I respectfully disagree with tamnin about "guilded beams". I think that it is important that Moz used the archaic spelling of what would now be spelled "gilded". The archaic spelling, to me at lest, implies a reference to an archaic source. The phrase (or a variation of the phrase) "guilded beams" seems fairly common in 16th and 17th century English Poetry. Guilded beams (as in beams of light, not architectural) are the golden rays of greatness and/or light that emanate from the sun. In this song I think it is a reference specifically to 'A Hymn of the Nativity, sung by the Shepherds' by Richard Crashaw. It goes:
Welcome—tho' not to those gay flies,
Guilded i' th' beams of earthly kings,
Slippery souls in smiling eyes—
To me Morrissey's perversion of the original meaning of these few lines fits perfectly with the ironic treatment of language, religion, and sexuality present in 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish' and in Moz's lyrics generally. More context, such as Crashaw's anti-Catholic feelings can be found on wikipedia and the full poem is available all over the web.
I respectfully disagree with tamnin about "guilded beams". I think that it is important that Moz used the archaic spelling of what would now be spelled "gilded". The archaic spelling, to me at lest, implies a reference to an archaic source. The phrase (or a variation of the phrase) "guilded beams" seems fairly common in 16th and 17th century English Poetry. Guilded beams (as in beams of light, not architectural) are the golden rays of greatness and/or light that emanate from the sun. In this song I think it is a reference specifically to 'A Hymn of the Nativity, sung by the Shepherds' by Richard Crashaw. It goes: Welcome—tho' not to those gay flies, Guilded i' th' beams of earthly kings, Slippery souls in smiling eyes— To me Morrissey's perversion of the original meaning of these few lines fits perfectly with the ironic treatment of language, religion, and sexuality present in 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish' and in Moz's lyrics generally. More context, such as Crashaw's anti-Catholic feelings can be found on wikipedia and the full poem is available all over the web.
and moz can grab me by my gay flies any day