Mojo: "The Smiths’ 50 Greatest Songs" (March 2, 2023)

The Smiths’ 50 Greatest Songs

WHEN JOHNNY MARR FIRST KNOCKED ON MORRISSEY’S DOOR IN 1982, the pair’s initial plan was to become a songwriting powerhouse akin to Brill Building titans Leiber and Stoller.

Though The Smiths’ recording career was as brief as it was brilliant – just four studio albums alongside some of the greatest 45s of the era – the songs Morrissey and Marr penned cemented their reputation as one of the greatest musical partnerships since Lennon and McCartney, and made The Smiths the most important British band of the decade.

The Smiths’ 50 Greatest Songs

MOJO selects the best ever songs by The Smiths

www.mojo4music.com

(Above playlist appears backwards).
Regards,
FWD.

 

[William Fisher]

This was the ranking for the top 50 songs on the Hoffman board, maybe someone can just make a spotify playlist of this:
1 - Now My Heart is Full - 4.87
2 - Speedway - 4.86
3 - Everyday is Like Sunday - 4.848
4 - Suedehead - 4.786
5 - Jack the Ripper - 4.72
6 - Once I Saw the River Clean - 4.7
7 - You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side - 4.64
8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545
10 - The Last of the Famous International Playboys - 4.543
11 - Life is a Pigsty - 4.533
12 - Glamorous Glue - 4.526
13 = Tomorrow - 4.5
13 = My Hurling Days Are Done - 4.5
15 - The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get - 4.477
16 - Irish Blood, English Heart - 4.476
17 - Jim Jim Falls - 4.471
18 - Some Say I Got Devil - 4.409
19 - Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself - 4.37
20 = We’ll Let You Know - 4.36
20 = The National Front Disco - 4.36
22 - What Kind of People Live in These Houses? - 4.35
23 - Dear God Please Help Me - 4.342
24 - Hairdresser on Fire - 4.321
25 - Seasick, Yet Still Docked - 4.32
26 - It's Not Your Birthday Anymore - 4.316
27 - Nobody Loves Us - 4.304
28 = November Spawned a Monster - 4.2954
28 = First of the Gang to Die - 4.2954
30 - Staircase at the University - 4.286
31 - I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday - 4.263
32 - Something is Squeezing My Skull - 4.262
33 - Lost - 4.2614
34 - Hold on to Your Friends - 4.2609
35 - Ganglord - 4.25
36 - Home is a Question Mark - 4.202
37 - Piccadilly Palare - 4.2
38 - Sunny - 4.175
39 - Trouble Loves Me - 4.16
40 - Come Back to Camden - 4.15
41 - Morning Starship - 4.143
42 - Alsatian Cousin - 4.135
43 - I Have Forgiven Jesus - 4.13
44 = I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - 4.125
44 = Maladjusted - 4.125
46 - Late Night, Maudlin Street - 4.12
47 - Southpaw - 4.11
48 - It's Over - 4.107
49 - Disappointed - 4.1
50 - Knockabout World - 4.078

Speedway is not the second best Morrissey song.

 

[Juan Dulces]

Speedway is not the second best Morrissey song.

I know what you mean...what IS the second best? With Morrissey's solo work being so prolific, it's hard enough to assemble a list like that, and when you have - if you go over it later - you'll have some regrets about rankings.

 

[Lucifer Sam]

Also, anyone who is a big fan of 'Reel Around' - I'm not trying to offend. I do like the 'I DOOOOOO' part at the end a whole lot though.

Not offended, just surprised. I think it's one of the most beautiful and haunting guitar melodies ever concocted, and even with its repetition and length would never be boring (to me, that is; these things being subjective). And most of its competition are other Johnny Marr pieces: Back to the Old House, Wonderful Woman, Suffer Little Children, and the live version of I Know It's Over, with its coda where the guitar figure is hammered on continuously, and could go on for hours and not be too long.

