Death of a Disco Dancer

I always thought this song was about the AIDS crisis and the contempt people showed thsoe who were dying of it in the late 80's. I remember the AIDS jokes. We've come a long way from those days but at that time it was scary how people thought it was so funny that gay people were dying of this disease. It was chilling. I remember being more afraid of people finding out I was gay than dying of that disease. fortunately I never contracted it!

if you think Peace Is a common goal That goes to show How little you know

My favorite lyric of all the Smiths' songs.

I agree with the one post that thought that this was IRA bombing related. There were IRA bombings of discoteques when this song was current. Peace is not a common goal when it comes to issues of peace in Ireland - or any other facet of human life. I always thought that it was about the Troubles, and was surprised to see the AIDS theory. I didn't draw the gay = disco dancer conclusion, but who knows. I wish that this site actually contained the real meanings, and not our imaginative interpretations. I will keep investigating. God Bless Morrissey -.

I think it's just being critical of the sort of "hippie" mentality in a lot of music in the sixties and seventies that like to pretend they were all about peace and love but when it came down to it everyone just looked after themselves.

I think he is just criticising the sentimentality of some pop songs like "Imagine" for example.

Bob, great interpretation. I also might ad that the "rather not get involved" symbolizes the majority of American attitudes towards Aids research and prevention at the time. It was a "Disco Dancer" problem, not worth looking in to.

i thought it was cause of gay bashing he said "i rather not get involved" they might fuck him up too and disco people(some not all)were gay therefore gay bashing

other things point it out 2

I think this is a satire of The Beatles. It's got a few features typical of their songs such as the climax at the end, and indeed the lyrics seem to ridicule the naivety of the "love peace and harmony" delusions that sixties bands such as the Fab Four had.

I thought maybe Moz might have been inspired by the murder of Kitty Genovese. She was a girl who was murdered in Queens in front of her apartment. Genovese was attacked three different time over a period of 30 min. Many of her neighbors (up to 38 people according to the NY Times) heard or saw the attack but didn't intervene because as one one woman said she didn't want to "get involved." Great Song! Like everything the Smiths did.

I could be completely off, but my first reaction to the mention of disco dancers that was the song had something to do with the disco bombings and the IRA and such.

Disco's go boom = dead disco dancers. Love, peace and harmony? = Nice, but way not happening. I'd rather not get involved = things are tense and voicing an opinion wouldn't be in one's best interest. I never talk to my neighbor = Trust no one.

My interpretation of this song sorta' reminds me of The Talking Head's 'Life During Wartime'.

My first interpretation was that it referred to homophobic violence, but that's probably because I came of age in the aftermath of Matthew Shepard...given the historical context, the AIDS reference is more likely.