annabel lee
Junior Member
yeah that makes sense, i just assumed morrissey was referencing caligula's notoriously violent rather than sexual tendencies ::shrug::
Caligula would have blushed
- Thread starter duchess_of_fork
- Start date
yeah that makes sense, i just assumed morrissey was referencing caligula's notoriously violent rather than sexual tendencies ::shrug::
andreatobrazil
Mayonaise
i watched it, too. but it's because i have a secret love for caligula. and that makes ME blush a little bit.
i was playing this song in the car once and when that came on, my mom said, "MORRISSEY MUST HAVE A PRETTY KINKY GIRLFRIEND!!" i then told her he was celibate, and she decided he was a huge freak. i'm not allowed to play any moz or smiths around my mom anymore.
bored
not bitter but bored
Thanks Robby.
You could've said US version of Rocco S.
I don't agree with that because Ron Jeremy is known for his rather large member, his appeal is that he represents the average Joe who thinks, "If guys that look like him can get hot chicks, I can too!"
Rocco is in a completely different category.
Not that I know anything about this stuff
bored
not bitter but bored
Oh my god. it's Robby!
spontaneously luminescent
frankly i think Rocco is awesomeRocco is in a completely different category.
Not that I know anything about this stuff
CeciDeMorrissey
Steven Patrick I Love You
frankly i think Rocco is awesome
Hahahahahaahahhahaaha.... I think Rocco must hurt terribly... I once saw... nevermind...
Hahhahahaahahahaha...
Oh my god. it's Robby!
spontaneously luminescent
Hahahahahaahahhahaaha.... I think Rocco must hurt terribly... I once saw... nevermind...
aww, cmon tell!
please?
thx
nightandday
New Member
I always that line a bit weird because of the Caligula reference. ' "You've been in the house too long" she said, and I naturally fled" makes me think that 'she' (mother? sister? girlfriend? wife? remember, the song doesn't have to be completely autobiographical, it's a situation many people must have found themselves in!) told him he was useless because he doesn't work and spends all his time in the house, and that he has to find a job (so he found one)...
But then I wondered at the line 'what she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed'?
What did she ask of him that he would need to compare it to Caligula? If it's something sexual she wanted - why would she say he spent too much time in the house? Wouldn't she want him to be in the house more if that's what she was after? In any case, it would have to be something that was in his mind highly ammoral (even though it might not really be that bad because he's probably exaggerating a lot), whether it's connected to sex or violence or crime or whatever. Some other Smiths songs mentions crime and stealing - What Difference Does It Make? ("the devil will find work for idle hands to do, I stole and I lied just because you asked me to"), Wonderful Woman, Miserable Lie - but I'm not sure that that's enough grounds to make a connection and claim that there's such a theme in this song?
Last edited:
boyleastlikelyto
well, that's the story of my life..
"what she asked of me at the end of the day. Caligula would have blushed." So Caligula had a lot of sexual knowledge, hence, it would take a very kinky sex act to make Caligula blush. So she must have asked for something out of the norm.
"you've been in the house too long she said" referring to how we would stay inside all the time at his mother's house and read, watch movies, play records, and write, instead of being out galavanting with kinky girls.
"and I naturally fled." He runs away from the situation for whatever reason. shyness, fear, awkwardness? Probably a little of all of them. That was always my take on the song at least.
"you've been in the house too long she said" referring to how we would stay inside all the time at his mother's house and read, watch movies, play records, and write, instead of being out galavanting with kinky girls.
"and I naturally fled." He runs away from the situation for whatever reason. shyness, fear, awkwardness? Probably a little of all of them. That was always my take on the song at least.
The Cat's Mother
Unmentionable
& his sister was hot
later she became a chief of dectectives...
Trust you, Robby!
The first time I ever heard the delightfully preposterous line 'Caligula would have blushed' the 'Carry On' film alarm (including a Swannee whistle and a Barbara Windsor chuckle) went off in my head and persists to this day. Also see the 'Oh, I say!' in 'Some Girls are Bigger Than Others'.
As to what the blush-making suggestion to the work-shy, reclusive narrator might be, in the light of members' various comments, I'm starting to envisage the long-suffering 'she' of the lyric, in a fit of exasperation, saying. 'Go sell your arse for all I care! Just get out from under my feet and start earning your keep!"
Just a thought.
Jones
Senior Member
Has anyone thought that perhaps you analyse these songs a bit too much?
