Song/Lyric Meanings...

[Zenith Nadir]

I'm glad you concur.

Alma Matters....?

Well it's one of two things:
[a] Reference to Alma an ex-character from Coronation Street
or
A vision of the future re: Princess Diana, which I'm sure you all read the consipiracy theories on a long time ago on this site?

B! Surely! mjp? Anyone...

Unleaked fact. On the morning of her death, Dodi had actually said to her, "When will you? Di? Convenient homonym, or eerie prediction. You decide. The whole thing is just way too spooky for me. I must go and rest for a little while, to calm down and practice my breathing techniques.

 

[Still Tired]

I thought it was about suicide at first, but what about the "dawn raid" and "kicking down the stairs"? could it maybe be about a jealousy murder???

I think that the ‘dawn raid’ relates to a sudden awareness of a situation- of becoming illuminated about something which he likens to the light of dawn rushing in. So not a physical force, but just in his mind realising- whether he’s talking about a specifically personal situation or as Rogan suggests, his place in the music industry- how it’s all gone bad and he’s become disillusioned.

The ‘kick me down the stairs’ line I always loved, I take it that he’s talking about dying and how he’ll obviously be descending to hell, and not only that but he’s being thrown down in such a violent fashion. And as we’re apparently supposed to see flashes of our lives before we die, all he sees are the people who have made his life miserable. Such a sad idea.

So I think it's not specifically about suicide, but is using the metaphor of dying to describe the end of something that once bought him pleasure- be that life/ a relationship/ his career.

 

[Roma De Moz]

The Never Played Symphonies? What do people think?

To me this song is wonderful closure to an epic and dramatic music career, even if he has continued recording music since. Morrissey evokes the image of death and dying as both literal, and metaphorical for his pop career.

"Reflecting from my death bed
I'm balancing life's riches, against the ditches
And the flat grey years in-between"

Here, Morrissey is contemplating if it was all worth it; he has earned 'life's riches' - a place in pop history, the fans, the admiration - and wondering if it could outweigh the 'ditches' - anything from the hostility from the music press, racism accusations, music politics etc. 'The flat grey years' as Morrissey calls them, I take to mean either depression or some other unknown, personal trouble. It's likely just to be his world view he is evoking in the last line, nevertheless, this opening hinges on the contemplative.

"All I can see is the never laid -
That's the never played, symphonies"

The tone changes here: Morrissey rebukes the meditative, introspective mood of the opening verse by making an assertion; all he can see is 'the never played symphonies'. What's strange about this is the correction he makes from 'laid' to 'played', and what this signifies. I always took this to be a pun; 'never laid' translating literally as 'never been laid', Morrissey is telling us that all he can see is his former celibacy, and he looks on it with regret. It's a fitting, witty lyrical trick; Morrissey oscillates between the introspective and the boorish.

The song continues with some more of the sullen world view evident in the opening verse:

"Black sky in the daytime
And I don't much mind dying
When there is nothing left, to care for
Any more"

I feel that the 'black sky in the daytime' is a reference to England, and English weather. 'Dying' could obviously mean literal death, based on the image of an elderly Morrissey on his death bed, but based on the whole passage, it can be rightly taken to mean the death of his pop career and status as musician. 'There is nothing to care for anymore' echoes Morrissey's sentiments of the modern state of music, and his own inability to exist in it or alongside it.

Other passages continue the contrast between sullen, world-weary introspection and sexual regret by utilizing word play:

"Your one, you knew you were one
And you slipped right through my fingers
No, not literally, but metaphorically
And now your all I see, as the light fades"

The 'one' mentioned in the song could be a particular object of desire in Morrissey's life, or symbolic of many people that romantically 'slipped right through' the singers fingers. The correction of 'not literally, but metaphorically' is once again an intentional sexual reference; the image of unfulfilled physical union. The final line confirms the final thoughts and focus of the dying protagonist; 'as the light fades' from his life, he can only see the unrequited loves and romantic attractions in his life, and dies in regret, not fulfilment.

The song is a quintessential piece of Moz genius and one of my favourite tracks. This concludes Roma De Moz's analysis.

 

[slum mum 1974]

I see this track is how i will be when i am lying on my deathbed, never mind Morrissey. His lyrics (although you think they are about him) are how i imagine i will feel.

"Your one, you knew you were one
And you slipped right through my fingers
No, not literally, but metaphorically
And now your all I see, as the light fades"

"The 'one' mentioned in the song could be a particular object of desire in Morrissey's life, or symbolic of many people that romantically 'slipped right through' the singers fingers. The correction of 'not literally, but metaphorically' is once again an intentional sexual reference; the image of unfulfilled physical union. The final line confirms the final thoughts and focus of the dying protagonist; 'as the light fades' from his life, he can only see the unrequited loves and romantic attractions in his life, and dies in regret, not fulfilment."

