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Crystal Castles – Year of Silence Lyrics	13 years ago
I love this song - its so primal. Thanks for the translation - cool lyrics too!!

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The Chameleons – Intrigue In Tangiers Lyrics	15 years ago
This song is so amazing. I feel like it describes my life to a T

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Tori Amos – Professional Widow Lyrics

16 years ago

I find the Courtney Love interpretation fascinating. Further evidence supporting this include the "Mother Mary, china white... Brown may be sweeter, may be sweeter..." section, she's obviously referring to the Heroin that Courtney and Kurt did together - just as Yoko was responsible for dosing John's heroin so to was Courtney - basically they handled the supply of drugs fed to the men (partly as a means of control I imagine) She will supply, she will supply, she will supply, she will supply, supply, supply." section

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Tori Amos – Toodles Mr. Jim Lyrics	16 years ago
Illinois Joe, I completely agree with your analysis and to add that the girl character Tori is singing despite mostly sarcastic, there is an element of a certain love/lust she has for Mr. Jim, a feeling that he has made her a woman.

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Blonde Redhead – Silently Lyrics

16 years ago

I love this beautiful song! On an analytical note I think there is a certain homoerotic tone to this song - specifically how she takes the more masculine role in the beginning ('I wish to sail into your port, I am your sailor Quietly, I drop my weight into your sea, I drop my anchor') and the refrain 'I realize now you're not to be blamed my love You didn't choose your name my love You never crossed the seven seas' has an almost Smithian quality - us against the world, the love that dare not speak it's name

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Blonde Redhead – Spring And By Summer Fall Lyrics	16 years ago
I think he is signing to his alter-ego in this song ('I look in your eyes and can only see my own complexion'), the voice in his head that comes and goes - perhaps self-doubt or his self-destructive side. On a musical side - this song is amazing! For sure the most catchy-pop moment of my favorite 2007 album 23 (23 is even moreso my favorite then Neon Bible or In Rainbows which is saying ALOT)

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Blonde Redhead – Spring And By Summer Fall Lyrics	16 years ago
I think he is signing to his alter-ego in this song ('I look in your eyes and can only see my own complexion'), the voice in his head that comes and goes - perhaps self-doubt or his self-destructive side. On a musical side - this song is amazing! For sure the most catchy-pop moment of my favorite 2007 album 23 (23 is even moreso my favorite then Neon Bible or In Rainbows which is saying ALOT)

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Blonde Redhead – The Dress Lyrics	16 years ago
I think he's in love with drugs more then her - hence the reference to Horse, slang for heroin

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Morrissey – Hairdresser On Fire Lyrics	17 years ago
This song is about a psychic and how he, as a Rock Star, can relate to to the profession - in terms of performing a task that potentially saves people and thus leaves you in high demand but can also lead you open to criticism of your other worldy ways

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Morrissey – Late Night, Maudlin Street Lyrics

17 years ago

I think this song perfectly sums up the era of adolescence. Also worth noting, as many biographers point out "Viva Hate" as an entity largely takes place in the 70's - Morrissey's adolescent era - so much of the lyrics are colored by the British Northern 70's vibe. The album was orginally to be titled Education In Reverse which I find interesting - upon The Smiths break-up, Moz could have changed direction and went more mature with his lyrical content but instead he smartly harkens back to the meat and potatoes of The Smiths which is the Essence of being a Teenager. "Late Night, Maudlin Street" is the chrystalization of this.

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Morrissey – Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning Lyrics

17 years ago

Dear Nightandday, I actually think I provided a very text book analysis of the song - not going out on a limb whatsoever in terms of interpretting Morrissey's character in the song - he does not identify with the girl whatsoever - wants to see her death through to get closer to the guy and that's clear not only in his vocal stylings which make illustrate his disdain for this "nobody's nothing" but throughout the lyrics, which include the rather straightforward bitchiness of "She deserves all she gets." Not to come across as conceited but I would put my interpretion to the test with any English professor, who would most likely agree with my literary thoughts which simply recognize the voice/character/perspective of Morrissey's character in the song (which certainly harkens back to Sal Mineo in Rebel Without A Cause) as well as the very obvious plot - an almost Shakespearean manipulation leading to death for the sake of one's love/obsession. SO there!

