First Of The Gang To Die

I think this is a brilliant answer, I hadn't drawn the parallel between both hectors. If this is the case what a great piece of songwriting!<br /> Though Morissey is english, specifically from Manchester which had a large gang-and-gun crime problem in the early 90's. Tho it hardly matters I would argue that the comparison drawn is likely much closer to home.

@Duffo <br /> <br /> Morrissey depicts himself as Hector, a hero who died for love...<br /> <br /> “You have never been in love,<br /> Until you have seen the stars reflect in the reservoirs<br /> <br /> And you have never been in love,<br /> Until you have seen the dawn rise,<br /> Behind the home for the blind”<br /> <br /> The verses in this song establish Morrissey as a person who has experienced love. He reveals that it is difficult to fathom until you’ve lived through its effects. He tells us that we only begin to understand after suffering. <br /> <br /> “We are the pretty, petty thieves,<br /> And you're standing on our streets”<br /> <br /> With its rhythmic shift, the bridge section builds anticipation. Morrissey is introducing the protagonists...the young (pretty), naïve gang of the title. He further describes them as “petty thieves”. The word petty is full of sarcasm (as well as illiterating effectively with the previous adjective). It suggests the theft is not serious and yet we learn later that it is the theft of hearts (he stole all hearts away) - no laughing matter. This is a good example of Morrissey’s dry wit.<br /> <br /> The second line in the bridge is lightly menacing. A warning cry that those who enter “our street” are in for trouble. Morrissey is flagging up the danger of falling for youthful beauty. The danger of falling in love.<br /> <br /> “Where Hector was the first of the gang with a gun in his hand,<br /> And the first to do time,<br /> The first of the gang to die, oh my.<br /> Hector was the first of the gang with a gun in his hand,<br /> And the first to do time,<br /> The first of the gang to die, oh my”<br /> <br /> Here in the chorus we meet the hero and hear he is armed with a gun. He is a threat. Having established at the beginning that the song is about love we can deduce that the threat is love. Morrissey is heightening love’s danger by depicting it as a loaded gun. A lethal weapon in young, innocent hands. You are braced for the worst as our young hero heads out into the street.<br /> <br /> And the threat is realised. As the first one of the gang to experience love, he is also the first one to suffer it (do time) and eventually succomb to it (die).<br /> <br /> “You have never been in love,<br /> Until you've seen the sunlight thrown,<br /> Over smashed human bone”<br /> <br /> In this final verse the message is the same as in first two verses but the image is the bleakest yet. A reservoir (verse 1) is dark, mysterious and deep; a home for the blind (verse 2) suggests ignorance or being kept in the dark/made a fool/betrayal (I was blind!). Here in the final verse we are presented with smashed human bone. Love will violently break the core of our flesh. <br /> <br /> “We are the pretty, petty thieves,<br /> And you're standing on our streets,<br /> Where Hector was the<br /> First of the gang with a gun in his hand,<br /> And the first to do time,<br /> The first of the gang to die,”<br /> <br /> The chorus is repeated initially but develops with...<br /> <br /> “Such a silly boy”<br /> <br /> Morrissey patronises Hector. As if he might have been smarter. You cannot avoid thinking that he is mocking himself. You sense self pity and loathing all at once.<br /> <br /> “Hector was the first of the gang with a gun in his hand<br /> And a bullet in his gullet and the first lost lad to go under the sod”<br /> <br /> Here at the final part of the main narrative we discover that it is Hector who has taken the bullet. What’s more he has taken it in the gullet. Known to deliver a slow painful death. The tragedy is felt acutely when we are reminded he is just a lad. Like a young casualty of war (or gang culture) sent to an early grave. The use of the cold, old English word sod (earth) brings the story to an abrupt, unglamorous end.<br /> <br /> “And he stole from the rich and the poor<br /> And not very rich and the very poor.<br /> And he stole our hearts away<br /> He stole our hearts away,<br /> He stole our hearts away”<br /> <br /> This coda offers a romantic reprieve. It lifts Hector to a folk hero with it’s Robin Hood connotations. Morrissey uses the contrast between Robin Hood - famously discerning between rich (targets) and poor (deserving beneficiaries) - and Hector who stole from everyone - to magnify the sense that love is indiscriminately lethal. As the song plays out we feel we are nostalgically reminiscing over his lost beauty, his youthful attraction and can celebrate his ultimate tragedy. Lesson: love kills us all.