.“Angie had just passed her driving test and her parents had loaned her this little VW Beetle that we used to sort of hang out in. I said, ‘Get me round to Mozzer’s!’ Cos he’s got a tape machine. So we got in the car like I was going to have a baby, you know?
Marr then sits like a child on his seat, cradling the birth of his new riff, “So I’m in the car, trying not to change this riff – cos you just change stuff, you know? So all the way though this 20-minute ride to Mozzer’s, I’m playing the riff.
“Angie always leaves me to it when I’m in that nutty headspace, but maybe because it was boring for her… she said ‘Make it sound like Iggy!’ She loves Iggy Pop. So I just took that Nile Rodgers thing and just played Iggy Pop chords. She said, ‘Yeah that’s cool!’ And I was like, Oh really!” Angie, The Smiths have a lot to thank you for.
So it’s a Sunday evening, we get to Morrissey’s house. I prayed that it was the one night of the year that he didn’t leave the house! He opened the door and I’m stood there with this guitar. He said ‘What’s happened?’ I said, ‘Check this out!’
“He knew me pretty well by this point, so he said OK, went and got this little tape machine. I was on the stairs in his hallway and I started putting it down. As I was putting it down, I thought, this song needs another bit – ‘Rebel Rebel’!”
And that became ‘Hand In Glove’, which was the best Smiths song at that point, I think. We were rehearsing, either the next day or the day after, and I showed Mike and Andy. I said, check this bit out. Andy, who’d played with me since being 14, goes ‘I’m sure that’s ‘Rebel Rebel’”
-Johnny Marr
www.morrisseycentral.com
