Help with Song Meanings

mozzer8633@mac.com

[email protected]

Sugar Booger
I'd like to think I know what most of Morrisseys songs are about. Or at least have enough of an idea to satisfy my curiosity. But every once in awhile I find myself singing along to a song, one I've listened to 100 times or more and it just hits me .... what the hell is he singing about anyway? Today was one of those times. And while I'm at it, I'll list a few. What are the following songs about?

1. Stop if you think that youve heard this one before. (is it over exposure? why is he wrecking on his bike in the song? Whats with the Budhest planning a mass murder?)
2. Sister I'm a Poet (anything to do with his real sister?)
3. Roys Keen (I know about the song soccer player Roy Keen but why the song?)
4. Lucky Lisp (Whats so lucky about having a lisp? Who has the lisp? The grandma? Seriously?)
5. Last of the Famous ... (societys knack of promoting criminals?)
6. November Spawned .... (A babys born, mother dies during birth? or the babys born and destined for trouble?))
7. Break Up the Family ... (Whose family?)

Sorry if some of these are obvious and I'm just missing it, but I just cant figure them out. Thanks.
 
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well to be obvious about stop me, I'd say it's about loving someone and not really knowing why or wanting to. The buddhist planning mass murder is just explaining how such a peaceful pacafist could be driven to do something against their morals and something horrible just to emphasize the pain morrissey is writing about.

and break up the family, well I've always taken that as breaking up of The Smiths.

I hope I made sense
 
I've always seen Stop Me as being about a pathological liar in a bad situation brought on the idiot himself wiv all the lying and whatnot... but I am quite simple in the head and have been in UNCOMFORTABLY SIMILAR SITUATIONS.

The Buddhist bit is to exaggerate a lie with claims of extreme pain.
 
yours sounds more in depth than mine. I like yours better anyway.
 
Lucky Lisp is actually about Lucky Lips. Boygirl Lucky. It's complicated.
 
Sister I'm a Poet. Dry is dangerous, wet is safe. It's complicated.
 
I will now shut up because I am insane. It's complicated.
 
Actually, not to take away from Mozzer8633's inquiry, but I seriously can't figure out That's How People Grow Up. As far as I can see, any time in life observing the ebb and flow of it is not time wasted. Why would he sing that?
 
Break Up the Family (my 2nd favourite Moz song next to Lost) is apparently about a group of friends Morrissey had in the late 70's, how they felt like 'family' and how as time moves on these friendships (in the main) drift apart.

This is not my interpretation, it's actually Morrissey's explanantion though I can't remember from which interview, although someone else no doubt will.
 
bhops said:
Break Up the Family (my 2nd favourite Moz song next to Lost) is apparently about a group of friends Morrissey had in the late 70's, how they felt like 'family' and how as time moves on these friendships (in the main) drift apart.
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It could also be about another family: the Smiths family. That song is on his first solo album after all.

Stephane
 
Stephane said:
It could also be about another family: the Smiths family. That song is on his first solo album after all.

Stephane
Click to expand...

Right. I'm always bemused by Morrissey's attempts to deflect interpretations of his music or his actions (the latest howler being the Beck t-shirt affair) but his explanation that "Break Up The Family" had nothing to do with The Smiths is really a high point of evasiveness.
 
Last of the Famous ... (societys knack of promoting criminals?)

The Krays were celebrity thugs!
The longer they went in jail, the more the media glamourised them as did other celebs such as Barbara Windsor (''they never harmed women or kids, only harmed their own'' or ''It was safe to walk the streets back then'' was the usual banal comments by anyone with an opinion on The Krays.

Same with The Great Train Robbers. Why not call them ''The nasty bastards who robbed the train and coshed the driver''? Instead their crime was glamourised and visitors to Rio de Janerio would seek out Ronnie Biggs as a tourist highlight.

