Here Ya go
Another song in a similar style to He Knows I'd Love To See Him, and equally introspective. This song is a response to those who say "look on the bright side of life", as he flatly admits he is fundamentally incapable of seeing "the good things", and confusingly laments this fact itself as yet another failing on his part. The inference being that he sees the incapacity as almost a medical problem; a implicit part of his make-up.
A shared theme with He Knows I'd Love To See Him is revealed in the passage beginning with "Love's young dream". He sees the "shopping" as a direct result of his love.
The self-pity quickly strengthens in emotional force as Morrissey questions why people less kind than himself continue to do better, which ultimately leads him to questioning the existence of God; an acidic confusion of his Catholic upbringing. He brings an end to the song by warning similarly vulnerable people to beware of real life, as evil always prospers.
William A. Fuller has this to say :
He does not flatly admit he is incapable of seeing "the good things." Lucky Lisp follows right after, where Moz finds something typically negative - a lisp - to be good. Also Such a Little Thing earlier on Bona Drag shows the Moz-narrator finds a lot of good lots of places, even in the little things.
He is responding to the charge "oh, look on the bright side.. you're too negative" (how many fathers have i known who accuse their sons in public of just "thinking there's more bad in the world than good"). He responds in a sarcastic way, because he realizes that trying to reason with the questioner is hopeless. "Oh, you're right," he says, "I am blind. No, I can't see the good things - just the bad things" - he spells out their position and thereby makes it ridiculous, because who really sees "just the bad things" -- not Moz. He takes it to the extreme to point out its baseless.
The first two stanzas are ironic. Oh, because I don't like factory production of animal meat "there must be something horribly wrong with me..."
Then stanza 3. He becomes serious, turns from talking to his questioner (where he doesn't hope to get anywhere and more than anything pokes fun at him) to talking to himself, God. Then he is serious. Look at this terrible situation, God! I see all this stuff wrong and when I point it out, I must be blind, there must be something horribly wrong with me (and not with Manchester etc.)
God, help me, "come down if you're really there Well..."
Yes, I am blind... but I do see the bad things, like you say, let me mention some of them:
Evil people prosper
The tone shifts in a line from a restatement of the ironic rejoinder to hard-core accusation. Morrissey gets on his high horse and who can blame him ?
Evil people prosper.. ALWAYS!
and then the lamb
The inference being that he sees the incapacity as almost a medical problem; a implicit part of his make-up.
A shared theme with He Knows I'd Love To See Him is revealed in the passage beginning with "Love's young dream". He sees the "shopping" as a direct result of his love.
The self-pity quickly strengthens in emotional force as Morrissey questions why people less kind than himself continue to do better, which ultimately leads him to questioning the existence of God; an acidic confusion of his Catholic upbringing. He brings an end to the song by warning similarly vulnerable people to beware of real life, as evil always prospers.
it's not self-pity, its indignation expressed in various ways. this is one of Morrissey's most indignant songs.
Morrissey doesn't so much question the existence of god seriously and use the motif of questioning god to flush out his distress and frustration with the situation. Nothing theological here, in this song.
