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Spring-Heeled Jim Lyrics
Spring-heeled Jim winks an eye
He'll "do", he'll never be "done to"
He takes on whoever flew through
"Well, it's the normal thing to do" ... ah ...
Spring-heeled Jim lives to love
Now kissing with his mouth full
And his eyes on some other fool
So many women
His head should be spinning
Ah, but no !
Ah, but no !
But no !
Ah, no !
Spring-heeled Jim slurs the words :
"There's no need to be so knowing
Take life at five times the
Average speed, like I do"
Until Jim feels the chill
"Oh, where did all the time go ?"
Once always in for the kill
Now it's too cold
And he feels too
old
Too old
Mmm, old...
La, la, la, la-la, la ...
He'll "do", he'll never be "done to"
He takes on whoever flew through
"Well, it's the normal thing to do" ... ah ...
Now kissing with his mouth full
And his eyes on some other fool
So many women
His head should be spinning
Ah, but no !
Ah, but no !
But no !
Ah, no !
"There's no need to be so knowing
Take life at five times the
Average speed, like I do"
Until Jim feels the chill
"Oh, where did all the time go ?"
Now it's too cold
And he feels too
old
Too old
Mmm, old...
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Great song, great lyrics just classic morrissey. I'm guessing 'Spring Heeled Jim' is a reference to 'Spring Heeled Jack' an urban legend in the UK - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spring_Heeled_Jack.
The lyrics seem to tie in with this e.g.
"Now kissing with his mouth full And his eyes on some other fool So many women His head should be spinning"
Spring Heeled Jack suppposed attacked and sometimes kissed a series of women in 19th century long.
"He takes on whoever flew through"
He was said to be able to jump leap large heights/distances, hence the name.
Anyway, great song, i just love morrissey (and the smiths naturally).
The film the song samples is "We are the Lambeth Boys"a 1950s documentary about the young men (and women) who hang out at a certain youth club in london (it is not about the last men to be hung in the UK). The film is a deliberately sympathetic account of a certain demographic who were often looked on, and feared, as delinquents in their time.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=232669605535093695 Morrissey, however, has chosen the parts of the dialogue which represent that side of their personality which the film is trying to soften - i.e. the aggressive gang culture. He also emphasises the repressed homoerotic aspects of their relationships.
Now kissing with his mouth full And his eyes on some other fool
this might say it all.
This song is a classic Morrissey vignette. It's about an ageing English wideboy. Judging by the accents of the background samples I would say it was about a cockney wideboy. I know of many and in my opinion I think Morrissey nails it.
I've always took this song to be from the point of view of a far scarier, more collected 'krays' style gangster looking down on or offering a piece of advice to some jumpy cocky jack the lad small time trouble maker...
I remember being tol something about the last man to be hung in England. Bu that is just what I thinik.
Who the hell is Jim???
... probaby not the last person to be hung the UK as that was Peter Anthony Allen and Gwynne Owen Evans (they were executed for the same crime simultaneously).
I've read that the voices in the background are taken from a documentary about the last men to be hung in the UK.
I've read that the voices in the background are taken from a documentary about the last men to be hung in the UK.