Jukebox Jury
 
I've always read Stop Me as being written from the point of view of an errant boyfriend/husband who prefers to spend all his time in the pub rather than with his girlfriend/wife, and therefore has to make more and more extravagant excuses when he finally gets home. Quite a common situation for traditional working class relationships/marriages.
 
[email protected] said:
1. Stop if you think that youve heard this one before. (is it over exposure? why is he wrecking on his bike in the song? Whats with the Budhest planning a mass murder?)
Click to expand...

"Stop Me" is actually one of my favorite-ever lyrics. The observation is so keen-- I don't think another songwriter could've come close to picking out the delicate mental state described in the song.

Yes, the "I" is in a love relationship that is failing.

Yes, the "I" has lied and will go on lying to his lover.

The genius of the song is the subtle twist-- the lyrics are a defense mechanism triggered by someone ("Friday night in out patients/Who said I'd lied to her") taking the "I" to task for lying. The person is suddenly looking at his love affair from without, as another, harsher judge might see it, yet he's in almost full denial. I can't think of another song that captures a state of mind so common in real life but so undocumented in pop music.

The joke about the Buddhist highlights the absurdity of his excuses. It means the same thing as "The dog ate my homework".
 
CrystalGeezer said:
Actually, not to take away from Mozzer8633's inquiry, but I seriously can't figure out That's How People Grow Up. As far as I can see, any time in life observing the ebb and flow of it is not time wasted. Why would he sing that?
Click to expand...

I always thought that Thats How People Grow Up was about the importance of love in one's life as you age and go through different stages. As you get older, it's less important basically. Which when you think about it makes sense. The kind of love you fall into when you are 20 seems a million times more intense and important at that time in your life. Where as if you are older, looking back at those times seems silly because "yes there are things worse in life then never being someone's sweety". Makes perfect sense to me. And I appriciate the song for making that point.

Furthermore, I think he is commenting on the ways in which failed attempts at love and lost relationships help us to mature and gain wisdom. If we aren't hurt as time goes on, how can we expect to mature because we need to learn to move on. And in learning that we do in fact grow up.
Just sayin...
 
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Skinner said:
I always thought that Thats How People Grow Up was about the importance of love in one's life as you age and go through different stages. As you get older, it's less important basically. Which when you think about it makes sense. The kind of love you fall into when you are 20 seems a million times more intense and important at that time in your life. Where as if you are older, looking back at those times seems silly because "yes there are things worse in life then never being someone's sweety". Makes perfect sense to me. And I appriciate the song for making that point.

Furthermore, I think he is commenting on the ways in which failed attempts at love and lost relationships help us to mature and gain wisdom. If we aren't hurt as time goes on, how can we expect to mature because we need to learn to move on. And in learning that we do in fact grow up.
Just sayin...
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Yeah. It's just like a guy to say something like that. ;)

No but really, you make a good point. I see what you're saying.
 
CrystalGeezer said:
Yeah. It's just like a guy to say something like that. ;)

No but really, you make a good point. I see what you're saying.
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Very funny:p. But seriously, I think I need to start a thread about getting peoples' genders correct.

For the record everyone I am not a dude!!!
 
Skinner said:
Very funny:p. But seriously, I think I need to start a thread about getting peoples' genders correct.

For the record everyone I am not a dude!!!
Click to expand...

LOL, well you never did vote in my thread "I'm a girl and you're a ... ?" (sorry, I don't know how to link threads :o)

Um, is it okay that I call you dude? I call everyone dude :)
 
Regarding November...
I always thought the song was about a differently abled young women and the adversity she faces in an aesthetically inclined world. Phrases like "a hostage to kindness and the wheels underneath her" make that quite clear. I believe it is not only an inspirational song but ends on the high note, that indeed she may not be "rich or beautiful", but eventually walking about making her own decisions. Such is Morrissey's way.

Regarding Stop Me........
I always that the song was some long drawn out excuse.... One that he turns around on someone with the line "Nothing's changed I still love you.... only slightly less, than i used to". It's as if "Yeah i might not have made it to your tea party but, after the day i've had how dare you get angry about it"
 
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