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Morrissey – Born To Hang Lyrics

17 years ago

Yes, I adore this song as well! I lump it with "Oh Phoney" in terms of being rare and not having been produced/mixed "properly" but still being a joy to hear in it's joviality and cheerful resignation to accepting oneself as an outsider. This song is specifically referencing the fact that in centuries past, Morrissey would be grouped with the Witches, the Seers, and the "Other Sex's" that most often succumbed to the hangings provided by villages intolerant of unique individuals who just so happened to transcend the trappings of everyday existence.

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Morrissey – Friday Mourning Lyrics

17 years ago

I've always adored this song. It's bleak funereal lyrics - one's letting go of all they know in this life and preparing for the unknown - though set to the most glorious hymn-like chord progression which allows the words to transcend their typical Morrissey self-loathing and refusal to succumbness to approach a resigned but reverant acceptance of an end to something and the beginning of something else. On a musical note, "Friday Mourning" features some of Moz's most gorgeous vocal improvs/yodels towards the end of the song -- approaching "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" in their floating loveliness that just completes this song with a caress.

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Morrissey – I Am Two People Lyrics

17 years ago

As Morrissey is a total Gemini this song makes alot of sense - the duality of his nature (which we can all relate to I'm sure) is addressed - his public persona that he has crafted and then the secret soul that probably few people have ever met. He is also alluding to The Jekyl and Hyde in all of us - the end-all excuse for one's bad behavior -- an inexplicable part of our soul that enables us to do things that sabotage our loves, friendships and lives - probably rooted in a certain nihilistic inevitably that nothing really matters in this small moment in the grand scheme of eternity.

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Morrissey – The Slum Mums Lyrics

17 years ago

This song is a polar opposite to many of Morrissey's earlier musings that hint at racism (which he did, not as one himself but rather illustrating the fullfillment of the need in most people to seek refuge from alienation by singling out other "wierdos" - an us vs. them mentality). In direct oppostion to his earlier flirtations with a nihilistic regard for minorities and such - a la Bengali in Platforms -- he now pens a song that mourns the young colored single mother's lot in life - written from the poisonous perspective of a conservative bigot lamenting the audacity this young mother has to recieve any help at all from the state, Morrissey illuminates the very inhumanity of such words and in true Moz fashion culminates the tale with the inevitable Manchausen syndrome by proxy-esque infanticide committed by the despairing mother who thinks her children will be better off - with her - in a place far removed from their glum life.

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Morrissey – Please Help The Cause Against Loneliness Lyrics	18 years ago
I've always adored this song. When Morrissey floats the "I Am So Young" section he sounds so melancholy and sexy and self-conscious and glam, all at the same. Very fascinating. A possible interpretation of the lyrics is he's a shy, reclusive young man writing a telegram to a call boy requesting his sexual experience to escort him out of his loneliness.

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Morrissey – Teenage Dad On His Estate Lyrics

18 years ago

Another of the lovely B-Sides from You ArE The Quarry, "Teenage Dad On His Estater" is a simple song, defending a young penurious guy's lifestyle from the jealous didain of an unfullfilled yuppie. The song may perhaps actually be sung from the perspective of the Teenage Dad (albeit singing in third person) himself, since the title is "Teenage Dad on His Estate." He is intoning his defense of his happy poverty, his methadone-induced high, and his young fathering in response to the scorning envy of society.

