Johnny Marr on The Smiths and going solo - BBC News
By Ian Youngs, entertainment reporter, BBC News
Excerpt:
Marr clearly puts Morrissey's lyrics for The Smiths into the "weird stuff from the brain" category rather than the "earnest sentimental claptrap" category.
"They were certainly fascinating and unique," the guitarist reflects. "I don't think there was ever anything soppy in there and if there was I would have backed him up like I backed up everything he did and he backed up everything that I did.
"I don't think we did do anything that we didn't love 100 per cent, even if it was just at the time. As songwriters, we entirely backed each other up to the max."
...Nostalgia is a force that Marr has got used to pushing against. Hopeful reports of The Smiths' imminent reformation now come along with reliable regularity. But they have always been quickly shot down by Morrissey and Marr.
I tell him I am now going to ask the question that all journalists leave to the end of their interviews. He glances knowingly at his plugger.
Has a reunion ever been on the cards? "Er… no. No," Marr replies wearily. Will it be? Marr's interest in this interview has suddenly crashed. "Er… don't know. I don't know. I don't have an answer to that question."
That answer looks evasive in black and white, but at the time I simply take it as a sign of his antipathy toward the question.
The message from The Messenger is that he is comfortable with his past, but still not likely to repeat it.
By Ian Youngs, entertainment reporter, BBC News
Excerpt:
Marr clearly puts Morrissey's lyrics for The Smiths into the "weird stuff from the brain" category rather than the "earnest sentimental claptrap" category.
"They were certainly fascinating and unique," the guitarist reflects. "I don't think there was ever anything soppy in there and if there was I would have backed him up like I backed up everything he did and he backed up everything that I did.
"I don't think we did do anything that we didn't love 100 per cent, even if it was just at the time. As songwriters, we entirely backed each other up to the max."
...Nostalgia is a force that Marr has got used to pushing against. Hopeful reports of The Smiths' imminent reformation now come along with reliable regularity. But they have always been quickly shot down by Morrissey and Marr.
I tell him I am now going to ask the question that all journalists leave to the end of their interviews. He glances knowingly at his plugger.
Has a reunion ever been on the cards? "Er… no. No," Marr replies wearily. Will it be? Marr's interest in this interview has suddenly crashed. "Er… don't know. I don't know. I don't have an answer to that question."
That answer looks evasive in black and white, but at the time I simply take it as a sign of his antipathy toward the question.
The message from The Messenger is that he is comfortable with his past, but still not likely to repeat it.
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