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However, the song that Andre 3000 wishes he wrote is so far removed from the bombastic tones of tunes like ‘B.O.B. – Bombs Over Baghdad’ that it is hard to imagine the quote coming from the same man. Nevertheless, in 2003, the rap star told MTV: “I personally wish I would have written that Smiths song ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me.’ Genius song.”
As is often the case, it seems like romance imbued the track with a bit of extra personal depth for the star. “This girl named Hannah in Atlanta turned me on to them,” he continued, “because I was telling her that I loved The Hives and The Buzzcocks and she said, ‘Hey, you need to check these guys out.’”
Sombre yet somehow soaring thanks to
Johnny Marr’s magical guitar work, the track lives up to the title in such a way that raises a proud middle finger to Elvis Costello who once said, “Morrissey writes wonderful song titles, but sadly he often forgets to write the song.” On this occasion, however, with ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ he kept things simple and smiled a sorrowful smile in the face of his critics.
In fact, another artist with an eclectic taste, Mr David Bowie, also said that this is his favourite Smiths song. In 1992 he told GQ Magazine: “I still rate Morrissey as one of the
best lyricists in Britain.” And beyond the lyricism, there is plenty more on offer in the swirling soundscape of miner’s strike chants and tremolo fretwork.
As Marr once explained of the song: “It’s built around the guitar riff going round and round, the heart of it is the guitar riff but I orchestrated it using a keyboard and string sound. What I love about it is the drama in it – the drama sums up how I was feeling at the time.”
Continuing: “That song got written because at the core of it is a very melancholic and dramatic guitar riff that goes round and round and round. And first and foremost, amongst other particularly melancholic things in the Smiths, I hear myself in that. There’s a side of myself, an introspective side, and probably melancholic side, that comes out because I’m a musician.”