The Never Laid Symphonies

[kissmyshades]

Have been listening to this a lot recently - probably my favourite song from the quarry era, absolute perfection. Perfect heartfelt 3 minute pop song, beautiful.

Is 'laid' moz being tongue in cheek, reference to the much debated 'it was a good lay'??????? or is the song actually a love song to his music and craft, a bit like christian dior?

either way, incredible record.

 

[someofusisturningnasty]

Have been listening to this a lot recently - probably my favourite song from the quarry era, absolute perfection. Perfect heartfelt 3 minute pop song, beautiful.

Is 'laid' moz being tongue in cheek, reference to the much debated 'it was a good lay'??????? or is the song actually a love song to his music and craft, a bit like christian dior?

either way, incredible record.

Do you mean the Never Played Symphonies?

 

[someofusisturningnasty]

...but at any rate, in my opinion it is an ode to the love of his songs and craft.

 

[Kewpie]

Re: The Never Played Symphonies

IMHO in the context of the lyrics 'laid' means in here is made or started rather than sexual indication.

 

[kissmyshades]

Yeah, but I was wondering about the 'laid' so that's why i called the thread that!

I think you're right, it does seem to be about the songs that got away.

the thing about quarry sessions is i can't understand how he chose the songs for the album. when he first played songs like FOTG and ILY on the 2002 tour i was impressed but whilst i absolutely adore quarry, in retrospect the best songs were left off!

 

[Gregor Samsa]

Agreeing with Kewpie here.
But I do sense a Betjeman-reference. He once said that the only thing he regretted not doing was having more sex.

This is also my favourite Moz-solo, of all time.

 

[kissmyshades]

Yeah, i thinks it's mine too!


How good have his recent b sides been?! I think symphonies, chrisitian dior, its hard to walk tall, daddy's voice, ganglord, and good looking man are all in my top 20/25 of his solo work.

 

[kissmyshades]

Shame is the name and children in pieces too!

 

[JD93]

'You were one, you were meant to be one, and you jumped into my face and laughed and kissed me on the cheek and then were gone forever
...not quite'

I err...don't think its about his craft.

 

[Our Lady]

'You were one, you were meant to be one, and you jumped into my face and laughed and kissed me on the cheek and then were gone forever
...not quite'

To be honest I have never seen this song as being about his music...

It isn't. Of course it isn't. That would be silly.

 

[Soil Falling Over]

JD93 is on it. This remarkable song seems clearly to me to be about regretting sexual abstinence (and Dior could be about the same)... He grounds the song quite clearly in personal relations when he says

"I can't see those who tried to love me
or those who felt they understood me
and I can't see those who very patiently put up with me
all I can see is...."
(going off memory so forgive any error)

The laid/played interchange reveals the deliberate metaphor.

And if you agree the song is about regretting the never-(sexually)-laid (as Simon Goddard also argues), the following phrase is a smashing bit of playful language:

"and you slipped right through my fingers
no not literally but metaphorically"

i.e., (do I have to spell it out) if I'd laid you, you would have "slipped through my fingers" LITERALLY (i.e., your parts would have been in my hands); but I did not lay you, so only the cliched metaphor applies.......

These two lines are wonderfully odd and syllabically-awkward, but when understood in this light I think it's one of his best turns of phrase!! And that's saying something!!!

 

[Orson Swells]

I think the song could be taken to refer to all the songs he never got to write with Johnny Marr...

 

[Maurice E]

These two lines are wonderfully odd and syllabically-awkward, but when understood in this light I think it's one of his best turns of phrase!! And that's saying something!!!

syllabically awkward? do you mean non-euphonious?
yes, it's a gorgeous song, especially the beautifully poignant C7 between the two sections of music.
musically, it's so good it could have been a Marr or Street composition.

the quality of this song (along with 'Walk Tall') really got my hopes up for Who Ate Me Curry, but, really, they've never been so cruelly dashed!

 

[lainey]

I think the song could be taken to refer to all the songs he never got to write with Johnny Marr...

imteresting.

 

[Soil Falling Over]

syllabically awkward? do you mean non-euphonious?

Precisely, but I prefer to say what something is rather than what it's not. Though I'm not sure euphoniousness is the issue -- it is rather appealing to my ear (in a playful way), but it's a bit of a tongue-twister; it creates a rhythm more-dense than elsewhere in the song.

 

[Soil Falling Over]

That's a very interesting intepretation.
I always thought that was a pretty clumsy lyric before now...

When a great writer produces what seems a clumsy passage, it often calls for further scrutiny as there is likely a reason. And I like to think what I've offered is it. (makes sense, don't it?)

It recalls another favorite, wonderfully-crass line from our "sexually-repressed" hero; from Come Back to Camden:

you lounged with knees up and apart
And me and my heart, we knew,
We just knew, For evermore

Here, at what is musically the deep and romantically-compelling climax of this love song, he's saying it was a glance at your crotch/taint that set my heart to love.... a wickedly funny, wry joke at a seemingly inappropriate place in a serious ballad.