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The Stranglers – Dagenham Dave Lyrics	18 years ago
I thought this was a song by Morrissey! :)

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The Stranglers – Don't Bring Harry Lyrics	18 years ago
The music for the song is lovely and strangely intoxicating, "Don't Bring Harry" is one of The Stranglers' most psychedelic moments. Harry, I'm assuming, is a personification of Heroin and the singer is singing from the perspective of a recovering junkie.

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David Bowie – The Width of a Circle Lyrics

18 years ago

What an epic way to open "The Man Who Sold The World." Partially a faustian tale -- the singer appears to have sold his soul to the devil for rock and roll stardom, partially a metaphysical cautionary -- he hints at the retribution that takes place when one sides with the dark side ("And the moral of this magic spell Negotiates my hide When God did take my logic for a ride.") In regards to the above comment, I agree with everything except "Shame about the second half of the song." What? The guitar work is at it's psychedelic best then and the psuedo-folk outro is lovely in it's near religiousness. I think all of the elements lend themself to creating what is one of Bowie's greatest opening numbers. Also worth noting is the similarity in the opening riff to the patriotic song "This Land Is Your Land" as well as the subtle homoeroticism in his description of his "dance with the devil" -- as well as his general disinterest in the "young bordello."

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David Bowie – Win Lyrics	18 years ago
This is Bowie at his sultirest. I adore his Plastic Soul phase. I'm so bummed they didn't release a 30th Anniversary Edition of Young Americans as they did Ziggy, Alladin, and Diamond Dogs.

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David Bowie – Suffragette City Lyrics	18 years ago
I agree JShatterskull -- that makes alot more sense!

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Morrissey – Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning Lyrics

18 years ago

This song is Morrissey at his deliriously campy best. The character singing is an almost Sal Mineo-esque lad jealous of the relationship between a Lifeguard and some girl. He is jealous to the point of highly-manipulative homicide as he dares the girl to swim in the treacherous ocean (or perhaps he suggests to her privately that the best way to impress him is to swim as far out as possible). As the girl swims further out, the singer sings the lifeguard to sleep -- siren-like and oh-so restrained with the joy his nefarious plan is giving him. Then comes my favorite line, one which is so vivid you can almost see an animated dream sequence unfolding -- "The sky became marked with stars As an out-stretched arm slowly Disappears" The refrain of "What's your name" adds a certain intrigue to the story -- is the Sal Mineo-type, such an obsessive stalker that he doesn't he even know the name of the man he has just killed for, or is the object of his affection asking what his name is -- almost as if after all that had just happened, the guy doesn't even know who he is.

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Morrissey – Oh Phoney Lyrics

18 years ago

This is one of my favorite rare Morrissey songs. I might be reaching a little bit on this interpretation but I wonder if some of the song is directed towards David Bowie. Obviously, Moz has been greatly influenced and is acquaintences with David Bowie. There seems to be a certain unease in their relationship, however, perhaps jealousy of each other. The tone of the song I think befits their relationship and the Hitler reference could perhaps be a nod to Bowie's infamous "Heil Hitler" moment during his Thin White Duke phase. A subtle kick under the table to Bowie, mentioning a low point of his career. And then "You Sing a lovely song to a scale and the words spell out my name" could be a reference to the joy Moz felt when Bowie covered "It's Gonna Happen Someday" -- quickly followed by the "kick me down below," Morrissey's inevitiable feeling of ineptitude towards his Idol. The two men are my favorite Pop icons so I'm probabely living in a fantasy world with this analysis...what do you think?

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Morrissey – The Slum Mums Lyrics

18 years ago

"Slum Mums" is a brilliant piece of writing. I love how Morrissey writes in a condescending fashion, attempting to show the inhumanity that many people possess towards those less fortunate. His hopeless words are like a dagger -- no understanding, no love for this Slum Mum. And the effect on the listener is perhaps sorrow for the Slum Mums of the world. Morrissey, of course, isn't that simple though. The near-delight he has while intoning this damnation is so vivid it almost makes one question whether this is a "let's play the bad guy to show the pure-heartedness of the good guy, all the while, subliminally degrading the good guy to truly convey my real feelings" -- a la Bengali in Platforms. While you may not agree with this interpretation, you still must aknowledge Morrissey's brilliance, in painting all these subtle colors and suggestions. The final verse of the song is the most deceptivally impressive part of all. The narrator's encouragement and or/ description of the Slum Mum's infanticide leaves more questions than answers -- is this a case of manchausen syndrome by proxy (i.e. is she crazy?) or is she saving her brood from the indignities of a life in the slums? "Which may render you elsewhere..."

