The Smiths – What She Said

General CommentI think this song may be a description of Morrissey's relationship with Johnny Marr. Morrissey being the girl in question, and Marr being the "tattooed boy from Birkenhead".

Morrissey describes a depressed and lonely person, taking words from Elizabeth Smart's prose, as he would have thought she could describe his feelings better than he ever could. He describes never having a job or a lover, and sitting at home reading great literature, but finally being rescued by the "tattooed boy"; Marr, a working class Manchester lad.

In case you don't know what I'm referring to, Morrissey spent the majority of his teenage life alone in his bedroom, reading books such as By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept. He was very lonely and suffered greatly from depression, until he was eventually rescued one day by Johnny Marr who knocked on his door out of the blue and asked him to join a band, which later became The Smiths.

I think the song may be based on this.

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  @SAMO

General CommentI think the character is depressed about herself as a person (not as a worker or lover) so she tries to find her place and meaning in life by reading these classic, philosophical books which actually don't have any more insight into life than she has. Rather, a real person (the tattooed boy from Birkenhead) is the only one to show her the world the way it truly is.

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  @marblerye

General Comment"I have learned to smoke because I need something to hold on to."
"...I wonder why no one has noticed that I am dead and taken the trouble to bury me"
-By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept, by Elizabeth Smart

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  @marquicerise

General CommentMoz nails it yet again.

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  @dewdrop

General Comment"What she read
all heady books
she'd sit and prophesise
(it took a tattooed boy from
Birkenhead
to really really open her eyes)"

that is one of my favourite couple of lines. its a bit sad, but its so true, and then the refference to birkenhead just tops it off... it reminds you just how brittish morrissey is, plus birkenhead is less than half an hour from where i live... fickle i know, but it makes here seem a bit cooler

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  @sambo28

General CommentVery true dewdrop

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  @butterflykiss84

General Commentmy fav. line is " i smoke cos i'm hoping for an early death and i need to cling to something." again the desperation that he is able to put into words. the ability to convey feelings like that to others is something i've always wanted to be able to do. reason why the smiths is and always has been my favorite.

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  @shelleyn21

General Commenta good rockin' song similar in style to London and Sweet & Tender Hooligan. Another depressed character.. but then thats what we expect. Life is depressing.

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  @CharmingMan

General CommentThe reason why The Smiths are so popular, is because they wrote songs that were so easily identifiable to people who had experienced similar emotions, and in the process musician and listener gain comfort from each other. Philip Larkin puts it better than me somewhere!

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  @the-princess-is-mad

General CommentI love SAMO's explaination.

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  @jodean