Morrissey A-Z: "(The) Never Played Symphonies"

[Light Housework]

It's romantic.

 

[Trans]

I think the clunkier bit if you wanna call it that is pretty deliberate if you think about it’s place in the music as it comes at a spot of emotion rush. Like he’s getting a bit more frantic and the words are coming almost faster than he can articulate

 

[Watson]

I'm a bit surprised...well, not THAT surprised, it is Moz after all...that this has rarely been played live when 'Munich Air Disaster' still gets shoe-horned into the set list.

 

[Vegan Cro Spirit .888.]

top MASTERPIECE BY MOZ

🇭🇷>

 

[Trans]

Forgot to just mention that I love this song especially next to my dearest love and Christian Dior. I know there been the rockabilly comp for morrissey but is there a symphonic one

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Beautiful song. Though I wish a different producer had gotten their hands on it, could have been amazing.

 

[Mayfly]

A beautiful song indeed. I was just imagining a real orchestra playing along, to really make the song soar. The string arrangement given "Dear God" might have worked here too. And I mean real strings, not the cheap synthetic kind used here.

 

[MozIsGod]

Wonderful, wonderful song. Would have been a lovely way to open 'Quarry' rather than the turgid, clunking 'America is not the world'.

Indeed. I've always thought "Irish Blood, English Heart" was the perfect opener to Quarry. Even the b-side "It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small" would have made a nice opener.

 

[Mike Rourke]

With the seven-year gap preceding Quarry being longer than the entire history of The Smiths, I was anticipating tons of amazing songs, knowing the quality of the best Whyte/Boorer compositions from the 1990s. Alas, we only got one and it was this. Alain Whyte's mum's favourite, apparently. Odd that it never seems to have been covered other than by Alain himself in his lockdown YouTube series.

 

[ThePoliticalRevolution]

Would love to hear this live again. Perhaps in Las Vegas!

 

[MozIsGod]

With the seven-year gap preceding Quarry being longer than the entire history of The Smiths, I was anticipating tons of amazing songs, knowing the quality of the best Whyte/Boorer compositions from the 1990s. Alas, we only got one and it was this. Alain Whyte's mum's favourite, apparently. Odd that it never seems to have been covered other than by Alain himself in his lockdown YouTube series.

IIRC, Quarry was largely written in 1998/1999.

 

[Deleted member 28251]

Great track that substitutes rock guitars for delicate piano and displays one of Moz’s most tender vocal deliveries. As opposed to the score-settling of Quarry, this song displays a more wistful looking back, not unlike the atmosphere that permeates most of Vauxhall. On the whole, the lyrics do their job and then some, excepting this clunker: “not literally but metaphorically”. But, overall, it doesn’t detract from the rest of the song’s beauty and power. Excellent b-side, could have been an album track in its own right, definitely.
8/10

I like the song, but my mind races to that line whenever I hear it. It’s so distracting.

 

[Amy]

Flawless, just flawless. At the time, it seemed a bit odd and overly dramatic (a 45 year old singing about the end of his life?) - but the more time passes, the more relevant it seems. What I wouldn't give to go back to 2004.

 

[Amy]

Oh stop, everyone knows this is about Johnny Marr.

Yep

 

[dotmatrix522]

I’m not a fan of this one. I like the theme of the song, but it leaves me cold. It probably would sound better live however.

 

[Mozmar]

Absolutely adore this track & love everything about it; the musical tone, the lyrics, the melancholy, and the wonderful vocals. For me, this & My Dearest Love are both nudging the perfection mark. It's simply a beautiful masterpiece.

 

[Ryan]

I hate this one. It represents a type of Morrissey song to me that I just don't like and I think that when he does this type of thing he gets away with murder with the people that think it's really meaningful.
I wouldn't be so harsh but I can see I'm not going to ruin the song's standing so no need to state it carefully.
This, "Friday Mourning," and "My Life Is A Succession Of People Saying Goodbye" are the type of thing I'm talking about.
"no not literally but metaphorically" makes "in the bar with my head on the bar" and "could it be he's only got one knee' sound like the heights of poetic expression.

Come here so I can clean your ears out.