Reel Around The Fountain meaning....discuss

It could conceivably be about child molestation, although I doubt it.

I think it's relatively straightforward; a young (though not necessarily too young) person falls in love with a persuasive, and probably somewhat strange, older peer. The two carry on a brief and most likely clandestine romance that has a significant transformative influence on the younger individual's psyche. The relationship ends. They part ways.

It happens.
 
I think it's about a drunk, bald guy obsessed with a fat four-eyed guy.
 
Anonymous said:
I think it's about a drunk, bald guy obsessed with a fat four-eyed guy.
Click to expand...

Good one.

But I'm not that drunk, and he's not that fat.

Maybe it's about an anonymous banned loser?

Nah. Couldn't be.
 
It's been said that "reel around the fountain" is, or was at one time, a pretty blunt sexual metaphor (think of "reel" as a noun).
 
I get the feeling that dave.jay@ntlworld doesn't like this song. After all, this title of this one is quite obviously about oral sex.
 
Skylarker said:
It could conceivably be about child molestation, although I doubt it.

I think it's relatively straightforward; a young (though not necessarily too young) person falls in love with a persuasive, and probably somewhat strange, older peer. The two carry on a brief and most likely clandestine romance that has a significant transformative influence on the younger individual's psyche. The relationship ends. They part ways.

It happens.
Click to expand...

That. I'm not sure about the child molestation thing, though I admit I was considering it could be the theme of the song. Isn't it about a romance between a teacher and a student?
 
Coo-ee!!! S'only me....mind if I pop in ???

Firstly, and for the record, let it be known ...I am quite a fan of oral sex.

Secondly....and here we go again, some people seeing things that don't exist in Morrisseys lyrics...)

I have NO Idea where "Time out" get the idea that the phrase "Reel around the Fountain" was a "Nickname" for Oral activities.

I went to quite a lot( and I mean QUITE a Lot) of Gay bars in Liverpool during the late '70's -'80's( ...I still do..) The music was WAYYYY better back then in them.. They even played Smiths songs!!...unlike most Straight disco's, where you could easily get a smack just for being a Smiths fan anyway...), and I have/had NEVER heard that phrase used.....( "D'ya Fancy a gobble" was a much more commonly heard turn of phrase).
Maybe , In my defense, all the gay chaps used that phrase in my Un presence, but I had never heard it, ever, until the song with that title was released...Maybe it was different in New York, where the Timeout article is/was based..but then it does state that it was a UK phenomenon....

And, If it IS so specifically about oral action, can Someone, anyone, explain the line:-

"Meet me at the Fountain"....or are we to imply that Morrissey, ( Or the other Fountain posessor),in desperate need of a sucking-off, severed their own genitalia, and arranged to meet at the site where it/they lay ( obviously, with "Two lumps please" still attached...) so that he/she/LGBT/gender unknown could then be "Shoved". ???...I mean, without it still being connected to a groin, there would be NO Fluid of any sort to create a fountain ( well, maybe a bit of blood....)
Admit it, FFS, ..at the time it was released, even one critic slagged it off, ( name of critic unknown, sorry) as ( so he said..)...the song starts with the line " It's the time the tale were told etc X2", but then tells NO TALE at all....just a mish-mash of general romantic ideals and cliches that don't really say that much at all....BUT, in the songs defense, thats a quite difficult Drum pattern that Mike Joyce plays...
 
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DAVIE said:
I always thought "Reel" was an innocent song :o
Click to expand...

Someone agrees with you. "The record itself is protection because of its innocence" (Morrissey, September, 1983)

Which doesn't meant it isn't related to sex: the song is about "...loss of innocence, that until one has a physical commitment with another person, there's something childlike about the soul." (Morrissey, October, 1986)
 
looked at the whole list, quite a lame selection of songs, it does not even have Annie's song "Chewing Gum"
and I defo don't think "Reel..." should be on there...
 
"An early eighties term referring to male oral sex, popularised in the smiths song of the same title."

www.dictionaryslang.com/reel around the fountain

And from the David Bret book:

"...though it’s doubtful, when one considers his knowledge of Polari slang, that Morrissey may not have known that the title of his song was also a gay porndom term for oral sex (running the point of the tongue around the tip of the penis until ejaculation occurs)...”
 
Orson Swells said:
"An early eighties term referring to male oral sex, popularised in the smiths song of the same title."

www.dictionaryslang.com/reel around the fountain

And from the David Bret book:

"...though it’s doubtful, when one considers his knowledge of Polari slang, that Morrissey may not have known that the title of his song was also a gay porndom term for oral sex (running the point of the tongue around the tip of the penis until ejaculation occurs)...”
Click to expand...

I don't know enough about Polari to say whether Bret is right or wrong, but consider something. If "reel around the fountain" means what Bret says it does, then the whole song is an elaborate joke. The song's fragile beauty would exist solely as a private joke, a way for Morrissey to sneak a slangy phrase meaning fellatio, with overtones of porn or prostitution, into a song about the loss of innocence. Maybe that's the case, but Bret's interpretation is a radical one. I don't think it's possible to listen to "Reel Around The Fountain" and not understand that its emotional impact comes from the earnestness and devotion carried in its tone.

I'm not sure either way. I can definitely hear the phrase as Polari. It makes sense. But it also totally subverts the emotional key of the song. If Bret is right, then Marr was way off.
 
Orson Swells said:
And from the David Bret book:

"...though it’s doubtful, when one considers his knowledge of Polari slang, that Morrissey may not have known that the title of his song was also a gay porndom term for oral sex (running the point of the tongue around the tip of the penis until ejaculation occurs)...”
Click to expand...

Worm said:
I don't know enough about Polari to say whether Bret is right or wrong, but consider something. If "reel around the fountain" means what Bret says it does, then the whole song is an elaborate joke. The song's fragile beauty would exist solely as a private joke, a way for Morrissey to sneak a slangy phrase meaning fellatio, with overtones of porn or prostitution, into a song about the loss of innocence. Maybe that's the case, but Bret's interpretation is a radical one. I don't think it's possible to listen to "Reel Around The Fountain" and not understand that its emotional impact comes from the earnestness and devotion carried in its tone.

I'm not sure either way. I can definitely hear the phrase as Polari. It makes sense. But it also totally subverts the emotional key of the song. If Bret is right, then Marr was way off.
Click to expand...

David Bret is a well-known and very respected idiot who has never been even remotely right (outside of turning that way in his cheap automobile).
 
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