What you put there is probably one of the most poignant things i've read. All i have to do is change the name Morrissey to 'my' and it's how i will feel.

 

[lilikoi]

I think that the ‘dawn raid’ relates to a sudden awareness of a situation- of becoming illuminated about something which he likens to the light of dawn rushing in. So not a physical force, but just in his mind realising- whether he’s talking about a specifically personal situation or as Rogan suggests, his place in the music industry- how it’s all gone bad and he’s become disillusioned.

The ‘kick me down the stairs’ line I always loved, I take it that he’s talking about dying and how he’ll obviously be descending to hell, and not only that but he’s being thrown down in such a violent fashion. And as we’re apparently supposed to see flashes of our lives before we die, all he sees are the people who have made his life miserable. Such a sad idea.

So I think it's not specifically about suicide, but is using the metaphor of dying to describe the end of something that once bought him pleasure- be that life/ a relationship/ his career.

I don't believe all these songs are so autobiographical. The last lines suggest otherwise. His mother didn't think he was a loser - she was supportive of everything he did. And he never had bosses since he never worked...

 

[slum mum 1974]

didn't he have a couple of jobs, tax office and hospital like his dad, although it wasn't for long. sorry i'll butt out

 

[Roma De Moz]

I don't believe all these songs are so autobiographical. The last lines suggest otherwise. His mother didn't think he was a loser - she was supportive of everything he did. And he never had bosses since he never worked...

He worked as a Hospital Porter for a short while, but turned in his resignation after refusing an order to scrub the blood of a pair of boots. It was the same job title as his Dad. He also worked for the Inland Revenue for a brief spasm of time, funnily enough, but soon quit that job as well. So yes, he did have bosses. 'Bosses' and employment was a basis for 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' after all.

 

[lilikoi]

He worked as a Hospital Porter for a short while, but turned in his resignation after refusing an order to scrub the blood of a pair of boots. It was the same job title as his Dad. He also worked for the Inland Revenue for a brief spasm of time, funnily enough, but soon quit that job as well. So yes, he did have bosses. 'Bosses' and employment was a basis for 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' after all.

I still don't think that his songs are so autobiographical! and I certainly don't think that most of them deal with him and the music industry that's been oh so mean to him.

that would be quite - ahem - dull - wouldn't it?

I see much more intersting stories in these songs - inspired from the many books he read, I think.

and neverplayed symphonies, to me, is very selfexplanatory. to me it's simply a song about how people are obsessed with what they didn't get but fail to cherish what they had.

 

[Still Tired]

I don't believe all these songs are so autobiographical. The last lines suggest otherwise. His mother didn't think he was a loser - she was supportive of everything he did. And he never had bosses since he never worked...

I always considered Friday Mourning to be a very autobiographical song, maybe I'm wrong but that's my feeling about it. I think he's just talking broadly about how throughout his life- from being a child with teachers disapproving of him, to being a teen with parents being the ones to question him and finally, as an adult he still feels he's being pulled down by his 'bosses', whether that was his very short-term early jobs or the music labels. And maybe these are his own internal demons anyway, perhaps these people never actually expressed negativity towards him but it's his own doubts and insecurities of how he felt he was seen with people never believing in him or his potential. It's just describing the idea of always working against the grain and never feeling accepted by people or capable of pleasing them.

 

[Lost]

I think that the ‘dawn raid’ relates to a sudden awareness of a situation- of becoming illuminated about something which he likens to the light of dawn rushing in. So not a physical force, but just in his mind realising- whether he’s talking about a specifically personal situation or as Rogan suggests, his place in the music industry- how it’s all gone bad and he’s become disillusioned.

The ‘kick me down the stairs’ line I always loved, I take it that he’s talking about dying and how he’ll obviously be descending to hell, and not only that but he’s being thrown down in such a violent fashion. And as we’re apparently supposed to see flashes of our lives before we die, all he sees are the people who have made his life miserable. Such a sad idea.

So I think it's not specifically about suicide, but is using the metaphor of dying to describe the end of something that once bought him pleasure- be that life/ a relationship/ his career.

I've always considered the 'dawn raid' as him being arrested for something very 'dodgy' and the police kick him down the stairs.
Tie this in with morrissey's comment about going to prison on the Earl's Court live CD and ....well i wonder

 

[Please]

He worked as a Hospital Porter for a short while, but turned in his resignation after refusing an order to scrub the blood of a pair of boots. It was the same job title as his Dad. He also worked for the Inland Revenue for a brief spasm of time, funnily enough, but soon quit that job as well. So yes, he did have bosses. 'Bosses' and employment was a basis for 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now' after all.

he also has had bosses in the music industry i.e. 'The boy with the thorn in his side' and 'frankly mr shankly'

 

[nightandday]

Wow....that song was written for and about me, my favourite part was
'i broke into your room - i broke down in my room
touched your belongings there - and left a lock of my hair
another sign for you

you screamed into my face get the hell out of my place
another sign for me? can you forgive me?
for not understanding your ways'


Oh how true!

