil is in the details, you see.
(User #11277 Info)
re:postcards/letters (Score:0)
Amazing! (Score:1)
(User #16009 Info)
Re:Bored (Score:0)
We know you don't mean this.
Parent
Re:Never Mind The Bollocks (Score:1, Funny)
Parent
Re:the first of the gang to lie (Score:1)
(User #15399 Info | http://www.shiperect.com/)
Parent
jealousy... (Score:0)
huh?
wha?
Parent
Re:the first of the gang to lie (Score:0)
Parent
Re:the first of the gang to lie (Score:0)
The curse of Morrissey Solow is that whenever someone tries to share something nice, there's always a bitter and twisted individual waiting to turn it into something nasty.
(User #14977 Info)
Parent
Re:the first of the gang to lie (Score:1)
It's charming for all Moz-solo-readers that Mozmal posts these old postcards here, yet I'm not so sure it's a good thing to do (and even less so for the Julie-letters posted in the forums).
Morrissey still is a private man, and certainly wants to keep it that way. Though interactions with "fans" have certainly occurred (surely in the Smiths era, much less so in the Solo-era), I can't but think that posting them publicly is, one way or another, a breach of the fragile "confidence" or "entente" there once was.
That's how I think about it.
(User #12729 Info)
Parent
Re:the first of the gang to lie (Score:2, Insightful)
I personally don't recall a Morrissey, live, in person, through lyrics, in interviews that wasn't personally engaged in what he said or did.
Unless you want to believe he's penning 24 years of musical history just out of commercial interest and by keen business-planning.
Which, honestly, seems to me a bit too far-fetched.
(User #12729 Info)
Parent