The Moz/Smiths Top 100, Part 282: FORGIVE SOMEONE

How do you rate Forgive Someone?


  • Total voters
    39

Houdini

Junior Member
In 2007, and early 2008, we 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 282: Forgive Someone (Morrissey/Jesse Tobias)



Use a weapon of words
or a fight with your fists
but can you forgive someone?
stand your ground and persist
and be the last one to blink
but can you forgive someone?
and if you do
I'll run to you
betray you with a word
I would slit my own throat first of all
I will
The black peat of the hills
when I was still ill
see this mess and forgive someone
and then recall if you can
how all this even began
forgive someone
and if you do
I'll run to you
betray you with a word
I would slit my own throat first of all
I will

Our truth will die with me
our truth will die with me
shorts and supports and faulty shower heads
at track and field
we dreamt of our beds
in the bleachers you sit with your legs spread
smiling
here's one thing you'll never have
our truth will die with me
our truth will die with me
our truth will die with me

Previous polls:

Part 281: Drag the River
Part 280: One Of Our Own
Part 279: Scandinavia
Part 278: Oboe Concerto
Part 277: Mountjoy
Part 276: Kick the Bride Down the Aisle
Part 275: Smiler With Knife
Part 274: Kiss Me A Lot
Part 273: Staircase at the University
Part 272: I'm Not a Man
Part 271: Neal Cassady Drops Dead
Part 270: The Bullfighter Dies
Part 269: Earth is the Loneliest Planet
Part 268: Istanbul
Part 267: World Peace is None of Your Business
Part 266: You Say You Don't Love Me
Part 265: Satellite of Love
Part 264: The Kid's a Looker
Part 263: Action is My Middle Name
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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i dont know. the referencing of still ill doesnt sit easy with me honestly.
 
Wonderful song: the lyrics are ripe with meaning. "Here's one thing you'll never have" is both amusing and wicked.

Those cheesy keyboards, however, are the fly in the ointment.
 
im not all about the self referencing with the still ill line. maybe hes still sick over some affair i dont know but it does still feel like recycled lyrics in that spot
 
One of my favorite extra tracks, and one which should have made the proper album.

And in agreement to an earlier point, keyboards are not my thing generally, but I'd take this any day of the week over "Earth..." or Kick the Bride..." on the main album.
 
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One of my favorite extra tracks, and one which should have made the proper album.

And in agreement to an earlier point, keyboards are not my thing generally, but I'd take this any day of the week over "Earth..." or Kick the Bride..." on the main album.

Fully agreed. The lyrics are some of his better ones in the Aughts. I like the Manchester/Smiths referents and the air of mystery masking the person being sung to. The certitude of his statement that the "truth will die with me" is also interesting. Again, what makes him so adamant on this point?

The opening lines bring to mind "you fight with your right hand and caress with your left hand" from "The Operation."

The synth strings are the rub. If I wanted to listen to "All My Love" by Led Zeppelin, I would. Well, I wouldn't. But you get the point.
 
Well, I can forgive the synth strings. There are a lot of good things going on, here. I suppose you'd have to assume that he's singing about someone deceased. I'll give this an eight.
 
The cheesy synth almost kills it (glad I'm not the only one who hates that sound), but the build up at the end is pretty immense.
 
Does anyone else feel that the fake sound of synth strings is actually part of the message?
 
So far this song, and Julie in the Weeds, have by far received the fewest votes (all the others 40 or more), so if you feel like voting on this one, now is your chance!

I'll leave the polls open for a few more days and will publish the final results early next week.
 
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