Do you like Siouxsie and the Banshees? Do you know the song "Suburban Relapse" from their first album? I think you might like that one, too.

sorry for being off topic, this belongs to Other Music.

 

[nightandday]

big mouth the 23rd? doesn't make that much sense...

I thought it was about suicide at first, but what about the "dawn raid" and "kicking down the stairs"? could it maybe be about a jealousy murder???

It's very interesting to read all those different intepretations of songs. I guess the meaning is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not going to discuss whether this or any other one of Morrissey's songs is autobiographical or not, so let's put that aside. I never took 'dawn raid' or 'kicking down the stairs' in the literal sense, so I never thought it could be about suicide or murder. I didn't think he was arrested either. Why is he dressed in black, anyway? The title says it's because he's in mourning (pun - morning = mourning), but what exactly for? Someone or something has died, but who or what? I always thought it was something.

I have to say that my interpretation was very simple, I just thought of it as a love song, and that it's about spending a night with someone you love but then leaving them in the morning. I thought that the narrator is someone who has been scarred in their youth and therefore has become unable to open up and connect to people and have relationships. He (let's just call the narrator a 'he' this time, it's easier, although I'm not saying that it has to be Morrissey, but it could be...) may appear very 'smug', but even after many years, this insecurity has never left him:

"And I will never stand naked
In front of you, or if I do
It won't be for a long time
Look once to me
Look once to me-then look away
Look once to me-then look away..."

"And as when they kick me down the stairs
I see the faces all lined up before me
Of teachers and of parents
And bosses, who
All share a point of view
"you are a loser
you are a loser" "

He says to the other person that he's been warning them for years - what of? Maybe that he's really unable to give and receive love and that it could never work.

"Friday mourning
I'm dressed in black
Douse the houselights
I'm not coming back
For years I warned you
Through tears I told you..."

The 'dawn raid' could just mean that the morning, the new day, suddenly makes everything seem different, and all the things that seemed possible at night (the time when feelings and passions often get unleashed) don't seem possible in the cold light of day, in the morning (the time to be rational and think of the future).

"This dawn raid
Soon put paid to all the things
I whispered to you at night time"

So, the morning (mourning) means the death of hope that love could be really realized. I didn't think that anybody is literally kicking him downstairs - it's just something inside him, something that he maybe can't control, is making him unable to have relationships; and it appears to him in the guise of all the people who have doubted him during his life - parents, teachers, bosses - who seem to be kicking him downstairs and forcing him to leave.

 

[Lost]

It's very interesting to read all those different intepretations of songs. I guess the meaning is in the eye of the beholder. I'm not going to discuss whether this or any other one of Morrissey's songs is autobiographical or not, so let's put that aside. I never took 'dawn raid' or 'kicking down the stairs' in the literal sense, so I never thought it could be about suicide or murder. I didn't think he was arrested either. Why is he dressed in black, anyway? The title says it's because he's in mourning (pun - morning = mourning), but what exactly for? Someone or something has died, but who or what? I always thought it was something.

I have to say that my interpretation was very simple, I just thought of it as a love song, and that it's about spending a night with someone you love but then leaving them in the morning. I thought that the narrator is someone who has been scarred in their youth and therefore has become unable to open up and connect to people and have relationships. He (let's just call the narrator a 'he' this time, it's easier, although I'm not saying that it has to be Morrissey, but it could be...) may appear very 'smug', but even after many years, this insecurity has never left him:

"And I will never stand naked
In front of you, or if I do
It won't be for a long time
Look once to me
Look once to me-then look away
Look once to me-then look away..."

"And as when they kick me down the stairs
I see the faces all lined up before me
Of teachers and of parents
And bosses, who
All share a point of view
"you are a loser
you are a loser" "

He says to the other person that he's been warning them for years - what of? Maybe that he's really unable to give and receive love and that it could never work.

"Friday mourning
I'm dressed in black
Douse the houselights
I'm not coming back
For years I warned you
Through tears I told you..."

The 'dawn raid' could just mean that the morning - the new day, the time to think rationally about the future - suddenly makes everything seem different, and all the things that seemed possible at night (the time when feelings and passions often get unleashed) don't seem possible in the cold light of day, in the morning (the time to be rational and think of the future).

"This dawn raid
Soon put paid to all the things
I whispered to you at night time"

So, the morning (mourning) means the death of hope that love could be really realized. I didn't think that anybody is literally kicking him downstairs - it's just something inside him, something that he maybe can't control, is making him unable to have relationships; and it appears to him in the guise of all the people who have doubted him during his life - parents, teachers, bosses - who seem to be kicking him downstairs and forcing him to leave.