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Joy Division – A Means To An End Lyrics	18 years ago
This is in my Top-5 of Joy Division songs. The beat is so amazing I even mashed it with a Dr. Dre song -- check it out at my website: http://www.ourmedia.org/user/63851 -- It's called "Let's Get High Joy Division Style"

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David Bowie – Suffragette City Lyrics

18 years ago

I'm surprised that none of the previous posts address what is the most likely more specific meaning behind the song. Henry is used as a slang word for Heroin. He's basically having a conversation with his dealer -- trying to explain that he's happy pursuing this girl, his "Suffraggette City" and does not want to give into temptation. He's taking sexual refuge with this woman to avoid the Heroin pratfall . It seems like he slips up briefly upon th eline "Hit Me" buut then he counmters that , while Henry is shootinh him up, I'm sure with the remindeer trhat this a one-last-time -- he's leaving with Suffraggette Cify

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David Bowie – Station to Station Lyrics

18 years ago

While I know the Thin White Duke is Bowie's Station to Station Era persona -- I think in this song itself the "Thin White Duke" is partially a symbol of the cocaine itself, or religion, or witchcraft itself -- whatever people use to get by and that subsequently may bloack the possibility of love and or happiness (Hence "Throwing Darts In lover's eyes." The sure white stains can be the trail of a coke line or semen stains on a sheet in other words, the remnants of whatever device was used to get the individual from station to station. Of course with the religious implications of the stations of the cross, Bowie is essentially connecting the acceptance of spirituality and the journey one may go through in pursuing that as a means by which to escape from his troubles. Station to Station, my favorite Bowie album -- despite it's mere 6 songs -- is a bittersweet triumph in that it essentially addresses How Humans Deal With Pain. Golden Years is an olive branch offered from jilted lover to lover -- Word On A Wing is an aknowledgement of guilt and a prayer to seek refuge from one's own devices, TVC15 is a parable on the escape that TV and the media provides and how TVs can nearly be compared to humans in terms of the supposed solace that they offer. The final song "Wild is the Wind" reaches the conclusion that life is like the wind -- meant to be wild and unpredictable and instead of seeking tangibles to cure one's pain, one should look within. It's remarkable that Bowie waxs so forgone when he recorded this album that doesn't remember it and yet it is imbued with a message that he was obviously trying to send himself. Station to Station the song is one of the pinnacles of Bowie. The music is exhilerating, and excuse the cliche but epic. It is a song about the quest -- living in the moment, shunning self doubt and relying on oneself. But at the same time seeking yet another external out -- the European Cannon -- which I presume is either a reference to the Christian faith of which their is a large European cannon or perhaps it is a preclude to his sobering up in Europe, obviously only achievable by the firing of him out a cannon. In the end, the singer is able to reach a peace with himself and learn not to have guilt but to move on to the future. Also a note about the "sideeffects of the cocaine" line -- he is in a way aknowleging that cocaine IS actually a factor in his newfound outlook -- why else would he say that line which in the present tense implies that he is on it right now. The unravelling obfuscation that drugs supplied Mr. Bowie could potetnially have been the neccessary trigger for him to confront his greater issues of control and/or letting go of oneself.

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David Bowie – Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) Lyrics

18 years ago

Scary Monsters is a warning, if you will, advising against falling in love with mentally ill people. He sings of the slippery situation whereby he realizes the neccessity of escaping her potentially dangerous life all the while aknowledging that it was he that falled in love with her to begin with . Of course the girl could be drugs or it could be his ex-manager but I personally think it's another Angela song.

