Fiona Dodwell: "Sing Your Life: How Morrissey Became Music’s Greatest Lyricist" (December 21, 2022)

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Sing Your Life: How Morrissey Became Music’s Greatest Lyricist





Was hoping for a Bonfire review...
Ah well.
FWD.

Update:
Added as a post on Morrissey Central:
THE SINGING VOICE IS LOVE - December 22, 2022
 
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A comprehensive saunter through Morrissey's various phases and themes.
Saying the press continually vilifies him, and all other music acts are vapid, overshoots a little: points made. A nice end of year roundup.
 
Oh, Fiona…Hows that Zak Bagans obsession going?

it’s nice to have someone Moz can trust to write articles for him, but hers are way too sweet and ridiculous. I’d just like to read an interview that isn’t contrived and/or controlled. But who would he trust to do such a thing?
 
Over Paul Weller?

and over Ray Davies? Who was an obvious influence on Paul.
Most definitely. But that’s saying more about Joe than Paul or Ray.
 
Agreed. Stylisticly Moz´s lyrics are very clearly indebted to 60s ´kitchen sink´dramatists like Shelagh Delaney, with even a touch of Joe Orton at times. Sweet and Tender Hooligan is very Joe Orton. Where you can see the influence of Wilde though is when Moz is at his witty best in some of the classic interviews. It´s been a while since we had one of those.
agree, but even at his wittiest, moz's wit is a bit dour. oscar wilde was never dour.
 
She is such a terrible writer, I really have difficulty paying attention while I read I am thinking about my grocery list, what color to paint my nails - important things like that.

This however ........

It is clearly demonstrated through the artist’s solo successes (of the level that certain other band members subsequently failed to attain) that Morrissey’s unique lyrics and vocals apparently provided that extra “something” that music fans so obviously adored and needed.

Who do we think she means? Craig? No. Andy? No. Mike? No.
I think only one other band member has a solo career.....
Now that Johnny has stopped taking shots at Morrissey after the high drama at the beginning of this year, Morrissey is going to do this by proxy through Fiona? And she is just going to insert herself into this like Nile? I think Morrissey is not just aware of this, but part of it, I don't think it was done without his permission and it's wrong. He has been dredging up every single complaint and grudge, and now this? Johnny has pretty much been behaving himself, as far as I know.
 
She is such a terrible writer, I really have difficulty paying attention while I read I am thinking about my grocery list, what color to paint my nails - important things like that.

This however ........

It is clearly demonstrated through the artist’s solo successes (of the level that certain other band members subsequently failed to attain) that Morrissey’s unique lyrics and vocals apparently provided that extra “something” that music fans so obviously adored and needed.

Who do we think she means? Craig? No. Andy? No. Mike? No.
I think only one other band member has a solo career.....
Now that Johnny has stopped taking shots at Morrissey after the high drama at the beginning of this year, Morrissey is going to do this by proxy through Fiona? And she is just going to insert herself into this like Nile? I think Morrissey is not just aware of this, but part of it, I don't think it was done without his permission and it's wrong. He has been dredging up every single complaint and grudge, and now this? Johnny has pretty much been behaving himself, as far as I know.
Yeah it's absolutely hard to read and I stopped right at the beginning. Because that doesn't sound like an in depth analysis. It sounds like snippets M wrote to get his points across again and again. I don't understand the necessity for this, because - again - he really doesn't need this kind of promotion. If he would let his work and art stand alone for itself he would get a better result, because many many people like it. But hearing over and over again that he's THE one artist, that is bashed by everyone just gets old and getting a fan writer to write everything you want and even to take a dig at your former colleagues just doesn't help the cause, because it looks weak and he could do so much better than that. And I mean the way/medium he uses to communicate. As a lot of people here already pointed out, do interviews, talk, get your points across yourself etc.
 
She is such a terrible writer, I really have difficulty paying attention while I read I am thinking about my grocery list, what color to paint my nails - important things like that.

This however ........

It is clearly demonstrated through the artist’s solo successes (of the level that certain other band members subsequently failed to attain) that Morrissey’s unique lyrics and vocals apparently provided that extra “something” that music fans so obviously adored and needed.

Who do we think she means? Craig? No. Andy? No. Mike? No.
I think only one other band member has a solo career.....
Now that Johnny has stopped taking shots at Morrissey after the high drama at the beginning of this year, Morrissey is going to do this by proxy through Fiona? And she is just going to insert herself into this like Nile? I think Morrissey is not just aware of this, but part of it, I don't think it was done without his permission and it's wrong. He has been dredging up every single complaint and grudge, and now this? Johnny has pretty much been behaving himself, as far as I know.

The irony being that Johnny has had a very successful career as a solo artist, addition to existing bands (e.g. The Cribs), song writer for other successful artists (must be good, easy money for him) and as a film score composer/writer. Johnny is doing pretty well for himself.
 
The irony being that Johnny has had a very successful career as a solo artist, addition to existing bands (e.g. The Cribs), song writer for other successful artists (must be good, easy money for him) and as a film score composer/writer. Johnny is doing pretty well for himself.

Not only that, Johnny now has the legendary status and unadulterated adoration that Morrissey craves. It's because Johnny worked hard to get where he is, whereas Morrissey only does what he wants and expects people to come to him.
 
Not only that, Johnny now has the legendary status and unadulterated adoration that Morrissey craves. It's because Johnny worked hard to get where he is, whereas Morrissey only does what he wants and expects people to come to him.

Better to be a pariah with Morrissey’s solo discography than enjoy “legendary status and unadulterated adoration” with Marr’s post-Smiths output.
 
Better to be a pariah with Morrissey’s solo discography than enjoy “legendary status and unadulterated adoration” with Marr’s post-Smiths output.

Have you looked at Johnny's post-Smiths discography? It is astounding and wide-ranging, hence his legendary status. I don't understand people who put him down and think it's making Morrissey look good. It's not. It doesn't have to be one or the other, Morrissey could be just as respected if he'd put the work in.
 
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