Trouble Loves Me

I think this song is about being alone, being content with that...when "the balance seems serene"...and then being a "fool"...and going out and falling in lust/love with some again "flesh rampage"...charming them with your "ready wit"....even though you'd promised yourself you wouldn't do that ...you know it's going to be a waste of time they're going to be "the wrong arms"...you know the relationship is just going to be trouble...

xdvr's right - Soho isn't just a gay area, but it is a very sordid part of town - sex shops, strip clubs, prositutes (17 and a model? I doubt it love!) The 'Can't get you out of my head'part is very emotionally conveyed though - A song def directed at someone...

Yeah I do think its a relationship that has ended. Maybe its his old self hatred coming through a touch too. Could be that he's blaming himself, that when he had everything he wanted hes fucked it up and lost it all and is an empty shell unable to think about anybody else other than the person who he loves more than anything else in the world ever, or that could just be me :(

I believe he is singing about an ex partner who no longer loves him, guessing they still see each other as friends, but the other person is playing games with him. I love the ending where he sings "Then at midnight I can't get you out of my head" you can tell he really means it. Also note "Go to soho, go to waste in the wrong arms" all sound far to close to being a gay man to me.

Soho is not an exclusive gay area and really what does that matter?

Sounds like someone who's worn out and fed up with people. The opening lines say it all.

Seems to me about a relationship that never really started, but that the narrator is very much in love with the subject, while the subject doesn't return it (Trouble loves me, Trouble needs me, Two things more than you do, Or would attempt to).

The line "On the flesh rampage - At your age!" tells that it's, in fact, the subject who's on the rampage, while the narrator is "Faced with the music, as always, I face it," because he's always the one stuck with the short end of the stick.

Still, as much as he tries to be apathetic, he can't deny that "at midnight I can't get you out of my head."

Quite sad, really! But so many of us have been there.

Rated 0 I don't think this song has anything to do with an ex-partner or a relationship. As in many of his songs, elements of it refer to "someone" not wanting to be with him, but this isn't necessarily about any particular person. The "two things more than you do" is just a clever way of using the figure of speech "trouble loves me" and isn't aimed at any specific person.

I think that the song is more about Morrissey's constant struggle with an unhealthy desire: his disenchanted taste. When it looks like he is finally happy along comes something to destroy this happiness - lust, longing, desperation - all troubling emotions which also often lead to trouble.

He makes fun of himself making a fool of himself when trying to attract someone. This "flesh rampage" illustrates an insatiable appetite for affection, running from person to person. Despite his intelligence and ability to be funny on demand, there is still something pathetic about his need to seduce younger people and spend time with people who are no good for him but who he seeks out in seedy places (Soho).

The last verse continues the self deprecation with his admission that he's always writing about the same themes (scraping the barrel) but he is unapologetic about doing so and feels it is his duty to do so. The line "In the half-light, so English, frowning", refers to his common perception and how he has been photographed over the years; the front cover of Viva Hate springs to mind. Yet despite the legions of fans fawning over his image, there he is, alone at night, filled with the throbbing pain of desire for someone - a fan? A familiar face from his daily life who he can't approach? Anyone? And off he goes again, running after this elusive person who will never quench his emotional thirst. The irony of success.

Well, just my two cents.

"So English" most likely refers to English photographer Jake Walters, with whom Morrissey was in a short-term romantic relationship in the 1990s. This song is from 1997, so it probably is about how Morrissey dealt with the break-up. I do not think we can say for certain that everything mentioned in this song is exactly what Morrissey experienced himself. Perhaps he did run "into the wrong arms" on the "flesh rampage", aka slept with random people, or perhaps it is rather something his fictional self would have done. But it seems like Morrissey did feel haunted by his memories with Jake Walters, and this is how he got over it – by turning the pain into art.