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David Bowie – Sweet Thing Lyrics

18 years ago

I very much agree with your posts. Mr. bOWIE was simply in a genius moment when he created the Diamond Dogs album. It's almost as if, in response to the disallowing of his Orwellian adaptation, he took it upon himself, in the paranoid and barren state that he was in, to compose an epic work that makes it's own mark in the expression of our most dark and apocolyptic thoughts. Bowie is again singing from the perspective of a young male hustler being preyed upon by the seedy city and at the same time using his sexual prowess (and in the process selling his soul) to help himself feel better about his lot in life. The overall suite of Sweet Thing and Candidate seems to be about how far people will go when they are at their darkest hour, approaching animalism in a tortured city landscape.

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David Bowie – Red Sails Lyrics

18 years ago

I never thought of it that way but that is certainly supported by "Boy, I really get around" "And a mast so tall" "Red sail action" and "Action Boy...struggle with a neon tounge." Just as Lodger is most obviously an album about travel and transcendance it is certainly one that hints at homoeroticism moreso than his previous 4 or 5 albums. But I guess in a way that could be seen as a motif within the greater theme of travel/escape and seeking refuge/transcendance. I always loved the music to this song and the Far part is fun to sing along to.

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David Bowie – Quicksand Lyrics

18 years ago

This song is definately a reenactment of the basic tenets of existentensialism - - denial of God, the reliance of Choice by the individual, that isolation will be felt by those who choose to pursue independance fom society and that are basic quest as humans is to give life meaning so as to greater understand the bigger picture. Essentially, Bowie is singing with quiet resignation to the fact that life is a downward spiral (or a vat of quicksand) culminating in the ultimate realization upon one's death that it was all pointless. Probabley one of his bleakest works, I still do adore it because he is asking profound questions and setting it to such a cascading melody. When he signs "Don't believe in yourself" he almost makes doomful resignation sound gentle and lovely. Obviously Bowie was reading lots of Nietsche at the time.

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David Bowie – Queen Bitch Lyrics

18 years ago

I've heard that this song is Bowie's ode to Lou Reed -- I see him standing up in his metaphorical apartment looking down at the seedy going-ons that his vision of Lou is engraining himself in and looking at him with a certain bitchy longingness -- envious of Lou and his willingness to particiapte in the streets all the while covering up his admiration with a seering haughtiness often found in presumptious queen who await eagerly for the dirty wotk to be done and their drugs delivered to them fresh and ready to be consumed.

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David Bowie – Joe the Lion Lyrics

18 years ago

"You get up and sleep" sums up this song -- sleeping though life wityhout truly living -- only in his death will he know all. A nice compliment to the previous track, the drug debate "Beauty and The Beast" -- HEROES is definaetly an album about conflict between two ideas that one is dealing with on an epic level. That and disillusionment coupled with seperation brought on my artificial means, like governments (As in Heroes or Secret Life Of ArABIA)

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David Bowie – Hang On to Yourself Lyrics	18 years ago
I think this song is a simile for masturbation and the self-gratifying experience of being a Star. He's like saying that the Glamourous life is so fab that he might as well "Hang on to himself" because nobody else is worthy in a way. Very cocaine trendy!

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David Bowie – Fascination Lyrics	18 years ago
Yeah this is one of Bowie's sexiest moments -- that Bass note he hits isquiverable though. I think the deeper meaning is an analysis of his relationship with on-again off-again wife Angela -- he is considering what kept him with her -- fascination

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David Bowie – Cracked Actor Lyrics

18 years ago

I adore this song because it reminds me when I first moved to SoCal for college -- picking up my buddy who lived a block from "Sunset and Vine" -- out for a night of vice. I felt like this was one of our theme songs. Despite the trashy glamour of the song, the lyrics seem to actually be from the perspective of an old, sleazy Hollywood talent agent or former Star. An interesting juxtaposition though and the tune just fucking rocks. Bless Bowie!!

