Rusholme Ruffians

Victoria Wood's "Fourteen Again" seems to have been a major inspiration for this song:

I want to be fourteen again, When sex was just called number ten,

  And I was up to seven and a half.

Boys were for love, girls were for fun. You burst out laughing if you saw a nun.

  Sophistication was a sports car and a chiffon scarf.

I want to be fourteen again, Tattoo my self with a fountain pen,

  Pretend to like the taste of rum and Coke,

Chuck my school hat in a bush, Spit on my mascara brush,

  Buy Consulate and teach myself to smoke.

I want to be fourteen again, Free rides on the waltzer off the fairground men

  For a promise of a snog the last night of the fair—

French kissing as the kiosks shut Behind the generators with your coconut,

  The coloured lights reflected in the Brylcream on his hair.

I want to be fourteen again, For all the things I didn't know then.

  When I was funny, I was famous, I was never ignored,

I was a crazy girl, I had to laugh. I had Ilya Kuriakin's autograph.

  I had no idea you could wake up feeling bored.

From Johnny Rogan's book on The Smiths songs (this is one of those where every song is discussed): "Morrissey borrowed freely from the pen of comedienne Victoria Wood and hijacked her song 'Fourteen Again' for his own satiris purposes. What emerges is a striking adaptation in which Wood's humorously affectioante reminiscences are subverted into a threatening landcsape where casual violence and the threat of romantic suicide are menacingly present." "As Marr points out, the primary idea was to create a song that captured the raw excitement of youths visiting a Manchester fairground. (...) Morrissey also travelled back to his earlier memories in dramatising the dazzling unpredictability of faiground life. 'As a child, I was literally educated on fairgrounds', he claimed. 'It was the big event. It was why everybody was alive. On threadbare Manchester council estates once a year fairs would come around. It was a period of tremendous violence, hate, distress, high romance and all the truly vital things in life...In Rushholme, it was the only thing people had." "

I think it's just about the innocence of childhood and things. Although he sees all these horrible things around him, and an engaged woman flashing everyone etc. he still believes in love, and thinks that writing his name on a girl's arm is shows they love each other.

It's actually a bit knopfler-esque in that way

A great Smiths song, and not yet commented on!

Oh the shock and horror of it all...

As i said on the badly named 'Marie's the name' thread...i feel its morrissey, that awkward Manchester (Rusholme is in Manchester [home to the famous curry mile]) boy going to a fair. He doesn't belong there in that vulgar place, but oh gosh doesn't he get a secret thrill from it. That sort of feeling crops up regularly in Morrissey's solo work, with his love of the ruffian/teddy boy etc.

Reminds me of a friend of mine

xo

Moz's voice is extra awesome in this one :D

Hooray! The fair's in town! A colourful, exciting and potentially violent place as boys from the neighbouring towns come to visit. Mozza conjures up the old style fairground perfectly from the girl flashing her knickers to the guy being beaten up in the background.

The inspiration for this song came from an olde 45 owned by Michael Marr's parents. '(Marie's The Name) His Latest Flame' was an Elvis Presley chart-topper the year before John Maher married Frances Doyle. Written by the great Doc Pomus/Mort Shuman partnership, the song contained a memorable riff which Marr liberally adapted and aligned to a rockbilly rythm. "The real idea was to do something from the fairground," he explained. "I'd spend a lot of time at the fair in Wythenshawe Park and I worked at a speedway in a place down in Cheshire. I still maintain that the best place to hear music is at the fairground. If you get your records played at the fair you're a great pop group. I used to go there al the time, not necessarily to go on the rides, but to look at girls. I had this really romantic feeling when I was at the fair."

-Morrissey & Marr-The Severed Alliance, written by Johnny Rogan

Morissey once joked about marrying Victoria Wood, to which Victoria responded pubicly with the witty announcement, "Morrissey and I have been married for 11 months, though due to touring commitments, we have yet to meet."

A rather straightforward, slice-of-life narrative from Morrissey here. One line sums it up: "Someone falls in love/and someone's beaten up/and the senses being dulled are mine"

Which incidentally must be the most delayed rhyme I can think of in any pop song, "mine" going all the way back to "dulling wine"

In a way, this feels--to me--all of a piece with "How Soon is Now?" Steven--when he still called himself that--is watching other people fall in love, but it's not happening for him. Going to funfairs (or clubs) hoping to meet someone. At this age he hasn't yet given up on love, but given time he looks at the world and decides the balance leans toward cruelty instead, all too often. No, there is not "something horribly wrong with" you, Morrissey...it's merely that your eyes are too keen.

its the greediness of society: a boy is stabbed and his money is grabbed the boy, refferring probably to a child, someone innocent and society taking advantage of him.

"she is famous she is funny, and an engagement ring doesnt mean a thing" she doesnt care for a personal love.. only the love of the general public maybe and money.. whoever she may be. thatisall

I think maybe Victoria Wood was inspired by this song, not the other way around. I'm not sure how far her career goes but this song was written around 1984/5.

It was mentioned somewhere on the morrissey-solo webiste that the "scratch my name on your arm.." part is supposed to be literally taken as scratching, i.e. tattooing, as schoolkids back in the day would (apparently) try and woo the one they loved my permanently inking their name into their arm.

..albeit in a rather clumsy, messy and no doubt, dangerous manner.

I'm not quite sure how true this is, but I find it interesting.