Bengali In Platforms

As a Bangladeshi expatriate who has lived for a very long time abroad, albeit not in the UK, but elsewhere and in a place that can be as equally racist and xenophobic, I don't at all see this song as being racist or being targeted specifically towards a Bengali or any race. We have to remind ourselves that Morrissey wrote this song reflecting upon his own difficulty with trying to blend in, being the son of Irish immigrants.Here, the focus is no more on Irish immigrants, but immigrants of a new nature, an incoming influx of people from South Asia who come in search of new jobs, a new life, aspirations of a far more superior environment and culture than the one they leave back at home,from hearing tales told by their own relatives living abroad when they talked of cities that don't sleep at night. When they move to such new places, what they don't realize is how difficult they can find things, their working environment is not the kind they envisioned it to be, and they realize that they left home with false hopes. This could apply to anyone migrating to a new country in search of something better. Why should these immigrants now shelve their "Western Plans"? While these lyrics do tend to make the narrator of the song sound pedantic and want to tell immigrants that the narrator is the one who "belongs", the message otherwise has a better meaning than the one directly implied.People like Bengalis and Indians belong to a culture/religion that is a world apart from the one they try to immerse themselves into (note the second or third generation immigrant kids still looking for that "identity"), and whatever they might try to do, from appearing "Western" to impress or adopt Western political/social/religious/cultural ideologies, they still are not completely "British" or "American" or whatever they want to call themselves.It is as difficult for the native born British to interact with a migrant who might otherwise have very different ideas and thoughts, thoughts which might not even be in tune with the rest of the Western society.With Morrissey trying to explain that had he been in Yugoslavia, he would have felt the same way doesn't really hold as a strong defense. Colour and race matters too, and while Morrissey would have been able to seamlessly adjust himself within the crowd, a dark Bengali or Indian wouldn't find doing the same so easy...and yes, let's not kid ourselves about the situation that the world is still in when it comes to the issue of colour. Political correctness would like to tell you otherwise. I agree with Rachel Summers and citizenerased19. When the narrator tries to explain to this Bengali that he doesn't want to be blamed when he has to break the bad news to the Bengali, it just implies that sooner or later, somebody has to wake up and remind immigrants, especially ones with a low education and bad language skills, that life could be much harder than they had imagined it to be. These people could be the first generation immigrants themselves or educated citizens with origins in other countries trying to warn people back at home. Morrissey's 80's Britain was different, the mood less forgiving. Adjusting is difficult,people around you can make it harder. Morrissey warns the immigrant of possible alienation and isolation.I hope I could explain this well enough. I know it is me merely rambling on and on...but I could identify with this song in several ways...not that I have had the same experience since I was born in another country and lived there for so long, but because I have seen and known people who had gone through the same experiences as outline by Morrissey in the song.I bet my dad had gone through all that himself; he was the first one to leave home and his family after all. Anyway, Morrissey is still God and a lyrical genius...a pure legend!

life IS hard enough when you belong here

the "narrator" is just saying to the boy/man that moving to the western world might not be what he dreamed of because people are racist, and it may be hard to live here. And he is also saying to the western people, that this guy just wants to embrace your culture... it is in no way racist.

Aw, Morrissey isn't racist. Come on.

If a song says something negative, it doesn't necessarily mean that this is the writer making a negative statement. The narrator in a song isn't always the writer. He can use a character as the narrator that doesn't reflect his views in order to bring attention to a point. In fact, the lyrics can be completely opposite to the writer's views.

Kaguth on 04-12-2004 @ 12:43:57 AM is spot on

Moz is saying people ARE racist

There's a lot of good stuff here most of it from Cheesebagel, but there are a few things I don't think people have mentioned (enough).

If you're a morrissey fan you should understand that morrissey sings about difficult subjects but usually from the viewpoint of whoever that subject is. Not as someone looking at a situation, he puts himself in the situation of the sufferer, if you like.

Like November Spawned a Monster - he's looking at the situation from the disabled person. Of course there's always more going on than the direct narrative of the song and it can be used to mean many things, a lot that Morrissey can relate to (which is why he writes it in the first place).

So when Morrissey sings lines like "Life is hard enough when you belong here", the less bright immediately think it's coming from English people saying to the Bengali "you don't belong here! go home!". Of course it's not that at all. He's singing from the perspective of the Bengali. The Bengali feels like he doesn't belong.

The other thing is that this song is about Manchester in 70's and 80's when unemployment was very high and life was tough and there wasn't many jobs and the average family had no money. The Bengali is coming to Manchester (presumably) to get a better life and make money etc...

Morrissey is bursting that bubble and saying life is already very tough, so shelve your plans they're not going to happen. People are struggling here it's not some kind of magical land. The fact that the Bengali is going to have to cope with adapting to a new culture is not going to make things any easier. He is wearing platforms and wanting to be friends (forever) is very touching and quite sad because it's not going to be so easy. The fact that people are having it tough make it harder for them to accept others.

This song has been interpretted as being very racist toward immigrants, notably Indians, in Great Britain, Morrissey's homeland. They can be construed as coming from Morrissey or from the people of England. This is obvious through the lyrics "That life is hard enough when you belong here " and "shelve your plans,"

it is not obvious that this song is racist, whats unfortunate is when some people listen to a controversial song they too quickly jump to conclusions without giving it much thought. Morissey may be very patriotic etc etc but he is not a racist he was simply highlighting an issue and the way some ppl feel about immigrants, this does not mean that this song is racist .

It's silly when people accuse this song of racism. Morrissey is really only singin g to this Bengali as a means to reflect upon himself and his own alienation and isolation. As a knowing reject, the character advises the outsider that it's best to simply stay away. The slightly mocking tone can be percieved as mere honesty, he's taking slight pleasure in being a rejector, as opposed to his more typical reject-ee; but at the same time relating to the outsider. Those that flatly acuse the song of racism have no sense of poetry ~ shading, suggestion, metaphor; they see things on one level.