Unruly boys
Who will not grow up
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not settle down
They must be taken in hand
A crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
Unruly boys
Who will not grow up
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not settle down
They must be taken in hand
A crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
No...a crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
A crack on the head
Is just what you get
Why? Because of who you are!
And a crack on the head
Is just what you get
Why? Because of what you are!
A crack on the head
Because of :
Those things you said
Things you said
The things you did
Unruly boys
Who will not grow
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not grow
They must be taken in hand
Ah...oh, no...oh, no
Ah...oh, no...oh, no
No...no, no, no
No...no, no
Who will not grow up
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not settle down
They must be taken in hand
A crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
Unruly boys
Who will not grow up
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not settle down
They must be taken in hand
A crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
No...a crack on the head
Is what you get for not asking
And a crack on the head
Is what you get for asking
A crack on the head
Is just what you get
Why? Because of who you are!
And a crack on the head
Is just what you get
Why? Because of what you are!
A crack on the head
Because of :
Those things you said
Things you said
The things you did
Unruly boys
Who will not grow
Must be taken in hand
Unruly girls
Who will not grow
They must be taken in hand
Ah...oh, no...oh, no
Ah...oh, no...oh, no
No...no, no, no
No...no, no
Lyrics submitted by Idan, edited by Mellow_Harsher
Barbarism Begins At Home Lyrics as written by Johnny Marr Steven Morrissey
Lyrics © Universal Music Publishing Group, Warner Chappell Music, Inc.
Lyrics powered by LyricFind
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The song is from the perspective of conservative authority. The unruly boys and girls who decide to do things their own way must be suppressed, it claims. Morrissey obviously had a few problems with that.
The second paragraph is probably Morrissey expressing a feeling that I certainly felt when I was in school - that sometimes teachers decide to punish you (because they don't like you) and then search for the excuse. So if a disliked student asks for help then they get told off for being stupid, if they they don't then they get told off for doing the work wrong. If a student is being falsely accused of something then he can keep silent and be punished for something he didn't do, or make his case and be punished for "answering back", and so on.
Basically it's Morrissey complaining about horrible teachers who had no respect for his individual character.
"A crack on the head is what you get for not asking"
- i think this is about the fact that some people wont have the courage the learn or ask questions.. which in the end is worse off for them, because they dont have a very good knowledge. but.. curiousity killed the cat..
I think it just goes to show you what a great bass player Andy Rourke was. The live version sounds better than the record
is what you get for not asking
and a crack on the head
is what you get for asking
i think morrissey is implying that the person dealing out the crack on the head is not hitting to punish the child but rather just because they like hitting.