The Smiths are one of my favourite bands - it was inevitable, I grew up with parents who are dedicated members of the Moz army. One of my friends when discussing me recently said I "don't go more than 5 seconds without thinking about Morrissey". This post has been in my drafts for a while because it's been ridiculously hard to decide what songs by The Smiths I would recommend to a newbie, but a lot of people have told me over the past year that they want to get into The Smiths and don't know where to begin, so consider this your starter pack..
DISCLAIMER: The song meanings I am talking about are my interpretations, if you interpret them differently obviously that's fine - Morrissey was often very ambiguous in his lyrics!
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| I say y'all over text to sound cool and casual, but IRL I'm not much of a y'all person - sorry to destroy your perceptions of me. |
THIS CHARMING MAN {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song has so much going for it, right from the iconic introductory riff. This song is about a whole range of things. The most obvious theme being making a sexual debut (to use Laci Green's term) with an older man, but I think there's a lot more meaning to this song besides from sex. I think this song is also about wanting to start living and stop overthinking everything - like the line"why ponder life's complexities when the leather runs smooth on the passenger's seat?" sums up the song for me, and it's about the protagonist trying to enjoy life and live in the moment rather than over thinking.
THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
This is one of the first songs by The Smiths I ever heard (I think the first that I actually paid attention to was The Queen is Dead which I'm gonna talk about down below) and it was actually played at my parents' wedding - I obviously wasn't there to witness that but my Mum was about 6 months pregnant with me so y'know I was listening to The Smiths before I was born, so it's got that emotional significance for me. I wholeheartedly think this is one of the greatest love songs of all time (right up there with Something by The Beatles or The Luckiest by Ben Folds). I just think the lyrics are bloody brilliant - "if a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die, and if a ten tonne truck kills the both of us, to die by your side, well the pleasure, the privilege is mine". I think the song's just about that honeymoon phase in love (I'm making it sound like I've experienced it but nah #foreveralone) and not wanting to be separated from your significant other because like all the feels.
HEAVEN KNOWS I'M MISERABLE NOW {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song also has a pretty iconic intro, I think the combination of chords Johnny Marr uses are just so satisfying to listen to and I quite like the bassline too (although, the best bassline in any song by The Smiths is hands down Barbarism Begins at Home - it's so good that there's a performance where Johnny Marr stops playing guitar to listen to it and dance with Morrissey). It's a sarcastic song about depression and not finding joy in anything anymore except for 'in the haze of a drunken hour' and the protagonist doesn't leave the house and questions their friendships and relationships with people. What I love about The Smiths and Morrissey's solo work, is that the songs tackle serious issues regarding mental health but in a relatable way with a catchy melody which I think is rare to find in music. Usually songs that are about depression are . . . depressing (great use of vocabulary, Bess) but The Smiths make songs about depression relatable to those suffering with it but the song's not slow or dull or boring like other songs on the issue, they're still enjoyable songs which I think is quite a rare thing to find.
THE QUEEN IS DEAD (TAKE ME BACK TO DEAR OLD BLIGHTY) {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
Now this was the song that got me into The Smiths. To be honest, this entire album was the start of the obsession with The Smiths. I first heard this song on my Dad's Jubilee playlist, we're not a pro-royal family at all and we went away for the jubilee weekend a few years ago so Dad made a playlist to listen to on the car journey, and this was on there (along with God Save the Queen by the Sex Pistols, obviously). This song is just epic. I hate that word because I think it got thrown around a lot to describe anything in 2012 but that's the only word I can think of to accurately describe this song. This song is essentially an anti-monarch anthem. It illustrates how the Queen symbolised national unity during World War I (that's why there's a war song in the introduction) and how the Queen is seen as a Mother in the UK, but how the whole system is archaic because the Royals are out of touch and don't care about the things that don't affect them. Simply put, this song is Morrissey calling for a revolution. I repeat, this song is epic.
PANIC {LOUDER THAN BOMBS - 1987}
This song was written around the time of the Chernobyl disaster because apparently Radio 1 DJ Steve Wright reported the Chernobyl disaster and then went right into playing Wham! which is obviously quite inappropriate, and the song doesn't have anything to do with people's lives. Marr said in a 1987 interview with NME: "'Panic' came about at the time of Chernobyl . . . The story about this shocking disaster comes to an end and then, immediately, we're off into Wham!'s 'I'm Your Man'. I remember actually saying 'what the fuck has this got to do with peoples' lives?' We hear about Chernobyl, then, seconds later, we're expected to be jumping around to 'I'm Your Man'." To me, this song is about not relating to mainstream music (because I'm such a hipster) because the songs that are constantly played in the UK top 40 or in the clubs don't say anything to me about my life. This song got me through High School when all my friends were listening to One Direction and I was the weird kid listening to the Pope of mope.
