The Smiths A-Z: "Sweet And Tender Hooligan"

[Famous when dead]

A topical one for today with it featuring as one of the closers for current gigs...
Initially a B-side, but then released as a US-only 12" & CD single in May, 1995 as part of the promotion for Singles.



Featuring coverstar boxer Cornelius Carr captured from the Boxers video by James O'Brien.
The Wolverhampton (B-side April, 1989) & final Peel Session (aired December, 1986) versions have been officially released, but the fabled/shelved "slower" outtake has yet to escape in to the wild.

The twist on the original biblical verse appears to come from:
"In the midst of life we are in debt"
Attrib.: Ethel Watts Mumford in "The Complete Cynic - Being Bunches of Wisdom Culled from the Calendars of... Oliver Herford, Ethel Watts Mumford, Addison Mizner." (1902).

Should it have been a single at the time?
Can't abide it?
You know the routine.
Personally, seeing some of it performed at WCH '88 remains a highlight.
Regards,
FWD.

 

[Flibberty]

A fun song with a few laugh out loud lyrics, I think b-side status was just about right for this one (or it could have been fully completed in the studio and saved for Strangeways). I can imagine that radio may have had an issue with some of the deathly lyrics if it had been released as a single.

In the poll on this board the song ranked 31st from 73 group songs. In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 53rd.

 

[BookishBoy]

Love this song so much. Those four b-sides from early 87 (London / Half a Person / Hooligan / Strange) were just amazingly good and it really did feel like they were firing on all cylinders right before it fell apart.

And it makes a great fun encore now, even if he does kind of growl most of the song, it's only at the end where his voice really fits the song any more.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

as @Gregor Samsa pointed out in The Jam thread, the song ‘Private Hell’. Oh Johnny! so much to answer for.

 

[A scanty bit of thing]

A magnificent flurry of epic beauty driven by an urgency that was built upon the knife-edge of cold steel that slices through this song’s gutteral kamikaze dive-bomb into earnestness and truth. ❤️

 

[SuedeMoz]

Should it have been a single at the time? Yes, because it might have resulted in 2 more original b-sides. Agree with @BookishBoy - it's a great closer and always gets the crowd going.

On another note, there's no direct evidence for this but I always connected this character with the one in "The Last of Famous International Playboys."

 

[everydayslikesunday]

A brilliant song and probably in my top 10. Always felt it was very under rated.

 

[Amy]

Brilliant. Morrissey's delivery is perfect, the mad growling makes the whole song for me.

ETCETERA, ETCETERA, ETCETERA
In the midst of life we are in DEBT ETCETERAAAAAAAA-UHHHHH

God, I love his weird vocalisms.

 

[Amy]

as @Gregor Samsa pointed out in The Jam thread, the song ‘Private Hell’. Oh Johnny! so much to answer for.

Love this, never realised it was lifted.

 

[Nikita]

I discovered it as the B side of Interesting Drug and it took me weeks, if not months, to realize it was a Smiths track in the first place. I immediately bought Louder than bombs, which was terribly expensive for the high school teenager I was.

I adore it live, much more than the Smiths version, always thought that was also Morrissey’s feeling, but I guess it is just a wishful thinking.