The Moz/Smiths Top 100, Part 246: IT'S NOT YOUR BIRTHDAY ANYMORE

How do you rate It's Not Your Birthday Anymore?


  • Total voters
    144
You should have done:
6sp.jpg

one of the above songs for your audition :straightface:

I would rather gargle razor blades.

P.
 
^ I agree.

9 from me. It's just that little teeny-tiny bit not as good as Speedway, Life Is A Pigsty and There Is A Light (my 10s).

Thank God, someone with a barometer! Although 9 is still too high. ;)

I know it's supposed to be the epic song on the record and I guess it is in its own right.... It's one of the only tracks I listen to on YoR, but it doesn't do much for me. The crescendo into the chorus is the best part as is the orgasmic 'oooh oooh oooh' that LuvMozzy mentioned.

The heart has a heart of its own? :rolleyes:
 
The Snow Patrol reference is spot on as the tune does smack of a cynical composition-by-numbers which limits my potential enjoyment. The vocal is good, but the drumming and vocal line jar in the chorus and the lyric could have been bettered by a good portion of the people on this site if they'd had the title to work with. Plus the 'right here right now' section is sadly rather graceless for a man once so adept at describing the pleasures of the flesh with poetic aplomb.

It's a 6 that is nearly a 7.
 
this is the strongest on the album. i would call it audio perfection. it's such a shame it was never released as a single. i'm sure it would have done really well.
 
this is the strongest on the album. i would call it audio perfection. it's such a shame it was never released as a single. i'm sure it would have done really well.

If the relatively radio friendly 'Something Is Squeezing My Skull' failed then I doubt that most radio stations would have listened to this song more than once, let alone ever played it.
 
I used to hate this song.. now I gave it an 8. I've been converted.

With me it's been a bit the other way around. It hit me immediately when I first listened to the album, but it hasn't really stayed with me.

Its strength lies in its anthem-like buildup and strong vocals, and a fundamentally appealing melody. The main drawback is to me the lyrics, which remain difficult to like. Granted, Moz has never been one to present himself in a rosy light in his lyrics, from the very beginning. But here he's practically revelling in being a crass, exploitative, manipulating bastard, and unlike in earlier songs, you're not left with the feeling that it's founded in irresistible attraction, ineptness, desperation or elemental hatred but rather that he could easily have chosen not to be, had he cared to. Full marks for forthrightness, but not easy to enjoy.

Whether that's the reason why I have found myself skipping it with increasing frequency, I really don't know. But I have. Still, it is a strong song, all in all. I found myself dithering between a 7 and an 8. Went for 8 in the end.

cheers
 
I dithered about the score for a while, but I ended up giving it a 10 because It's Not Your Birthday Anymore is a perfectly awful song.
 
the musical build up into the chorus of that song reminds me a bit of that one foo fighters song/the build up into the chorus of " (there goes) my hero"
 
It's a perfect 10, definitely one of my favourite songs from Morrissey's solo career. I love the juxtaposition of the vicious, bitter lyrics with the sweeping, epic melody and arrangement. It's just great, and vocally definitely on a par with NMHIF (which I pretty much use as the yardstick by which to judge all Morrissey songs :p).
 
Top song musically and vocally. Not so good lyrics (YOR is generally on the poor side lyricwise). Still I gave it a 9 because of the extraordinary vocal performance.
 
At work my colleague came to my room, when I was listening YoR for the first time, quite loud. She cackled and said it sounds like Morrissey is giving birth (she has 4 children, she knows). With lyrics like that, maybe someone is.
 
Nope, doesn't do much for me. It seems, in my opinion, to be a 'forced' epic. Which results in it not being epic. The Snow Patrol build up and the smutty lyric in the middle ruin my enjoyment of this song.

Nowhere near the level of Pigsty, never mind the true epics such as There Is A Light, Speedway and Now My Heart Is Full.
 
Gave it an 8. One of the best off YOR. And another superb vocal performance.
 
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