How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?

I think this song is about having your face dragged in 15miles of shit and not liking it..THE END!

As a teacher of English I have done an exercise with this song with my students numerously and there is one meaning that came to my mind and that is whether this song isn't a comment on the war in Iraq. America being 'she' and Iraq the narator: She told me she loved me which means she must be insane I've had my face dragged in fifteen miles of shit and I do not / and I do not and I do not like it so how can anybody say they know how I feel? the only one around here who is me is me All this reffering to the absolutely different environment in Middle East and America's self-pronouced comprehension of it. The reference to uniforms: as for you in your uniform (we told you) your smelly uniform (we told you) and so you think you can be rude to me because you wear a uniform (we told you) a smelly uniform (we told you) and so you think you can be rude to me And the statement of disdain for the American 'culture': but even I / as sick as I am I would never be you even I / as sick as I am I would never be you even I / sick and depraved a traveler to the grave I would never be you I would never be you And it would be quite typical for M. to defend a weak part and to say that it is a 'traveller to the grave' at the same time... What do you think? Far fetched? Paco Picopiedra

'As a teacher of English I have done an exercise with this song with my students numerously'

As a teacher of English you really should know better.

Hmm. I like the analysis but. Great works of are art often polysemic or done in a way that it's difficult to identify what is the source and the objective of the work.

I believe the song is really about abuse of authority and who knows which specific situation is Morrisey singing about.

M is very subtle when he writes these lyrics and that in their universality they can be interpreted as anything that suits the main motif -abuse of authority- and the USA-Iraq war is a clear example of that.

The message of the song seems clear and generic. I like this song very much.

i grant you that in the context of the record, being it's first lines "america your head's too big because america you're belly is too big"... in that context it could be. damn this postmodern poets uh.

but then maybe 'America' could be a big fat girl from Colombia.

I really have no idea how this song can be seen as having to deal with America and Iraq. Sure 'America is not the world' is a bit obviously about such things but I see no real link here. Your analysis is interesting but a bit far fetched in my opinion.

I think this song is about how people view him, how it confuses him that people can like him. Its hard for him to trust their motives and opinions after he's been 'dragged in 15 miles of shit' I see this as his general views on the world. How people idolize him, and he finds it 'insane' etc. How people numb themselves to others pain, yet claim to understand how they feel. And about how people in uniforms are the greatest abusers of power out there.

Thats my take on it

I think that this song is about having a lot of people to have a preconceived notion about what a situation is and not really being able to step outside of ego enough to know what the true situation is. The tendency in people to think that they'd be better in the same situation, but no one really knowing but the person or their true feelings.

"The people who persist. Who stick their fingers on the bell and say 'I know that you're in there and I'll huff and I'll puff'. I can't even imagine those people buy my records or even understand me. I think the audience now has become so large that it's a collection of different people with different visions of what kind of a person I am." - Morrissey

I think this song touches on how people are constantly judging him and making guesses about his sexuality and other lifestyles and how fans become obsessed like he said above.

When I first heard this song I thought it was about his High Court trial re: wages...where he lost the case. I can imagine the judge and police etc being rude to him. I think Morrissey likes to write about personal experience. I think this song is about him. I think the "15 miles of shit" refers to his lack of a record deal for like 7 years, plus his High Court trial. I think the uniform comments are just his general hatred for uniformed officers etc...