 

[davidt]

This was the ranking for the top 50 songs on the Hoffman board, maybe someone can just make a spotify playlist of this:
1 - Now My Heart is Full - 4.87
2 - Speedway - 4.86
3 - Everyday is Like Sunday - 4.848
4 - Suedehead - 4.786
5 - Jack the Ripper - 4.72
6 - Once I Saw the River Clean - 4.7
7 - You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side - 4.64
8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545
10 - The Last of the Famous International Playboys - 4.543
11 - Life is a Pigsty - 4.533
12 - Glamorous Glue - 4.526
13 = Tomorrow - 4.5
13 = My Hurling Days Are Done - 4.5
15 - The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get - 4.477
16 - Irish Blood, English Heart - 4.476
17 - Jim Jim Falls - 4.471
18 - Some Say I Got Devil - 4.409
19 - Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself - 4.37
20 = We’ll Let You Know - 4.36
20 = The National Front Disco - 4.36
22 - What Kind of People Live in These Houses? - 4.35
23 - Dear God Please Help Me - 4.342
24 - Hairdresser on Fire - 4.321
25 - Seasick, Yet Still Docked - 4.32
26 - It's Not Your Birthday Anymore - 4.316
27 - Nobody Loves Us - 4.304
28 = November Spawned a Monster - 4.2954
28 = First of the Gang to Die - 4.2954
30 - Staircase at the University - 4.286
31 - I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday - 4.263
32 - Something is Squeezing My Skull - 4.262
33 - Lost - 4.2614
34 - Hold on to Your Friends - 4.2609
35 - Ganglord - 4.25
36 - Home is a Question Mark - 4.202
37 - Piccadilly Palare - 4.2
38 - Sunny - 4.175
39 - Trouble Loves Me - 4.16
40 - Come Back to Camden - 4.15
41 - Morning Starship - 4.143
42 - Alsatian Cousin - 4.135
43 - I Have Forgiven Jesus - 4.13
44 = I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - 4.125
44 = Maladjusted - 4.125
46 - Late Night, Maudlin Street - 4.12
47 - Southpaw - 4.11
48 - It's Over - 4.107
49 - Disappointed - 4.1
50 - Knockabout World - 4.078

See also this poll conducted by user Houdini on this site (2014):

The Moz/Smiths Top 100 - FINAL RESULTS 2014

So here are the final results of the polls we've conducted of all the officially released Morrissey and The Smiths-songs. We started back in 2007 and over the last couple of months we've polled the most recent songs. Thanks all for voting! Here are the results of all the previous final...

www.morrissey-solo.com

Top 100 solo from the thread

 

[DagenhamDan]

This was the ranking for the top 50 songs on the Hoffman board, maybe someone can just make a spotify playlist of this:
1 - Now My Heart is Full - 4.87
2 - Speedway - 4.86
3 - Everyday is Like Sunday - 4.848
4 - Suedehead - 4.786
5 - Jack the Ripper - 4.72
6 - Once I Saw the River Clean - 4.7
7 - You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side - 4.64
8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545
10 - The Last of the Famous International Playboys - 4.543
11 - Life is a Pigsty - 4.533
12 - Glamorous Glue - 4.526
13 = Tomorrow - 4.5
13 = My Hurling Days Are Done - 4.5
15 - The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get - 4.477
16 - Irish Blood, English Heart - 4.476
17 - Jim Jim Falls - 4.471
18 - Some Say I Got Devil - 4.409
19 - Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself - 4.37
20 = We’ll Let You Know - 4.36
20 = The National Front Disco - 4.36
22 - What Kind of People Live in These Houses? - 4.35
23 - Dear God Please Help Me - 4.342
24 - Hairdresser on Fire - 4.321
25 - Seasick, Yet Still Docked - 4.32
26 - It's Not Your Birthday Anymore - 4.316
27 - Nobody Loves Us - 4.304
28 = November Spawned a Monster - 4.2954
28 = First of the Gang to Die - 4.2954
30 - Staircase at the University - 4.286
31 - I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday - 4.263
32 - Something is Squeezing My Skull - 4.262
33 - Lost - 4.2614
34 - Hold on to Your Friends - 4.2609
35 - Ganglord - 4.25
36 - Home is a Question Mark - 4.202
37 - Piccadilly Palare - 4.2
38 - Sunny - 4.175
39 - Trouble Loves Me - 4.16
40 - Come Back to Camden - 4.15
41 - Morning Starship - 4.143
42 - Alsatian Cousin - 4.135
43 - I Have Forgiven Jesus - 4.13
44 = I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - 4.125
44 = Maladjusted - 4.125
46 - Late Night, Maudlin Street - 4.12
47 - Southpaw - 4.11
48 - It's Over - 4.107
49 - Disappointed - 4.1
50 - Knockabout World - 4.078

