Morrissey A-Z: "November Spawned a Monster"

Maybe you can post it here for everyone, in whatever language version you have?

I have the Spanish version at hand... though probably it's on the internet, so I do not need to copy it typing.

" Sueña que las flores danzan en ronda a su alrededor como inmensas guirnaldas enloquecidas, impregnándolo con sus delicados perfumes, mientras él canta un himno de amor entre los brazos de un ser humano de mágica belleza. Pero sus brazos no estrechan más que el vaho del crepúsculo, y cuando despierte, sus brazos no estrecharán nada. No te despiertes, hermafrodita; te ruego que todavía no tedespiertes. ¿Por qué no me haces caso? Duerme. ..duerme siempre. Sólo te concedo que tu pecho se dilate al perseguir la esperanza quimérica de la felicidad; pero no abras los ojos. ¡Ah, no abras los ojos! "

Google translation slightly fixed:

"He dreams that the flowers dance round him like immense maddened garlands, impregnating him with their delicate perfumes, while he sings a hymn of love in the arms of a human being of magical beauty. But his arms do not clasp more than the mist of twilight, and when he wakes up, his arms will clasp nothing. Don't wake up, hermaphrodite; I beg you not to wake up yet. Why don't you listen to me? Sleep. ... always sleep. I only grant you that your chest expands as you pursue the chimerical hope of happiness; But don't open your eyes Ah, don't open your eyes!"

Also:

"Cuando ve a un hombre y una mujer paseando por alguna avenida de plátanos, siente que su cuerpo se hiende en dos de abajo arriba, y cada una de las nuevas porciones va a abrazar a uno de los paseantes; pero es sólo una alucinación, y pronto la razón recobra su dominio. Este es el motivo por el cual no se hace presente ni entre los hombres ni entre las mujeres, pues su pudor exagerado, que ha nacido con la idea de que es tan sólo un monstruo, le impide otorgar su simpatía abrasadora a quien quiera que sea"

Google translate slightly fixed:

"When he sees a man and a woman walking along some avenue of bananas, he feels his body split in two from bottom to top, and each of the new portions is going to hug one of the passers-by; but it is only a hallucination, and soon reason regains control of him. This is the reason why he is not present neither among men nor among women, because his exaggerated modesty, which was born with the idea that he is just a monster, prevents him from granting his scorching sympathy to whoever he is."

Which is not too far from:

"But Jesus made me, so
Jesus save me from
Pity, sympathy
And people discussing me"

And, of course, the line: "Poor twisted child /Oh hug me, oh hug me"

The Hermaphrodite of Lautreamont wishes to hug someone... but he doesn't dare to do it because he feels he is a monster... And Morrissey added a compassionate line with this "Hug ME".

I don't find a way to think that it's unrelated to this tale.
 
I love this video everything is perfect. Moz Humasexual absolute !!! I love when he defines himself as humasexual that's a great definition!! . It is not gay nor hetero is simply humasexual,that definition opens a range of sexual possibilities,Viva Moz is unique
 
I have the Spanish version at hand... though probably it's on the internet, so I do not need to copy it typing.

" Sueña que las flores danzan en ronda a su alrededor como inmensas guirnaldas enloquecidas, impregnándolo con sus delicados perfumes, mientras él canta un himno de amor entre los brazos de un ser humano de mágica belleza. Pero sus brazos no estrechan más que el vaho del crepúsculo, y cuando despierte, sus brazos no estrecharán nada. No te despiertes, hermafrodita; te ruego que todavía no tedespiertes. ¿Por qué no me haces caso? Duerme. ..duerme siempre. Sólo te concedo que tu pecho se dilate al perseguir la esperanza quimérica de la felicidad; pero no abras los ojos. ¡Ah, no abras los ojos! "

Google translation slightly fixed:

"He dreams that the flowers dance round him like immense maddened garlands, impregnating him with their delicate perfumes, while he sings a hymn of love in the arms of a human being of magical beauty. But his arms do not clasp more than the mist of twilight, and when he wakes up, his arms will clasp nothing. Don't wake up, hermaphrodite; I beg you not to wake up yet. Why don't you listen to me? Sleep. ... always sleep. I only grant you that your chest expands as you pursue the chimerical hope of happiness; But don't open your eyes Ah, don't open your eyes!"

