Morrissey A-Z: "Dagenham Dave"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member



We kick off the week with this song, one of the singles from the Southpaw Grammar album - it reached number 26 in the UK, the same position reached by "Bigmouth Strikes Again" nine years earlier. (I could say more, but you get the general idea.)

What do we think of this one?
 



We kick off the week with this song, one of the singles from the Southpaw Grammar album - it reached number 26 in the UK, the same position reached by "Bigmouth Strikes Again" nine years earlier. (I could say more, but you get the general idea.)

What do we think of this one?

A bad relationship makes one destructive. That's the moral of the story I get from watching this music video. Hence the main character smashing his prize.
 
I remember when this was considered a shitty Morrissey song. Given his output over the past 15 years, I'd be more inclined to consider it quite good. I think the brevity and the ambiguity of the lyrics actually obfuscate quite a bit of depth, especially when the single is taken as a whole with "Nobody Loves Us" as its b-side. And obviously, he just looks perfect in the video.
 
I remember when this was considered a shitty Morrissey song. Given his output over the past 15 years, I'd be more inclined to consider it quite good. I think the brevity and the ambiguity of the lyrics actually obfuscate quite a bit of depth, especially when the single is taken as a whole with "Nobody Loves Us" as its b-side. And obviously, he just looks perfect in the video.
Ha! I still think it's a shitty Morrissey song but I like the idea of pairing it with "Nobody Loves Us" - never really thought of it like that.
 
Ha! I still think it's a shitty Morrissey song but I like the idea of pairing it with "Nobody Loves Us" - never really thought of it like that.
It's weirdly a great single. "Dagenham Dave" along with "Nobody Loves Us" and "You Must Please Remember," two b-sides that tower over the a-side in classic Morrissey fashion. I remember reading an analysis of it a very long time ago that really stuck with me, something along the lines of "Dagenham Dave" representing a superficial sketch of a particular kind of working class man with "Nobody Loves Us" illustrating the deeper anguish and frustration behind the simplistic bravado expressed on the a-side.
 
So basically take everything that was said about "Boy Racer" and apply it here. I could maybe take one or the other but both is too much.
 
Best thing about the song was Gripper Stebson (Mark Savage) in the video :)
Although I seldom join in with trying to argue 'good song' verses 'bad song' when it is categorically a subjective art form (which by definition can't really have good or bad), I find the repetition of lyrics to the song's detriment.
Regards,
FWD.
 
I remember when this was considered a shitty Morrissey song. Given his output over the past 15 years, I'd be more inclined to consider it quite good. I think the brevity and the ambiguity of the lyrics actually obfuscate quite a bit of depth, especially when the single is taken as a whole with "Nobody Loves Us" as its b-side. And obviously, he just looks perfect in the video.

My sentiments *exactly*. Shitty then...today's shining classic!
 
Best thing about the song was Gripper Stebson (Mark Savage) in the video :)
Although I seldom join in with trying to argue 'good song' verses 'bad song' when it is categorically a subjective art form (which by definition can't really have good or bad), I find the repetition of lyrics to the song's detriment.
Regards,
FWD.

I always figured there was more to this video. But being a former colonist I was not aware of the the cultural significance of anyone named, "Gripper". Now the "Gipper" I know!

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As much as I still think this song is shitty, I will always admire the nerve of a songwriter who writes a knowingly lazy lyric and ends it with "I could say more, but you get the general idea"...
 
As much as I still think this song is shitty, I will always admire the nerve of a songwriter who writes a knowingly lazy lyric and ends it with "I could say more, but you get the general idea".

Right on! That line is what saves the song really.
 
I always figured there was more to this video. But being a former colonist I was not aware of the the cultural significance of anyone named, "Gripper". Now the "Gipper" I know!

View attachment 68697
For kids of a certain era, the character is known as an infamous school bully in the show Grange Hill.
Regards,
FWD.
 
It's a contender for Morrissey's worst ever single and I presume he isn't too fond of it, as I don't think it's been performed live since 1997.

He has always used repetition for effect, but here there is no reason for repeating the song's title ad nauseam. There are no interesting lyrical ideas whatsoever and the "I could say more..." line is incredibly lazy. He had simply written nowhere near enough lyrics...

I think Morrissey was pushing the self-destruct button with this album, not for the first or last time.

In the poll on the Steve Hoffman board it ranked 222nd from 264 solo songs.
 
iv always had a soft spot for dagenham dave,song and video go well together.i used to wear that dj in the 80s,looked fab.
 
I love it.

A. It's got my name in it.

B. For all the songs the narrator condemns ordinary life - in this one he's envious of it. Wouldn't it be great to accept life, not question, not fight & just live it.

C. What's Dave scared to touch? Is there a serpent in this Eden that might trick him into eating an apple?

Then the era it's from - where journalists were very pointedly telling him he wasn't allowed to be in Brit Pop - because it was laddish & happy & he was some poisonous thing from some gutter.
 
I like it.
I remember hearing it on Absolute Radio in recent years and feeling quite happy and smug.
 
It's a contender for Morrissey's worst ever single and I presume he isn't too fond of it, as I don't think it's been performed live since 1997.

He has always used repetition for effect, but here there is no reason for repeating the song's title ad nauseam. There are no interesting lyrical ideas whatsoever and the "I could say more..." line is incredibly lazy. He had simply written nowhere near enough lyrics...

I think Morrissey was pushing the self-destruct button with this album, not for the first or last time.

In the poll on the Steve Hoffman board it ranked 222nd from 264 solo songs.
Can someone enlighten me to the Hoffman board please
 
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