I’m probably alone in this one, but ‘Pregnant for the last time’ is an all time favourite of mine.
Hated by Morrissey apparently but it’s mad as a bag of cats and one of his best Top of the Pops appearances.
And it actually climbed the charts, briefly.

 

[Anonymous]

These two in the Top Ten?? I don't think so!

8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545

 

[j*e*t]

My substitutions for the 50 greatest Smiths songs would be:-
Add: What She Said; Never Had No-one Ever; Sweet And Tender Hooligan; I Keep Mine Hidden; Miserable Lie; Vicar In A Tutu.
Drop: Stop Me If You Think..; Jeane; Shakespeare's Sister; Death Of A Disco Dancer; Accept Yourself; Shoplifters Of The World Unite.

 

[gordyboy9]

iv been done with these lists for a long time.the hardest one for a so called journalist would be to pick number 50 because you are saying this is the worst song in this list.
these lists started at the beginning of the 2000s,every week on tv was abba,elvis,michael jacksons top 30 songs because it was cheap tv,get a few talking heads and you have a two hour programme on a saturday night.

 

[Juan Dulces]

Not offended, just surprised. I think it's one of the most beautiful and haunting guitar melodies ever concocted, and even with its repetition and length would never be boring (to me, that is; these things being subjective). And most of its competition are other Johnny Marr pieces: Back to the Old House, Wonderful Woman, Suffer Little Children, and the live version of I Know It's Over, with its coda where the guitar figure is hammered on continuously, and could go on for hours and not be too long.

I Know It's Over from Rank is brilliant, just like you said. In fact, Vicar, Cemetry, and I Know are so strong on Rank compared to the sometimes thin (and quiet) recording of TQID (and they featured a 2nd live guitar). Regarding Fountain, It's not the music that is as boring to me as it is the vocal melody. I too like the early Smiths guitar sound featured on Wonderful Woman, etc....but by the time he was writing Girl Afraid and Heaven Knows he had much more confidence and the music became fuller than the very early stuff.

Did you ever hear the Suffer Little Children from the Troy Tate Sessions? It has almost like a 'child's piano' sound for the ending piece (but you've gotta really TURN UP the volume) which really hits hard, deep in the heart. That piano itself, the playing and the notes -gives almost a full description of what the song is about really. I had heard the LP version of Suffer for like 20 years, but only after hearing the Troy Tate version was I as moved as I am now by that song. It's awful how those kids died. And it's also awful how Morrissey, Johnny and company grew up with that menacing cloud hanging over them.