Also:

"Cuando ve a un hombre y una mujer paseando por alguna avenida de plátanos, siente que su cuerpo se hiende en dos de abajo arriba, y cada una de las nuevas porciones va a abrazar a uno de los paseantes; pero es sólo una alucinación, y pronto la razón recobra su dominio. Este es el motivo por el cual no se hace presente ni entre los hombres ni entre las mujeres, pues su pudor exagerado, que ha nacido con la idea de que es tan sólo un monstruo, le impide otorgar su simpatía abrasadora a quien quiera que sea"

Google translate slightly fixed:

"When he sees a man and a woman walking along some avenue of bananas, he feels his body split in two from bottom to top, and each of the new portions is going to hug one of the passers-by; but it is only a hallucination, and soon reason regains control of him. This is the reason why he is not present neither among men nor among women, because his exaggerated modesty, which was born with the idea that he is just a monster, prevents him from granting his scorching sympathy to whoever he is."

Which is not too far from:

"But Jesus made me, so
Jesus save me from
Pity, sympathy
And people discussing me"

And, of course, the line: "Poor twisted child /Oh hug me, oh hug me"

The Hermaphrodite of Lautreamont wishes to hug someone... but he doesn't dare to do it because he feels he is a monster... And Morrissey added a compassionate line with this "Hug ME".

I don't find a way to think that it's unrelated to this tale.
Thanks for posting this.

I still can't see a direct pull from the text regarding "Sleep on and dream of love, Because it's the closest you will, Get to love" so assume Moz massaged things a little.

That aside, I think it's possible that this whole Lautréamont text may have influenced some other Moz work, even some dating back to the Smiths.

For example, the "When he sees a man and a woman walking along some avenue of bananas, he feels his body split in two from bottom to top..." made me think of the line "Two lovers entwined pass me by, And heaven knows I'm miserable now" from (obv) HKIMN.

Another possible reference to a Moz song is this line, "But don't open your eyes Ah, don't open your eyes!" which is remarkably similar to one from Sorrow Will Come In The End "So don't close your eyes, Don't ever close your eyes".

Interesting stuff but I'm on the verge of rabbit-holing.
 
A perfect song... but let's fight between the ones who consider that it's 100% based on the Hermaphrodite of Lautreamont and those who don't.

I am into the Lautreamont team.

Mary M. O'Hare did something AMAZING there... just like LP did something amazing in "It's Over". It's one of his best songs for sure.

I never got why "November"... Anyone has a crazy idea why NOVEMBER spawned this monster and not August or May or any other month? I assume it's a reference to... someone, but hard to know whom (Morrissey was not born during a November, so obviously not a self-reference).
Maybe M's mother found out she was pregnant with Moz in November ,then she was born in May, at 7 months... and then the monster is him... if M was born at term( Nine months) then no,you would have to find out if M was born premature,,a crazy hypothesis haha
 
:)

A CLASSIC!!!: thumb:
CLASSIC MOZ MOST EXCELLENT MASTERPIECE:hammer:
 
In retrospect, this is from a period when Moz mattered most in the cultural zeitgeist of Great Britain.

A change was coming in the music scene here and life would never be the same again.

Its a great song, a weird song and I assume Rollins is gay?
This simply ain't true. It was spring 1990 and a whole new movement was afoot. Floppy haired, be-fringed blokes, plying their baggy beats. The Madchester thing was massive. The Charlatans, The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, P Scream - they were all pretty much at their peak. Morrissey was an odd looking, irrelevant, indie anachronism struggling to find songwriters, a band and a purpose. Even singles like this (which were clearly amazing) only received lukewarm reviews.
 
This simply ain't true. It was spring 1990 and a whole new movement was afoot. Floppy haired, be-fringed blokes, plying their baggy beats. The Madchester thing was massive. The Charlatans, The Happy Mondays, The Stone Roses, P Scream - they were all pretty much at their peak. Morrissey was an odd looking, irrelevant, indie anachronism struggling to find songwriters, a band and a purpose. Even singles like this (which were clearly amazing) only received lukewarm reviews.
As a fan of all those bands you’ve mentioned, before I got into Morrissey, I can agree (with a fair amount of confidence) that indie music buying British teenagers, c.1990, had little interest in Morrissey.

