The Moz/Smiths Top 100, Part 263: ACTION IS MY MIDDLE NAME

How do you rate Action Is My Middle Name?


  • Total voters
    64

Houdini

Junior Member
In 2007, and early 2008, I put up polls for all 234 then released Morrissey and The Smiths-songs. More than 40,000 votes were cast and this resulted in The Morrissey/Smiths Top 100, or indeed, The Morrissey/The Smiths Top 234. In 2009/2010 we updated this chart with the 25 new songs that were released in 2008-2010. The final results of 2010, the 'Top 259', can be viewed here. Now, 4 years on, many people have asked me to continue with the polls as since the last one 25 new Morrissey-songs have been released.
So we'll start with the songs that were released in 2011, 2012 and 2013 and we'll end with the 18 songs from World Peace Is None of Your Business.

So here it goes. Let's hope for as big a turn-out as in 2007 and 2010 and, once again, vote with your heart, not with your mind.

Song 263 Action is My Middle Name (Morrissey/Boz Boorer)



Biting my initials
Into your neck
You are my possession
You don't realize yet
Am I moving too fast for you?
Am I beginning to confuse you?
Action is my middle name
I can't waste time anymore
Everybody has a date with an undertaker
A date that they cannot break

Tongue against tongue and
We've only just begun
Could I interest you in
Hours of fun?
Am I moving too fast for you?
Am I beginning to confuse you?

Action is my middle name
I can't waste time anymore
Everybody has a date with an undertaker
A date that they cannot break

Am I moving too fast?
Am I moving too fast?
Am I moving too fast for you?

Action is my middle name
I can't waste time anymore
Everybody has a date with an undertaker
A date that they cannot break

Action is my middle name
I can't waste time anymore

Previous polls:

Part 262: People Are The Same Everywhere
Part 261: Safe, Warm Lancashire Home
Part 260: Treat Me Like a Human Being
Polls 259-1

EACH TIME YOU VOTE, YOU SUPPORT THE PROCESS!
 
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The best of the three "interim" songs - musically much better than the other two, and the vocal melody is quite nice. A few cringy lyrics and too much daft yelping at the end, but a decent enough song. 7.
 
Something about this song strikes me as being very Bond theme-esque but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Perhaps a combination of the title and the anthemic quality of the chorus.

It's not one of my favorite Morrissey songs, but it's definitely one of the stronger pieces that emerged in 2011. The playful, mischievous side of Morrissey shines through in the lyrics, and it has a great hook. The aforementioned anthemic chorus begs to be hollered out loud by whoever is listening along.

I give it a 7.
 
"Everybody has a date with an undertaker, a date that they cannot break"

For me 8
 
Having listened to it again, I wish it had been given the full studio treatment, and WPINOYB-level production - deserves to have been a bonus track at least.
 
A solid 7, IMO
 
Something about this song strikes me as being very Bond theme-esque but I can't quite put my finger on what it is. Perhaps a combination of the title and the anthemic quality of the chorus.

It's not one of my favorite Morrissey songs, but it's definitely one of the stronger pieces that emerged in 2011. The playful, mischievous side of Morrissey shines through in the lyrics, and it has a great hook. The aforementioned anthemic chorus begs to be hollered out loud by whoever is listening along.

I give it a 7.

Detritus nails it again.
 
went down pretty well live. ill echo fred and give it a seven based on the recording. i relate to the sentiment of the song i guess
 
Thanks Houdini for your efforts in updating the Top Smiths/Moz songs. However I hope more people participate in this vote as the numbers of those who are casting their votes is much less than a few years back
 
When Mozzer used to deal with carnal matters it was with lashings of wit and intrigue. Nowadays it's cumbersome and creepy.

And I abhor his phrasing of 'interest' and 'confuse'.


A 3.
 
i think the lack of humor and wit are more down to age. he doesnt have time to be coy anymore and is now direct. this trait i think pops up on several spots of the newish albums
 
Just enough for a 7. I'd like to hear a studio version. His voice sounds good, but it's all too verse...chorus..verse...chorus. Occasionally the best songs do follow this pattern, such as 'Everyday is like Sunday' or 'You have killed me', but usually it's Morrissey's subversion of conventional song structure that gets the results.
 
Even if it's the best out of the 2011 three, it's still a terrible song (sounds like a ROTT outtake). Gave it a 3.
 
Thanks Houdini for your efforts in updating the Top Smiths/Moz songs. However I hope more people participate in this vote as the numbers of those who are casting their votes is much less than a few years back

Yes, I hope so, too. But forum activity has declined a lot in recent years, so I wasn't expecting the same number of votes. In 2006 the polls attracted an average of 150 votes, and the last song we did in 2010, Striptease With a Difference (then yet to be released officially), attracted 57 votes. So the numbers we're looking at now (almost 40) aren't so bad, and could even match the ones in 2010, as these polls will remain open and the WP-songs are yet to come. Also, let me remind people that most songs reach a more or less fixed rating after 15-20 votes already, and scores only change marginally after that. Like this one was at 6.90 after 20 votes and it is at 6.78 now (37 votes).
 
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