My Favorite Morrissey Line...

[Math Tinder]

Is it just me or do most of the favorite line come from the Smiths? I dunno, I guess I was a bit suprised by that being that he has twice the solo material as he did with the Smiths. But after a bit of thought, the Smiths holds most of the teenage angst that many of us attach(ed) to...

zom

For me zom, his lyrics from Smiths songs seem generally more quotable. Because they're largely more writerly (imho), their meaning is more portable. In his solo work, at least for me, so much of the meaning hinges on his delivery. Especially the songs on Ringleader. A line like 'Let's face it, soon I will be dead' means the world and a half when he intones it, but typed and read onscreen, it loses a lot of its power. More and more, as his career progresses, the power of his singing comes from his incredibly unique delivery, and less from the words he chooses. That's how it goes for me anyway.

xo, math+

 

[Worm]

For me zom, his lyrics from Smiths songs seem generally more quotable. Because they're largely more writerly (imho), their meaning is more portable. In his solo work, at least for me, so much of the meaning hinges on his delivery. Especially the songs on Ringleader. A line like 'Let's face it, soon I will be dead' means the world and a half when he intones it, but typed and read onscreen, it loses a lot of its power. More and more, as his career progresses, the power of his singing comes from his incredibly unique delivery, and less from the words he chooses. That's how it goes for me anyway.

xo, math+

Absolutely 100% correct!

Greatest example of this, in my mind, is "The Teachers Are Afraid of The Pupils" which has a spine-tingling delivery of very basic lyrics. At some point he must have sensed his real power and consciously transitioned from being a singer performing written lyrics to just singing. I'd put that right around "Your Arsenal", which, tellingly, was the first album not to have a lyric sheet, IIRC.

 

[stressford poet]

so why do you smile when you think about earls court?


i lost my bag in newport pagnell!!!!

 

[Bride of Chucky]

Have you ever escaped from a shipwrecked life

I am a ghost, and as far as I know, I havent even died

And the whole of meat is murder

Oh and the whole of trouble loves me

This is really hard to narrow down.

 

[Modcon]

"Leather elbows on a tweed coat, is that the best you can do?"

Alsatian Cousin

 

[lilybett]

"I smoke cos I'm hoping for an early death"

"I was happy in the haze of a drunken hour, but heaven knows I'm miserable now"

"I've been dreaming of a time when the English are sick to death of Labour and Tories
And spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell
And denounce this royal line"

"And if you have 5 seconds to spare, then I'll tell you the story of my life:
(21), clumsy and shy: that's the story of my life"

"Show me a barrel and watch me scrape it"

"I've been shifting gears all of my life, but I'm still the same, underneath"

"Oh, mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head...
...it takes strength to be gentle and kind"

"I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar then it meant that you were a protest singer" haha

and the way he sings "Am I still ill? Oh, no!" on 'Rank' kills me every time I hear it.

 

[lilybett]

this could go on all night

"Leave me alone, you have just proved - again:
Most people keep their brains between their legs"

"You're the one for me, fatty"!

"The fabric of a tutu, any man could get used to
And I am the living sign"!

"And as it comes around to your place at 5am,
Wakes you up and it laughs in your face"

"Sister, I'm a poet"!

"And when darknesss lifts and the room is bright, I'll still be by your side
For you are all that matters And I'll love you to till the day I die"

 

[veradicere]

From Heaven Knows I'm Miserable now:

Why do I smile at people who I'd much rather kick in they eye

I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable now


I REALLY connected with this song when I was stuck in a dead end job I hated (with people I hated) simply because the money Surely he wrote this while working at Inland Revenue.

 

[lilybett]

From Heaven Knows I'm Miserable now:

Why do I smile at people who I'd much rather kick in they eye

I was looking for a job and then I found a job and heaven knows I'm miserable now


I REALLY connected with this song when I was stuck in a dead end job I hated (with people I hated) simply because the money Surely he wrote this while working at Inland Revenue.

I read they wrote it on some miserable tour, holed up in a dingy hotel room. Morrissey was quoted as saying that song was the "only good thing" to come out of that tour.

But then, an awful lot of shit is written about Morrissey.

That was the song that really connected me to The Smiths, too.

 

[bona2vada]

Well I wonder
do you hear me when you sleep?
I hoarsely cry

Same song:

Gasping, dying, but somehow still alive
this is the final stand of all i am

Never fails to make me cry

and...

In the half light
so English frowning
but then at midnight I
can't get you out of my head

and so many many more...

 

[Samson]

I can't remember if this one has been posted :

Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me
No hope no harm
Just another false alarm


And I've recently found this one :

I am two people
One you know but don't like
The other one you don't know but you don't want to

 

[Summal]

Today my favorite is:

"A jumped up pantry boy, who never new his place. He said "Return the ring""

"I would go out tonight, but I haven't got a stitch to wear."

The whole song actually.
Do you think we will ever see Morrissey play it live?

 

[Maid@ Vale Lover]

I've come to wish You an unhappy birthday
I've come to wish You an unhappy birthday
because You're evil
and You lie
and if You should die
I may feel slightly sad
(but I won't cry)

 

[Girlfriend]

My favourite line is from 'America Is Not The World'

"And I love you, I love you, I love you............

Makes me go queezy all over! :

How apt aye?!

 

[William Fisher]

OH MOTHER, I CAN FEEL THE SOIL FALLING OVER MY HEAD.

Best lyric by anyone, ever.

 

[jossu]

this is the latest (I guess)

"I see the world
it makes me puke
but then I look at you
and know that somewhere there's a someone who can soothe me.."

 

[jossu]

and of course my signature

 

[zom]

...a lopsided grin, strained to keep the shyness in...

zom

 

[Pervomartovtsi]

most of em for being autobiographical

On trouble loves me

"and then at midnight time I can't get you out of my head"


On Life is a pigsty

"and i'd been shifting gears all along my life"(that entonation,that emotion, it makes me shiver)

On Rusholme ruffians

"scratch my name on your arm witha fountain pen, this means you rally love me"

On Is it really so strange?

"I got confused I killed a horse,but can't help the way I feel cuz I love you"

On this things take time

"this things take time, I know that I'm the most inept that ever stepped"

On alsatian cousin

"were you and he lovers? and if you were then SAY THAT YOU WERE!"

On I'd love to

"again I lay awake and I cried because of waste I'd love to,but only with you"

On Maladjusted

"loot wine ,be mine ,and then let's stay out for the night"

the whole You've got everything now

On Speedway

"On my own sick way I always stayed true to you"


well I could continue forever...

 

[alainsane]

"if you don't like me, then...don't look at me"