It’s hard to imagine now, but even The Smiths were just another 80s band, apparently eclipsed in stature and popularity by The Cure, The Pet Shop Boys, U2, New Order and Depeche Mode.

Christ, in 1990 even Electronic seemed more vital than Morrissey.

However, when I went working in America in 1991 I noticed he was much more valued there—and he was held in similar esteem to those ‘new’ Baggy acts you mentioned. Indeed, he was perceived as a contemporary (which was actually the case, but the early success of The Smiths made it appear as if they belonged to a different era).
 
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🖤ILE


I wish some label (EMI?) would rerelease Hulmerist, with a bonus of Morrissey doing a voice-over commentary on each video.

November is a work of art, but I
wouldn’t mind hearing his explanation of some of the finer details, bandaid, chocolate,etc.

‘sleep on and dream ... ‘


Tell me about the other new songs.

"There's a song called 'Striptease With A Difference' which is about playing a game of cards wherein the loser of each game has to take off an item of clothing. And it's about secretly hoping one loses and in fact manipulating the game towards that end.

Then there's 'November' (Spawned A Monster) which in a sense is my version of the New York Dolls' 'Frankenstein'. It's about a person who's confined to a wheelchair, who can't make much sense of her life and whose only ambition is to walk down the road in clothes she personally went out and chose and bought herself. And that is as far as her ambitions can stretch."

That's Mary Margaret O'Hara doing the middle section...

"The scatty bits? Yes. I was massively intrigued by her album. I thought it so beautiful I suddenly realised I hadn't in a decade heard someone singing because of deep-set personal neurosis, absolute need and desperation. You'd think she might fall apart at any second and become a pile of rags and bones on stage. For the first time in almost a decade I was 'high' - mentally really, really high. What kept coming back to me was 'Horses'. Mary Margaret also sings on another track, 'He Knows I'd Love To See Him', as well as Suggs, ex of Madness (eyes me pensively). Um... Did you approve of Madness? Didn't you feel that North London/Kinks connection?"


I went into the vocal booth and said, ‘Just simply give birth,’ which she expertly did, while I stood behind with a mop and a bucket.”

- Morrissey


Well I wrote it all on the piano. The guitar riff [sings: ‘dong-dong-donk-a-donk-a-donk-donk]. I was probably trying to do a Stones thing or something. Maybe a bit like The Last Time or We Love You but slightly different. I always liked writing songs were the riff kept going but the chords would change underneath.” Later, in the same interview with Hamill, Langer recalled his working on “Monster” with Morrissey, when he said, “Well we recorded it, and I listened to it, and thought it was really good. I thought, what about if we split it in the middle? When I wrote music for Morrissey, I didn’t know what was going to be the chorus or the verse. He knew I had an idea of what I thought, but he’d sing right over my chorus and put his chorus where you weren’t expecting it. […] It took it to a different level.”

- Clive Langer







I've gotta ask you one question
Do you think that you could make it with Frankenstein?”


:cool:
 
Bit of a stretch to call it a pop song, no? Nevertheless, it’s a truly remarkable song, full of equal amounts scorn and empathy. Too weird to chart, but charted anyway - in a time when people actually went out and bought physical singles and payed with their hard earned money.

think it’s Morrissey’s idea of a pop song, or what a pop song could be.
 
I'm guessing most people have forgotten 'November the Second', released (after a looooooooooooong delay) as a B-Side in 2010?
 
I'm guessing most people have forgotten 'November the Second', released (after a looooooooooooong delay) as a B-Side in 2010?


We've been trying to. Very hard...

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We've been trying to. Very hard...

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The worst thing about it is the way O’Hara’s voice is sampled in the beginning, tasteless. And the remix overall is a nonevent.

Though one can’t imagine November being written at any other time. I wish somehow that a producer like Ronson got their hands on it, it could have been much much better sound wise.
 
I never got why "November"... Anyone has a crazy idea why NOVEMBER spawned this monster and not August or May or any other month? I assume it's a reference to... someone, but hard to know whom (Morrissey was not born during a November, so obviously not a self-reference).
I think it's quite probable there is no deep meaning to 'November', other than it's a suitably dreary, ominous month, and rolls off the tongue nicely for the lyric. I mean - "April Spawned a Monster" just doesn't have the same feel, does it? :unsure:
 
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