That is a really excellent article. Thanks for the link.
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... either the author is reading this page, or someone else has been emailing them to inform them of the mistake.
It's very tidy, but the song was written at latest in early 1993 and recorded that summer. By that timeline, we're back to 1981 which predated JM's first visit to Morrissey's house.
It may not refer to anyone real for all we know. The Melville reference could be a red herring.
Yes. There's a Melville collection called John Marr and Other Sailors. I told this to Johnny Rogan about twenty years ago and I'm pretty sure he mentioned it in one of his books.
True but I imagine it would have been written and recorded in the knowledge that V&I wasn't to be released until '94.
True but I imagine it would have been written and recorded in the knowledge that V&I wasn't to be released until '94.
The song to me is like the "bury the hatchet" conversation Morrissey wishes he could have with Marr, but of course is too stubborn to (although according to Autobiography they did patch things up, of sorts, at some point between the V&I era and the court case).
"I would lose both of my legs
Oh, if it meant you could be free"
It's like saying he would do anything to make peace with Marr and allow them both to shake off the bad blood between them.
"Don't leave us in the dark" - included as a direct message to Marr - "come and talk to me".
Morrissey of course has said that his songs are very personal to him and if Billy Budd isn't about Marr then I would be surprised.
I can't see anywhere on that article where it says it tells the story of the sessions. It does say that Bridgwood and Taylor offer their memories and Boorer offers additional comment.
Sorry to say but totally ignoring Alain Whyte , about Vauxhall makes me sad, Alain deserves more crtedit
Vauxhall is the only Morrissey or Smiths album that I still regularly listen to from beginning to end.
Interesting.
Billy Budd isn't in that collection (because it's not a poem) -- my guess is that Morrissey saw this particular book of collected works in which "John Marr" and "Billy Budd" are side by side and thought Budd's liked-by-everyone character was a fitting avatar.
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Was going to write the same thing. Morrissey is very aware of all details around a release.
I agree I think it was about Marr. I have heard Morrissey change the lyric "12 years on" to various other years when he has done this live and it coincides with around the time he and Marr met or at least released their first single. Lyrically this does sound like (to me) a sequel to 'Hand in Glove.'
Perhaps he wasn't available, or was unwilling to talk?
I don't think he was ignored, it just focused more on Boz's songwriting for the album.