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David Bowie – Candidate Lyrics

18 years ago

I think DIAMOND DOGS is one of the most underrated albums of all time. Because it was surrounded by such brilliance in Ziggy Stardust, Hunky Dory and Station to Station it seems like critics have disregarded this album. I think that is unfairly dismissive because not only are the songs amazingly creative (plus he played all the guitar parts and produced it himself) but the overall album evokes a conceptual unity that would have been considered genius by any other 70's artist. CANDIDATE perfectly encapsules the album's motif with it's decadant words that just drip with the sense of chaotic hedonism. The song seems to be an almost Day-in-the-Life of a street hustler. There's an air of political corruption laced with sexual depraviation. It's all very apocolyptic (going with the proposed 1984 adaptation) and rem,inds me alot of the work of William S. Burroughs. I think it's also worth noting his without shame mention of the word "Drugs" -- it's almost as if the ineveitability of the situation that he is in has led him to abandon all codewords and metaphors. And the line is utterly suicidal-glam "We'll buy some drugs and watch a band. We'll jump in a river holding hands"

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David Bowie – Breaking Glass Lyrics

18 years ago

I don't know if they called Speed glass back then but if they did the lyrics seem to astutely albeit vaguely characterize a night among friends locked in a bedroom, tweaking away. Of course on the level that LOW was an extremely experimental album I suppose Bowie could be references the destructionist composer Phillip Glass -- as in the activities being described are the wacky things Bowie and Eno did in the studio at the time with atonality and randomness. The drug theme goes with his overall canon better though.

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David Bowie – Beauty and the Beast Lyrics

18 years ago

I think this song is definately an ode to the love/hate relationship many people have with drugs. I guess that's kind of obvious but I love the way that Bowie is seemingly ambivalent in his approach. It's more realistic than his "Ashes to Ashes" theme -- I guess at that time of his life, while he was supposedly mainly drug free and in an alcoholic daze in Germany. Allegedly he was still dabbeling in Coke so I guess that would explain the inevitability tone that he enforces in this tune. I think "B & T B " is a great album opener and I love how it's manic spirit befits the album. I lvoe driving with the top down blasting this song -- no one knows who or what it is -- except the cool people.

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The Smiths – That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore Lyrics

18 years ago

I think that this song is actually a preview of THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT -- he and his lover -- whom he is singing to (and seems to be quite impressionable) are planning a double suicide where they are to murder each other. They are strangely united by their individual lives of rejection and loneliness and after a final straw ("That Joke") they decide to really show their protagonists by allowing "time's tide to smother (them). The reason I think that Morrissey is actually singing to his lover, not a the actual enemy (the jokesters) as most assume, is the tone in which he is singing in the first verse. It is an almost suggestive tone, a speech someone would give to another who they are attempting to manipulate into agreeance (and susequently suicide). After all, for this weak and sad individual (the voice of the song) killing oneself with another person isn't quite as scary and alone. "Driving the point home" and "It suddenly struck me" are the acts of murder and suicide, commitetd by the lovers to each other in his car. The two parting images are totally opposite and suggestive of the chemical effect one might experience when dying of a complete and sudden dichotomy painlessness ecstacy crossed with fear amid fatl acceptance: "I just might die with a smile on my face...I've seen this happen in other people's life and now it's happening in mine." Morrissey is so brilliant.

