In regards to the meaning of this song:
Before a live performance on the EP Five Stories Falling, Geoff states “It’s about the last time I went to visit my grandmother in Columbus, and I saw that she was dying and it was the last time I was going to see her. It is about realizing how young you are, but how quickly you can go.”
That’s the thing about Geoff and his sublime poetry, you think it’s about one thing, but really it’s about something entirely different. But the lyrics are still universal and omnipresent, ubiquitous, even. So relatable. That’s one thing I love about this band. I also love their live performances, raw energy and Geoff’s beautiful, imperfectly perfect vocals. His voice soothes my aching soul.
Dear hero imprisoned
With all the new crimes that you are perfecting
Oh, I can't help quoting you
Because everything that you said rings true
And now in my cell (well, I followed you)
And here's a list of who I slew
Reggie Kray, do you know my name?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
And in my cell (well, I loved you)
And every man with a job to do
Ronnie Kray - do you know my face?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
In our lifetime those who kill
The news world hands them stardom
And these are the ways
On which I was raised
These are the ways
On which I was, which I was raised
I never wanted to kill
I am not naturally evil
Such things I do
Just to make myself
More attractive to you
Have I failed?
Oh
Oooh, oooh, yeaah, nooo, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, yeaah, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah
Oooh
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
With all the new crimes that you are perfecting
Oh, I can't help quoting you
Because everything that you said rings true
And now in my cell (well, I followed you)
And here's a list of who I slew
Reggie Kray, do you know my name?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
And in my cell (well, I loved you)
And every man with a job to do
Ronnie Kray - do you know my face?
Oh, don't say you don't
Please say you do, (oh, oh)
I am
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
In our lifetime those who kill
The news world hands them stardom
And these are the ways
On which I was raised
These are the ways
On which I was, which I was raised
I never wanted to kill
I am not naturally evil
Such things I do
Just to make myself
More attractive to you
Have I failed?
Oh
Oooh, oooh, yeaah, nooo, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, yeaah, nooo (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah (pa ramp-amp-amp)
Nooo, nooo, yeaah, nooo, yeaah
Oooh
The last of the famous
International playboys
The last of the famous
International playboys
Lyrics submitted by weezerific:cutlery
Last of Famous International Playboys Lyrics as written by Steven Morrissey Stephen Brian Street
Lyrics © BMG Rights Management, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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Ooh, the way he sings "Reggie Kray!" just sends shivers down my spine.
(And "Ronnie Kray").
And a ridiculously catchy chorus. The man is either mental or a genius, or both.
So, I know Morrissey is always extremely ambiguous, but I think about the meaning to this song a lot and the last full verse doesn't seem to 100% fit:
"I never wanted to kill I am not naturally evil Such things I do Just to make myself More attractive to you Have I failed?"
Makes me think it could be about the Moors murderers as well as the other criminal figures - the Kray twins. I say this because he sings 'Such things I do, just to make myself more attracted to you' which makes me think of Ian Brady and how he was supposed to have been an okay person but then he met Myra Hindley and they conspired to do what they did, thus he made himself more attractive for her therefore she was making herself become more attracted to him. I could be totally off-mark here though.
I do find increasingly interesting that many of the musicians I like lived through things that is history that I have to learn all about.. To me, this song practically highlights England in the 60s - consumed by the media's glamorised killers.
Some people read this song as glamorising the Krays. I think it does the opposite. He is criticising the media's glamorisation of such figures that encourages naive kids to try and be "hard" like them and end up ruining their lives because of it.
I wonder if the title of this is partially a reference to J. M Synge' 'The Playboy of the Western World', a controversial Irish play from the early 1900s.
The play focusses on a small community in Ireland, into which arrives a mysterious man on the run, Christy. At first it appears he has killed his father, which lends him a seeming aura of mystery and dangerous attraction; instead of being repelled, the villagers are fascinated and one of the women falls in love with him. The play ends with the father (who was in reality injured rather than killed) also arriving, and the villagers turning upon Christy for having lied to them; Christy then escapes with his father, leaving his lover to lament in the play's final line "Oh my grief, I've lost him surely. I've lost the only Playboy of the Western World."
It's an interesting play, and ties in themes of love, murder, betrayal, gang mentality and the glamourisation of crime, as well as having the similarities in the title.
Another song that illustrates Morrissey's fascination with crime and murder. I love the lines: I never wanted to kill I AM NOT NATURALLY EVIL Such things I do Just to make myself More attractive to you HAVE I FAILED ?
With some of the crushes I've had in the past I would have considered killing if it would have made me more attractive to that person.
One of the Kray brothers was openly homosexual and schizophrenic.
"The Last Of The Secret Agents", song by Nancy Sinatra.
The Krays were such a cool icon of swinging 60's Britain.
'I never wanted to kill I'm not naturally evil' also reminds me of the stance of Frankenstein's monster in the book Frankenstein. Initially an innocent and kind creature, the creature is driven by the rejection of humanity to kill.