Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaign

Update 11/12/11, 10:00 PM PT:

Link posted at Morrissey Reddit:

Morrissey, how could you? Fans of The Smiths horrified as 'anti-establishment' band allows John Lewis to use song in Christmas TV ad - Daily Mail
£6m promo already being dubbed the greatest ever

Update 11/11/11, 7:10 AM PT:

Ad is now on YouTube:



Also:
Please please please don't sell our music to advertisers - by Adam Boult, The Guardian

Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaign - The Telegraph

His lyrics are not usually associated with festive cheer, but Morrissey has permitted department store John Lewis to use a song by The Smiths for its Christmas advert.

Excerpt:

The famously curmudgeonly singer has given his blessing for a cover version of Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want to feature on the chain’s £6 million television advertising campaign.

The track will be performed by Slow Moving Millie, a relatively unknown musician and actor whose real name is Amelia Warner and was once briefly married to the Hollywood actor Colin Farrell.
 
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Daily Telegraph: So what do you think now, when you turn on the TV and see John Lydon starring in an advert for butter? That’s not terribly punk, is it?

Morrissey: I think we have to assume that he can more or less do whatever he likes, really. I don’t see the point in the butter ad, and I would imagine if I did a butter ad I wouldn’t expect to survive. No, I don’t think so.


Daily Telegraph: You think people would say, “Morrissey’s sold out” and give up on you?

Morrissey: Yes, I do, I do. And rightly so. But if that’s what [John Lydon] wants to do, and he feels he can get away with it, it’s really up to him. I did think it was very odd. Very odd. Also he’s appeared on I’m a Celebrity. Very dangerous ground. But people always seem to forgive him. He’s one of those people who are always forgiven and always accepted back into his original position of wherever he was in 1976. And there are certain people like that: David Bowie, etc. You forget all the bad things they’ve done. And some of them are very shocking. Nobody can remember the television commercial Bowie did for Pepsi Cola with Tina Turn-off. Do you remember that? It was shocking. And you would think that anybody of integrity would lose everything overnight. Which he didn’t. And people still think of him in terms of 1972. And that seems to prevail. And it’s the same with John Lydon. People still think of him in terms of 1976.


Daily Telegraph: Why do you think you wouldn’t be forgiven for doing a TV advert?

Morrissey: I don’t think I’m ever forgiven for anything, which is baffling because I’m not on TV that much. But I seem to be in a very unforgiving position all the time. I’m used to it now. It scarred me a little bit. It’s turned me into somebody who’s necessarily defensive. But if you examine my history it’s not that surprising, really. I’ve been pilloried so many times that I begin to expect it now. And there it is.
 
Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

I think I mentioned selling out on page one of this thread. It's not that bad, actually. The song is different enough from the original that it doesn't spoil the original, if that makes sense. Same with that Stop Me cover a few years ago. The people going mental about consumerism blah blah blah are the same types who sent Mark Ronson death threats (and he's still walking the streets). All talk, these Smiths die-hards.
 
I'm not. I killed Mark Ronson stone dead. That fella walking around now is just an imposter.
 
Will Morrissey and Marr finally get that no. 1 hit with one of their songs they've always wanted?
 
Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

Um, no. It's actually a fairly clever interpretation of the lyrics. "Lord knows it would be the first time..." IE, the child's first gift to his parents.

As I see it, what the song tells stems from somebody realising that it is impossible to ever get what one wants or if one does get it, it doesn't last. This edge of keen melancholy feels out of place in a child's world where even a somewhat anxious anticipation is tinged with joy - especially this new version evokes very bleak scenarios that are at odds with that the ad shows.
 
Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

I wonder how much of a factor it was that Morrissey knew that as songwriters he and Johnny would be paid an absolute fortune, and Joyce would get absolutely nothing. Maybe after Joyce getting all his royalties from the Smiths' reissues he figured it was payback time?

Absolutely no factor at all, but congratulations for being the first idiot to bring Mike into the topic.
If M&M were that concerned about Mike getting royalties, would they issue all the box sets that recently went on sale???? Move on, the only people with sour grapes of the ''Mike'' issue is plebs like you.
 
A pity they are using such an iconic and wonderful song for somthing so trivial as consumism. Pathetic! It's my favourite song and I feel sad they are using it for this. It's an awful version. At least they are not using the original!! I won't be buying my presents at John Lewis! Boicot them!
 
This...



And has anybody else noticed the passing resemblance between the boy in the advert and Moz as a child?
Take a look at 1:14 in this clip.

Here is the video for the cover version (which is pretty good by the way)...



I didn't particularly like Stop Me... becoming commercially successful through Mark Ronson, however this is different. This song, this particular version of the song, deserves to get to number 1 (and so does the original, of course ;)).
 
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Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

Daily Telegraph: Why do you think you wouldn’t be forgiven for doing a TV advert?

Morrissey: I don’t think I’m ever forgiven for anything, which is baffling because I’m not on TV that much. But I seem to be in a very unforgiving position all the time. I’m used to it now. It scarred me a little bit. It’s turned me into somebody who’s necessarily defensive. But if you examine my history it’s not that surprising, really. I’ve been pilloried so many times that I begin to expect it now. And there it is.

He also said numerous times in interviews that there are the many people who will always stay with him. I thought this strange but it is obvious that they are the ones who share his ideological view of the world.
 
I Love it, Great Advert.
Does it really matter if they have cashed in? I would, given the choice.
Show me the money.
Great song, Let it be heard.
 
Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

As I see it, what the song tells stems from somebody realising that it is impossible to ever get what one wants or if one does get it, it doesn't last. This edge of keen melancholy feels out of place in a child's world where even a somewhat anxious anticipation is tinged with joy - especially this new version evokes very bleak scenarios that are at odds with that the ad shows.

The Telegraph - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/en...finally-sell-out/story-e6frexl9-1226194012082 - dug up what appears to be a Rough Trade video which features the boy actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, in Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959) directed by Francois Truffaut. The spirit of it ties in strikingly with the ad -
 
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Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

Where did this, the artist must not allow there work to be used by advertisers mentality come from? It's a rediculous notion, why shouldn't musicians sell there wares to anyone who wants it as long as it's not being used by someone to sell something he doesn't agree with, I could understand an uproar if Mcdonalds wanted to use a Smiths track but other than that Why not?
 
I liked the ad with "This Charming Man" and, although I was surprised when I first saw this advert yesterday, I think it's charming. Brought tears to my eyes....I have three young sons so it moved me...awww! Been a Smiths/Morrissey fan since the beginning. Times change, life moves on, I'm no longer a "back bedroom casualty"...is it all about money or just a chance to get the music heard? I would say the latter, otherwise why do artists play festivals? I hope people who don't realise it's a Smiths song appreciate them once they do realise. Won't be shopping at John Lewis though, no matter how clever their ads are!
 
Re: Article: Morrissey allows John Lewis to use Smiths track for Christmas ad campaig

The Telegraph - http://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/en...finally-sell-out/story-e6frexl9-1226194012082 - dug up what appears to be a Rough Trade video which features the boy actor Jean-Pierre Léaud, in Les Quatre Cents Coups (1959) directed by Francois Truffaut. The spirit of it ties in strikingly with the ad -

Thanks for the link and the very suiting video. The 400 Blows is a fantastic film, and ties in quite well indeed, but it doesn't exactly make the ad more cheerful as this association only emphasises the dreariness lingering behind the song.
 
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