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The Smiths – Shakespeare's Sister Lyrics

18 years ago

In The Glass Menagerie, Shakespeare's sister is Laura, an invalid girl removed from any possibility of attempting a normal life, as her Mother (Amanda) has trapped her into an artificial world. One of the climaxes of the play is when Laura finally tries to go out on a date with a "Gentleman Caller" and she is faced with the reality that she can't function in the real world (partially because of her mother's psychological grip). In this song, the singer (and metaphorically Laura from Glass Menagerie) is dancing a delicate balance act of the contemplation of suicide (and/or the possibility of to live in a fake GLASS world, which is basically suicide or he could simply be referencing loneliness) with a giddy mantra that "I'm going to meet the one I love." The song can be seen as a comment on the extreme manic-depressive way in which we toggle between hope and despair. The "acoustic guitar meant that you were a protest singer" line is like saying "just because you have a lover that means you are normal" -- he saying to himself (or Laura) -- go ahead you can try all you want, you will still be a loner teetering on the edge of sanity and desolation.

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The Smiths – Never Had No One Ever Lyrics

18 years ago

In reference to the above comment, Morrissey uses the stalker reference to illustrate how someone drowning in the depths of loneliness might feel -- always peering in longingly, but keeping one's shadowy distance. I love how Morrissey puts a deranged yet sadly truthful spin on a song that could essentially be "poor me." It is in Morrissey's solemn insightfulness and honesty that make it impossible to characterize The SMiths work as being simply depressing, maudlin, or doomful. Although these feelings are addressed, Morrissey always says something deeper about the human experience that goes beyond happy, sad. I love how this most inaccessible song (compared to the rest of THE QUEEN IS DEAD which is obviously extremely catchy) was plunged in the middle THE QUEEN IS DEAD, almost as if to say " we are the smiths and we do as we may." True artists. It is a song that grows on you so that after you've listened to THE QUEEN IS DEAD 200 times you can have a moment of deep reverence for this forgotten gem among alternative rock Diamonds.

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The Smiths – Death at One's Elbow Lyrics

18 years ago

Death at One's Elbow is sung from the perspective of a gay man calling his lover (or leaving a stream of conscious suicide letter) with homocidal threats. The singer has been wronged by his lover -- hence "There's somebody hear who really, really loves you" as opposed to whomever the lover is cheating on him with (shades of TONY THE PONY, anyone?). The singer's murderous rage gives into self-pity as he sings "The frustration it renders me Hateful..." and then proceeds to kill himself in the final verse. This is not one of my favorite Smiths songs as the music is the slightest of the majestic Marr canon. I think Moz's lyrics make up for it though and in a way the maniacal Rock A Billy underscoring provides a certain giddy macabre to the already death-drenched mood of STRANGEWAYS, HERE WE COME. I'm sure conspiracy theorists who believe "I Won't Share You" is Morrissey's parting words to Marr could also look at this, the previous track as also reflective of a relationship gone awry by unrealistic expectations and a "wandering eye" -- but that's getting pretty out there. I mean, despite their not knowing that STRANGEWAYS was the last album, doesn't each track ring with a certain sad inevitability?

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The Smiths – Shoplifters of the World Unite Lyrics

18 years ago

The shell the narrator has been forced into -- away from the real world is concocted as as departure from reality where he is hated for loving who he loves. At first he is pleading for acceptance "Learn To Love Me" but the world rejects him with their branding of him as a criminal. In the bridge it comes to a head as the heartless hand sends him over the edge and into isolation. Morrissey uses "Shoplifter"as a metaphor for "homosexual" because he is implying that if we are to be treated as criminals than perhaps we should unite and show our strengeth -- that we are your fellow citizens, not less. But in typical Morrissey fashion the dream is crushed by the Man who insist that we metaphorically "Hand It Over, Hand It Over!" The issue is so basic and appalling in the stupid way in which people are so discarded that he finds it all "boring" as it is. So he moves on and away. And to the above comments downplaying the songs homo leanings -- YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY MENTIONED IN THIS VERY SONG!! YOUR OWN LACK OF DEEP THOUGHT INTO THIS VERY SONG MUCH LESS THE ISSUE OVER WHETHER GAY PEOPLE HAVE THE RIGHT TO BE, BORES MORRISSEY AND FRANKLY BORES THOSE OF US WILLING TO LOOK BENEATH THE SURFACE -- HOMOSEXUAL PANIC IS SO 2 CENTURIES AGO. STOP DENYING WHAT Morrissey is trying to convey. We all have our own relationship with the songs -- they were crafted that way -- but to disregard the essence of a song's meaning and to deny it's very intentions is in total disenchantment with the artistry of The Smiths and you are being revealed as mere wannabes desperate for acceptance, but all the while denying TRUTH.

