Why doesn;t Moz sing Jack the ripper studio version live?
- Thread starter Puddle
- Start date
Kuiper
Better than Marr
I love all versions of Jack the Ripper I have heard, and while I prefer the traditional live version, the studio version is still great and quite unique. I always like it when a musician performs an alternate version of a song live, but it would be nice if Morrissey would play the original studio version at least just once, if he ever plays Jack the Ripper in any form again. Come to think of it, I would like to hear a slower, lighter, more stripped-down version of the song just for a change, or a faster, more up-beat version.
Dothatagain?
Member
I love the studio version of "Jack the Ripper", possibly even more than the live version. It has a great atmosphere and is very unsettling, as it should be, and I like the extra lines at the end. It's a mark of how great the song is that it works so well in both versions, but I'd love to hear Morrissey performing the studio version in a live show, just once.
nightandday
New Member
I completely agree with you. I thought I was the only person who prefers the studio version. And I love the last verse. I know some people who think that this is the best part of the song.
ricardodecruz
Silly Old Man
Think this may be Morrisseys best solo record. I prefer the studio version and the way the atmosphere of the music perfectly fits the sinister tone of the voice.
The live version is fantastic aswell with more rawness and agression in the vocals.
Does any one think the guitar riff sounds a lot like the one from Boys Don't Cry - by The Cure
"There's something about Whitechapel!"
The live version is fantastic aswell with more rawness and agression in the vocals.
Does any one think the guitar riff sounds a lot like the one from Boys Don't Cry - by The Cure
"There's something about Whitechapel!"
Jose
No way...
The new Johnny Rogan book has some really fascinating insight into loads of Morrissey songs including Jack the Ripper.
Apparently, the reason the studio version is so different is that the band had two days before they had to go to America on tour so they simply didn't have time to do a version they were happy with.
I do quite like the studio version but it ain't a patch on the live one with the really lovely guitar interlude/middle eight. Boz was writing some really weird and wonderful stuff back then wasn’t he (e.g. Jack, I’d Love To, You’ve Had Her etc).
Apparently, the reason the studio version is so different is that the band had two days before they had to go to America on tour so they simply didn't have time to do a version they were happy with.
I do quite like the studio version but it ain't a patch on the live one with the really lovely guitar interlude/middle eight. Boz was writing some really weird and wonderful stuff back then wasn’t he (e.g. Jack, I’d Love To, You’ve Had Her etc).
nightandday
New Member
That's still no explanation for the reason why he doesn't sing the last verse live.
the reason is that the recorded version was a 'work in progress' as far as Moz and the band were concerned. they didn't have enough time to come up with a version they were happy with. Moz obviously decided that the song was better off without the final verse and that's why he stuck with the live version.
sorry, that's the best explanation I can give!
nightandday
New Member
Well, if that's what he really thinks, I definitely disagree with him. Or maybe he just doesn't feel comfortable singing it live (I remember we had a conversation about this a while ago).
Puddle
Banned
The last verse in the studio version is very self-centered, it detracts from the rest of the song. The entire song up to that point he is singing to someone else--talking about them, telling them to crash into his arms, etc--but the final verse gets lost and moves away from the story line. I guess Morrissey realized this.
That's my theory.
"Nobody knows me
Nobody knows me
Nobody knows me"
That's great, but we were talking about something else.
That's my theory.
"Nobody knows me
Nobody knows me
Nobody knows me"
That's great, but we were talking about something else.
nightandday
New Member
Well, I don't think it moves from the storyline, I think it adds to it, or rather, to the psychological portrait and motivations of the narrator, identified as Jack The Ripper in the title. "Nobody knows a thing about my life/ I can come and go as I please/if I want to I can stay/and if I want to I can leave"... he feels detached from everybody else, and he seems to enjoy that detachment and isolation, as it gives him freedom... or does he?
Speaking of Jack The Ripper (the real one), I was reading something about his victims and the theories about who he was... I think the story is fascinating because it touches on so many broader subjects... such as the poverty and the conditions of life of women from lower class (the life stories of his victims are really sad, nearly all of them had histories of bad past marriages, abusive relationships, alcoholism...), the sexual repression and hypocrisy of the Victorian age, the twisted attitudes to women (the Madonna/whore dychotomy)... and so on.
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Dothatagain?
Member
I love those final lines, too - it's as if they are being spoken after the deed has been done, and he is retreating back into the shadows with "Nobody knows me / Nobody knows me ..."
I think the studio version absolutely drips with atmosphere - as I listen to it, I can clearly picture the dark, wet, claustrophobic Victorian alleyway in my mind. That's something I don't really get from the live version, which is more raw and powerful, and draws all of the romance out of the song. I also like Morrissey's vocals in the studio version - there's a softness to his voice, a gentle kind of seduction, whereas the live version seems more like a romantic statement, and his vocal is much stronger. With the studio version, I can almost see it happening as I listen to it.
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Pervomartovtsi
2222
I love the coda of the studio version
Stitchell
blah blah blah blah...
Probably the Morrissey song I'll listen to about 5 times a week for the rest of my natural.
I personally love the last verse in the studio version but don't think it would fit in with the live version, which is normally more rock-y than the subtle, creepy studio version. My own theory of the song is that it can be seen as a song about anonymous sex but I've probably listened to it too much
I personally love the last verse in the studio version but don't think it would fit in with the live version, which is normally more rock-y than the subtle, creepy studio version. My own theory of the song is that it can be seen as a song about anonymous sex but I've probably listened to it too much
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