Yes, i like that interpretation.....the death of a relationship....someone saying...or more to the point realising...."I can't do this anymore", but feeling guilty about it to the extent that it brings back all the old surpressed feelings of inadequacy, being a failure and a lack of self-worth.

 

[Claudia2006]

The Never Played Symphonies? What do people think?

First, I LOVE this song. But I find it so sad I can hardly listen to it.

I tend to read it very literally and, probably, simplistically. I think it's possible the "you" in the song, the one(s) who slips through his fingers, might be people who make it up on stage with him and who, for a brief moment, shower him with love and affection and then disappear. He says:

And you jumped into my face
And laughed and kissed me on the cheek
And then were gone

At some point it occurred to me that this perfectly describes what happens when people invade the stage. He might be saying when it's all over these people, with whom he had the briefest but most perfectly loving and affectionate interaction, are the ones he will be thinking about. And he makes the comparison between this person (people?) and the ones who know him better and are actually closer to him when he says:

I can't see those who tried to love me
Or those who felt they understood me
And I can't see those who
Very patiently
Put up with me

I think the "never played symphonies" could refer to what he imagines might have happened between the stage invaders (or any one/number of people who love him that he's met over the years) and him, given more time and different circumstances.

To me this really is one of the saddest songs he's ever written, because he sounds so resigned to isolation. The above stanza where he mentions "those who very patiently put up with me" is one of the most poignant things I've ever read. He's acknowledging that there are people who try to be close to him & love him, as opposed to loving him from a distance. By mentioning the people who are close to him in this way, it's like he's also acknowledging that they deserve better than he thinks he can give them.

Now I've managed to make myself quite depressed just thinking about this and typing this. This song honestly breaks my heart.

 

[nightandday]

First, I LOVE this song. But I find it so sad I can hardly listen to it.

I tend to read it very literally and, probably, simplistically.

Sometimes the literal and 'simplistic' interpretations are the best. I didn't think about the song that way, but now that I've read your interpretation, it makes perfect sense. It sounds like someone thinking about their life and wondering about all the things that could have been, and then wondering "who knows, maybe one of these people I've seen only for a few seconds and never actually gotten to know could have been the right one".

 

[lilikoi]

First, I LOVE this song. But I find it so sad I can hardly listen to it.

I tend to read it very literally and, probably, simplistically. I think it's possible the "you" in the song, the one(s) who slips through his fingers, might be people who make it up on stage with him and who, for a brief moment, shower him with love and affection and then disappear. He says:

And you jumped into my face
And laughed and kissed me on the cheek
And then were gone

At some point it occurred to me that this perfectly describes what happens when people invade the stage.

that this song should be about him and his fans and stage invaders is the last thing that comes to my mind - lol.

first of all - thow he is 47, I doubt that when he sings about someone who is about to die he means himself. at 47 you're hardly laying on your deathbed, hopefully.
to me this song is about a very old person refelcting on their life.

and kiss me on the cheek - well - I would say that means this person he was in love with only wanted friendship and he wanted more and regrest that it never happened.
"never laid symphonies" - I don't think he regrets that he "never laid" all these stage invaders - really - because - why would he - they would all be very willing anyway!

 

[nightandday]

first of all - thow he is 47, I doubt that when he sings about someone who is about to die he means himself. at 47 you're hardly laying on your deathbed, hopefully.
to me this song is about a very old person refelcting on their life.

That should apply to a few songs from ROTT where he mentions death and 'final hour of my life' - but that hasn't stopped people calling ROTT autobiographical.

 

[lilikoi]

That should apply to a few songs from ROTT where he mentions death and 'final hour of my life' - but that hasn't stopped people calling ROTT autobiographical.

yes, I know! I think people seems to want to believe it's ALL autobiographical.

 

[Still Tired]

That should apply to a few songs from ROTT where he mentions death and 'final hour of my life' - but that hasn't stopped people calling ROTT autobiographical.

I always thought the references to dying and ‘the final hour’ were more of a metaphysical description, and are in a similar vein to such lines as being ‘virtually dead’ and ‘gasping, dying, but somehow still alive’. It’s more a state of mind over something, not a physical deterioration but mental. So that could be dying inside over something, not living life to the full or just being so tired of everything it all may as well be over. The latter idea kind of being my interpretation of the attitude on Ringleader – particularly considering the tone of ‘At Last I Am Born’. But, I doubt many people agree with me so I’ll stop there!

And just to add, I think most anything somebody writes, especially something as intimate as song writing, can’t help but be autobiographical. If not in a literal sense, in the tone, the phrases used, and I’m sure lines are drawn in which refer to direct experiences from various sources and the sum of which construct a kind of cohesive narrative.