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The Smiths – Pretty Girls Make Graves Lyrics

18 years ago

Another brillinat chapter in The Smiths initial masterpeice on what it is to be young and misunderstood. A song about betraying oneself with allowances of other's intprestations of one's self. The clouding of persona by society, by one's own desolation and seaswept loneliness, by the unspoken feeling of unbelonging. And giving yourself to those undignified enough to want to suck the life out of another -- unknowing but ignorant in her complete disregard for reality. Using another weaker displaced soul for her own biddings and in the process further retreating the narrator into his faithless grave.

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The Smiths – I Won't Share You Lyrics

18 years ago

It's strangely prophetic that this is their final song, recorded without knowing this to be the case. It can be heard in so many different lights. Of course primarily it seems a lullaby to Johnny his brother in music. "I won't share you, I'll see you someday, I'll see you somewhere"...despite their disagreements Morrissey could be saying that Johnny will never share a spot in Moz's heart with anyone else. What they have is singular and transcendant and sadly, over. He could be singing from the heart of THE SMITHS, the band itself....to the fans, "I won't share you" in terms of our monopoly over a certain position in your life as the greatest, most wistfully engraved band in your hearts...in the vein of "Ruibber Ring" but from the perspective of The Smiths as a whole...through "the perrier" (or drugs, scandals) and the "dreams inside" (unfettered bearing of the truth within each artist, as means to connect with the audience), The Smiths will occupy a solo spot within the hearts of many. ANd the final lines drift away as time does with the promise of memories and as forever, the songs.

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The Smiths – Hand in Glove Lyrics

18 years ago

Regardless of your orientation, Hand In Glove speaks to the young lover as a passionate, dizzying, desperate, forlorn, pessimistic imbueing of all that is love. Morrissey and The Smiths immediately burst into our world as a unique, honest vehicle for those of us longing to be driven away by dreams, intoxicating possibilities, and the unrelenting reality that is our cloudy world. Hand In Glove, a love song for all but as a homo I adore Morrissey's willingness to garnish his songs with the perspective of a lover of men. I also adore his solemn decree that loneliness will prevail as most times it seems as though it will.

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The Smiths – Half a Person Lyrics

18 years ago

I concur with most of the above suggestions. HALF A PERSON is one of Morrissey's finest moments -- a Smithian treasure tucked away on a B-Side aimed at unfurling a circular relationship between himself the pop star and the young boy who like us is on a journey of discovery from small town to the big city, from a position of despair and strangeness to one of metaphorical prostitution to become what we want, SOMEBODY. And in our glory we are told that we are missed for our adolescent endearing troubles selves and we yearn again for those make belive days and the full circle continues. Morrissey lived this as do many a clumsy, shy teenager with a dream. Will you fall into the circle? I am and I hope only that I am soon promoted from back scrubber.

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The Cure – From the Edge of the Deep Green Sea Lyrics

18 years ago

SEX AND DRUS. Whoever said earlier that all cure songs are about sex and drugs is so correct. Yes, their music is strewn with loneliness and misanthropy but it is all caused by sex (throughout their ouevre) and drugs (especially the early 80s period). This song is the microcosm of the work of the Cure. Love is a drug for him. She is a drug. "Looking for something forever gone But something we will always want..." -- the principal behinf both love and drug use -- the unrequited high -- never like the first time or our own idealiztions of it, but we will continue to seek it because it feels good.

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