 

[Seymour Glass]

This was the ranking for the top 50 songs on the Hoffman board, maybe someone can just make a spotify playlist of this:
1 - Now My Heart is Full - 4.87
2 - Speedway - 4.86
3 - Everyday is Like Sunday - 4.848
4 - Suedehead - 4.786
5 - Jack the Ripper - 4.72
6 - Once I Saw the River Clean - 4.7
7 - You’re Gonna Need Someone on Your Side - 4.64
8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545
10 - The Last of the Famous International Playboys - 4.543
11 - Life is a Pigsty - 4.533
12 - Glamorous Glue - 4.526
13 = Tomorrow - 4.5
13 = My Hurling Days Are Done - 4.5
15 - The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get - 4.477
16 - Irish Blood, English Heart - 4.476
17 - Jim Jim Falls - 4.471
18 - Some Say I Got Devil - 4.409
19 - Why Don’t You Find Out for Yourself - 4.37
20 = We’ll Let You Know - 4.36
20 = The National Front Disco - 4.36
22 - What Kind of People Live in These Houses? - 4.35
23 - Dear God Please Help Me - 4.342
24 - Hairdresser on Fire - 4.321
25 - Seasick, Yet Still Docked - 4.32
26 - It's Not Your Birthday Anymore - 4.316
27 - Nobody Loves Us - 4.304
28 = November Spawned a Monster - 4.2954
28 = First of the Gang to Die - 4.2954
30 - Staircase at the University - 4.286
31 - I Know It’s Gonna Happen Someday - 4.263
32 - Something is Squeezing My Skull - 4.262
33 - Lost - 4.2614
34 - Hold on to Your Friends - 4.2609
35 - Ganglord - 4.25
36 - Home is a Question Mark - 4.202
37 - Piccadilly Palare - 4.2
38 - Sunny - 4.175
39 - Trouble Loves Me - 4.16
40 - Come Back to Camden - 4.15
41 - Morning Starship - 4.143
42 - Alsatian Cousin - 4.135
43 - I Have Forgiven Jesus - 4.13
44 = I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris - 4.125
44 = Maladjusted - 4.125
46 - Late Night, Maudlin Street - 4.12
47 - Southpaw - 4.11
48 - It's Over - 4.107
49 - Disappointed - 4.1
50 - Knockabout World - 4.078

You must be joking right? Lenny's Tune above Playboys? First of all it's a cover, secondly it sucks. Worst list ever!!

 

[Seymour Glass]

Not a bad list actually, except for QID being so high. That song is a noisy unpleasant mess. And Well I Wonder and That Joke not to be in the top five is criminal.

 

[Gregor Samsa]

HSIN is so not the greatest ever Smiths song.

The true top 10 reads as follows:
1. TIALTNGO
2. Still Ill
3. IKIO
4. Please Please
5. SOTWU
6. BTTOH (HIH version)
7. SGABTO
8. PAVP
9. HKIMN
10. IWSY

 

[Flibberty]

Well done to Chris Catchpole at Mojo for putting some effort and thought into that article. The links to live versions or Troy Tate recordings show that he did his homework.

That's not to say that I agree with the placements, but that's only to be expected.

 

[yesnowinlose]

Also, anyone who is a big fan of 'Reel Around' - I'm not trying to offend. I do like the 'I DOOOOOO' part at the end a whole lot though.

I just mentioned in the next thread about "Reel Around The Fountain" – I usually start listening to The Smiths with it. The vocals are a bit raw, but the song is quite suitable for the introduction of the debut album.
Much more I like "Picadilly Palare" and "Our Frank" in this role – they set the heat from the first seconds. But that is another story.

 

[T. H. Auden]

Who gave "Mojo" the keys to make a playlist inside Spotify?

 

[Ryan]

These two in the Top Ten?? I don't think so!

8 - Bobby, Don't You Think They Know? - 4.556
9 - Lenny's Tune - 4.545

 

[hand in glove]

These lists are useless because the only one that matters is your own.

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Sweet and Tender Hooligan...where is it?

 

[Thewlis]

At 51.

 

[Was I ever any good]

I’m probably alone in this one, but ‘Pregnant for the last time’ is an all time favourite of mine.
Hated by Morrissey apparently but it’s mad as a bag of cats and one of his best Top of the Pops appearances.
And it actually climbed the charts, briefly.

Frank spencer or Norman Wisdom??
Norman for me