Perhaps Morrissey just chucked a few funny lines together to make a song? Perhaps he was just trying to make you laugh. Perhaps he was just thinking purely in terms of writing a silly pop song. If you think about how quickly the Smiths wrote in those days I don't think every song had some deep meaning. I think quite often Morrissey was just trying to write lyrics that caught people's attention. That didn't mean that all the words had to make narrative sense.
Perhaps Morrissey just chucked a few funny lines together to make a song? Perhaps he was just trying to make you laugh. Perhaps he was just thinking purely in terms of writing a silly pop song. If you think about how quickly the Smiths wrote in those days I don't think every song had some deep meaning. I think quite often Morrissey was just trying to write lyrics that caught people's attention. That didn't mean that all the words had to make narrative sense.
The Cat's Mother
Unmentionable
Hello, Jones. I'm not sure whether your comment is addressed to me specifically or to the thread generally. I'm not sure a lyric has to have a 'deep' meaning to be interesting enough to chuck around in the way we've been doing here. The 'Caligula' line, to me has a cultural context I thought others (especially non-British readers) might not otherwise pick up on; I can't think that it's 'over-analysing' the lyric to mention the fact here.
IMHO, your average Morrissey lyric is worth poking around for meanings and context and to examine the quality of expression. I like wordplay, so I find this a pleasurable exercise in its own right. To me, then, it's 'fully enjoying', not 'over-analysing', but I appreciate that we all get different things out of our fandoms.
Kate
xxx
Last edited:
Jones
Senior Member
I wasn't addressing it to anyone in particular. I just think there is sometimes a tendency to think everything Morrissey wrote is deep and meaningful whereas to me quite often, especially in The Smiths early days his writing comes across as quite glib and playful and I don't think he ever meant it to be examined for meanings quite so closely. I think quite often he just chucked a few references from his favourite films in and made a few jokes.
The Cat's Mother
Unmentionable
I agree to an extent, but the jokes and refs can be interesting and culturally telling in their own right, especially to people like myself (Northern, English and middle-aged) who grew up with and can therefore identify with many of the same social and media influences that peer out at us from Morrissey's earlier lyrics.
nightandday
New Member
No, I don't think that he just chucked a few funny lines together to grab people's attention. No doubt, there are people who do that, but it makes for nonsensical lyrics, and (unless you are purposefully aiming for surrealism) it sounds like a recipe for writing rubbish songs. I don't think we would be fans if The Smiths' lyrics were just some silly puns put together and Morrissey certainly wouldn't be considered a great lyricist. Unless you want to write surrealist lyrics - which Morrissey never did - a song has to have some meaning, or meanings. Not necessarily deep or hidden meanings, just a meaning. People might be sometimes looking for 'deeper' or 'hidden' meanings behind the obvious in Morrissey's lyrics, but that's not what is happening on this thread. As far as I can see, we're just speculating on any possible meaning. If there's an obvious one, I'll be satisfied with it. But saying that he just put some words together that made no sense is really lame. If you did that every time you encountered something you couldn't immediately understand, you'd stop yourself from thinking or analyzing anything. And the rest of the song makes perfect sense, why would that verse be an exception?
Last edited:
Jones
Senior Member
Well I disagree. I do think he chucked things together sometimes. Consequently some of the early Smiths songs are nonsensical. That doesn't make him a bad lyricist at all, it just makes him a different lyricist to the kind you appreciate. There's nothing "lame" about it.
nightandday
New Member
Which Smiths song do you find nonsensical?
Mars_Rover
Junior Member
But then I wondered at the line 'what she asked of me at the end of the day, Caligula would have blushed'?
"You've been in the house too long," means the girl was telling him that he is sheltered and naive, i.e. he needs to get out more if he was shocked at what she was suggesting.
nightandday
New Member
That makes sense. And of course he's confirmed that he is sheltered and naive by comparing her to Caligula for suggesting it.
PregnantForTheLastTime
Hideous trait.
Alll the mother (or sister) would have had to say it, "Why don't you go out and get yourself laid like a normal boy." That alone, to a petrified, conflicted, shy, and possibly homosexual Morrissey, would have been blushworthy, no?
Where does the great and mighty Hedgehog fit into all this?
Where does the great and mighty Hedgehog fit into all this?
Similar threads
- Deleted member 1074
- General Discussion archive 2007 (read-only)
