Stop giving out about the band murdering This Charming Man

[mozmic_dancer]

It's quite amusing when anonymous posters on the main board claim Jesse uses power chords in the song simply because he can't play Marr's riff.

They seemingly forget that the band plays it exactly how Morrissey wants it to be played. It's really no surprise that a rocking version of This Charming Man has sufficed, given that we're currently in the "Refusal" era -- an era with loud guitars and distorted bass as the band's signature sound. If Morrissey wanted it played exactly like the original, Boz and company would do it. Any doubters should hear the live rendition of Still Ill a few years back.

Exactly. Today's audiences seem more upset if a song is not played exactly like it is on the record. It's that kind of attitude that encourages lesser artists to lipsync their songs because they believe that is what the audience demands.

The Smiths didn't feel compelled to play every song like they had on the record. You might not like how they play it, but that's their choice, not that they don't know how to play it.

 

[DipYourHeadInAVatOfGhee]

Ok, I get the argument that it's a deliberately different style, it's what he/they want to play, they're putting a different spin on it, etc etc.

But this arrangement is the musical equivalent of your slightly sad uncle getting a stud in his ear to keep himself looking cool.

The bar has been set so low by this version, I wonder how Morrissey could possibly arrange this song so that it actually makes people here engage their critical faculties.

"Oh, it's just a new version. You must understand he wants to do a version like Shed Seven rather than the Smiths. If you hate it so much, why listen to it?"

 

[luie]

The music sounds like Morrisseys band actually. The singer is not good... The lyrics are off too... whats up with that? haha
oh and that into is really bad

 

[nothappynotsad]

Well, what's wrong with putting a different spin on a great song anyway? I don't think it's supposed to surpass the original. I really don't see what the problem is. If you don't like it, then don't listen to it.

Well said. I'd just be happy to hear him sing it live.

 

[Abrahan]

personally, i think its all the power chords that are used in live versions of TCM that ruin it.

they can't all be:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLr_u44lBec

 

[Rowntree]

Ok, I get the argument that it's a deliberately different style, it's what he/they want to play, they're putting a different spin on it, etc etc.

But this arrangement is the musical equivalent of your slightly sad uncle getting a stud in his ear to keep himself looking cool.

The bar has been set so low by this version, I wonder how Morrissey could possibly arrange this song so that it actually makes people here engage their critical faculties.

"Oh, it's just a new version. You must understand he wants to do a version like Shed Seven rather than the Smiths. If you hate it so much, why listen to it?"

That's the way I see it. Morrissey does loads of songs with different musical slants/lyrics and that's great. This Charming Man is the only re-working of a Smiths song that I've heard that I think is really poor. The OP was right that he's copied another band's version of his song but why? They absolutely murdered it.

 

[Rupert]

I personally really love the arrangement, especially how it builds at the chorus, and thought it made the perfect opener. I would love that Marr line to be a part of it, but I think it does work without...that incredible bassline just about makes up for it. However, I'm not sure about it being the final song. I'll make my mind up in Stoke, if the set remains the same.

 

[mcrickson]

I personally really love the arrangement, especially how it builds at the chorus, and thought it made the perfect opener. I would love that Marr line to be a part of it, but I think it does work without...that incredible bassline just about makes up for it. However, I'm not sure about it being the final song. I'll make my mind up in Stoke, if the set remains the same.

Now having Johnny cameo on even just ONE performance playing that riff..I would be a-okay with that.

 

[DavidA]

I haven't listened to a Morrissey gig in perhaps a decade or two, but I've listened to Smiths gigs every week. It was interested to hear his set at Glastonbury. I thought his vocals were excellent and still had great delivery. His stage presence wasn't quite as it was in the day, but some time has passed for us all and besides, he was singing in a rainy field in Somerset.

I thought The Charming Man was dire though. I'm all for a new arrangement, but with three guitars couldn't they come up with something a bit more interesting than a half-hearted chord progression? It lacked the lightness and humour of the original arrangement. It sounded like a version for football terraces. But hey, horses for courses I suppose.

Abrahan, the world has enough power chords. Can't they all be like that YouTube clip?

 

[Qvist]

Sorry, but I don't think that flies. TCM is a Smiths song, no matter what they are trying to do, and they do it crap. Possibly DCC do it just as badly, I have no idea and I don't care.

Still made me ecstatic to hear it though.

 

[Sim Tappertit]

The issue I and others have with his This Charming Man is that it's not the right chords as his band play it. Sorry if this sounds all muso but it's true.

They stay on the same verse chord for too long. When he sings "I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear", in the Smiths original the chord changes/goes up on "stitch" and then again on "wear". The current live version holds for too long and only changes up on "wear" missing out an inbetween chord.

If you look on tab sites you can clearly see this.
The verse chords should go something like - E > Bsus4 > F#m/C#
The current version goes - E > > > F#m/C#
Missing out that transitionary chord of Bsus4 makes all the difference. Changing his own words is one thing but the version he's playing does quite literally take liberties with the music as Marr wrote it.

 

[CougarFrog]

Does Morrissey change the music to avoid paying royalties to certain people ?

 

[mcrickson]

Does Morrissey change the music to avoid paying royalties to certain people ?

It's not as if one can't recognize that the song they are playing is "This Charming Man." He's been crediting Johnny Marr on live recordings for years now.

The issue I and others have with his This Charming Man is that it's not the right chords as his band play it. Sorry if this sounds all muso but it's true.

They stay on the same verse chord for too long. When he sings "I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear", in the Smiths original the chord changes/goes up on "stitch" and then again on "wear". The current live version holds for too long and only changes up on "wear" missing out an inbetween chord.

If you look on tab sites you can clearly see this.
The verse chords should go something like - E > Bsus4 > F#m/C#
The current version goes - E > > > F#m/C#
Missing out that transitionary chord of Bsus4 makes all the difference. Changing his own words is one thing but the version he's playing does quite literally take liberties with the music as Marr wrote it.

The issue I have with your post is that the "ultimate-guitar tab" that you are relying so heavily upon isn't even right.
Furthermore, listen to Johnny play the rhythm guitar in this video:



Bar the fact that Morrissey's current band are playing the power chord variations of the chords and that Johnny is playing the straight chords, Morrissey's current band and Johnny Marr are playing the exact same thing here. Effectively, this is the "rhythm version" of the song, whereas the original recording was Johnny's "treble version."

 

[mozzerdimpaler]

Its a rubbish version of a great song - end of.

 

[Stanley the 2nd]

"its target market appears to be people who heard the Smiths and thought: if only this stuff was less beautifully nuanced and original, a bit more ungainly and predictable, then we'd really be getting somewhere."