I WANT THE ONE I CAN'T HAVE {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
This song on a basic level is about wanting to be with someone but you can't for whatever reason. Morrissey often made his lyrics character ambiguous so they can be interpreted in so many different ways, for example a lot of people think specifically this is about a gay person being in love with someone who's not come out as gay. Simply put, it's about being driven insane because you can't be with the one that you want.
THE HEADMASTER RITUAL {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
There was a time when this was my favourite song by The Smiths, and it's definitely one that I rarely skip when it comes up on my shuffle. As with all of the songs by The Smiths, I love the guitar part - I think Johnny Marr is the best guitarist in the world, I love the combination of chords in this song with the riff, it's pretty darn splendid. This song, to me, is about school in the 60s/70s where school really was quite brutal regarding the whole physical abuse thing, but I also think there's a bit of a fish out of water story going on in the song like I imagine all the kids in their uniforms accepting the education system the way it is and one kid seeing the clear flaws with it and wanting to break away ("I want to go home, I don't want to stay"). I used to listen to this song first thing when I was leaving school on a Friday afternoon, it's just really satisfying to go home for the weekend and listen to a song which basically shuns school. Also, Morrissey's yodelling is on point.
I KNOW IT'S OVER {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
I never used to be a massive fan of this song, in fact alongside Some Girls are Bigger Than Others it was one I always skipped when listening to The Queen is Dead album but I decided to give it a proper listen when my Mum said she preferred this song to This Charming Man - I still think that was quite a sweeping statement and not one I agree with, but it is now one of my faves. This song is the classic tale of unrequited love, in this case with someone who had never really experienced love and is now in a state of sadness and despair to the point where they feel dead ('Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head') and they're trying to go about their lives as usual ('It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to cry, it takes guts to be gentle and kind').
HOW SOON IS NOW {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
Using two guitars, multiple reverb amplifiers, tremolo, syncopation, and a glass slider, Johnny Marr successfully created one of the most iconic song introductions of all time in this song. This song is about being shy ('I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar') and feeling unloveable ('I am human and I need to be loved, just like everybody else does'), so much so that you're giving up hope that you'll ever find anyone. This song to me is biographical and one that I think most self-conscious, shy people will be able to relate to - this one is for us, guys.
SHEILA TAKE A BOW {LOUDER THAN BOMBS - 1987}
This song is one for those feeling the bitter winds of teenage angst and an anthem for non-conforming. 'How can someone so young sing words so sad?' suggests that the protagonist isn't satisfied with their average life and they want to break free, they want to grow up and find someone who loves them rather than being in education and trapped by their suburban family life.
WILLIAM, IT WAS REALLY NOTHING {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song is about being pressured into marriage, the protagonist is trying to convince their friend not to get married for the sake of it because we only have one life, so why rush into marriage? I also think it's about feeling trapped in "a humdrum town" and wanting to escape and live life beyond the expectations and norms of your hometown.
HAND IN GLOVE {HATFUL OF HOLLOW - 1984}
This song is about being in love and having this common egocentric view that your love is the best one out there. It's quite melodramatic and almost teenage-like especially with lines like "no I really don't know and I really don't care". It's also got a bit of a harmonica solo at the beginning at the end of the song and I always appreciate a bit of harmonica (I'm into 50s rock'n'roll, how could I not be?) as well as a nice riff throughout the song.
NOWHERE FAST {MEAT IS MURDER - 1985}
This song is an attack on consumerism and how we have new products thrown in our faces constantly, and this is all but bread and circuses to distract us from inequality. The rise of consumerism has resulted in the average Joe's morale being weakened, to the point where the protagonist doesn't care whether they live or die ("when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me").
BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN {THE QUEEN IS DEAD - 1986}
This song is about speaking out of place or saying too much, it seems like it's autobiographical seeming as Morrissey has a tendency to say very bold statements and annoy a lot of people. The constant references to Joan of Arc make this evident because she was burned at the stake for saying what she believed, and Morrissey is jokingly comparing himself to her.
PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES {THE SMITHS - 1984}
It's the music over the lyrics that makes this song for me. I love the syncopation and the bassline in this. I believe the song is about someone pressuring the protagonist into sexual relations and not wanting to reciprocate which may be autobiographical as Morrissey identified as asexual at this time.
What's your favourite song by The Smiths/Morrissey?
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