I love this site but the Morrissey interpretations are being ruined by two kinds of people... initially it is the people who relate everything in his songs to some kind of repressed homosexuality. This problem is then compounded by the second group of people who seem so blatantly terrified by the notion that Morrissey may actually be gay. Their homophobia is blatant and ridiculous at times.
As a heterosexual male I have no problem accepting the possibility that Morrissey may indeed be gay. I have never spent much time debating Morrissey's sexuality as within the context of most of his songs his (or the narrator's) sexual orientation really makes no difference to the overall sentiment and meaning of the song.
In my opinion 'nightandday' has really hit the nail on the head and hers is as close to a definitive interpretation as you will get. "I have forgiven Jesus" makes no reference to any sexual orientation at all. To me the song is about a character that is an innately sexual or loving being but cannot vent their love or sexual frustration because they have problems with relationships and intimacy. This is a universal theme that will appeal to all varieties of people and their sexual orientations.
It is important not to take the song literally but at the same time it is very easy to see this character as Morrissey himself and the song as a testimony to his struggles with his own sexuality. Morrissey has always been fairly honest about his celibacy and never being comfortable defining himself as hetero, homo or bisexual. It is obvious Morrissey has some form of deep sexual tendencies (most of his songs have strong sexual connotations) but that he is both confused and repulsed by the idea of whatever these tendencies are. You could say the reason for him not being able to “offload this desire” is his own hang ups about his body and appearance. Is it simply a case of Morrissey being a cold unloving person who cannot form deep relationships? You don’t know and more importantly it doesn’t matter. The sentiment is what counts.
Anyhow let’s get back solely to the character. We do not know the exact reason why the character cannot vent their love or sexual tendencies. It is this very reason that is open to interpretation and what causes a lot of people to look at Morrissey rather than come up with their own reasons. The character has long blamed Jesus for making them the way they are but they are now at peace with themselves and have forgiven Jesus for creating them with this in-built dilemma.
I love this site but the Morrissey interpretations are being ruined by two kinds of people... initially it is the people who relate everything in his songs to some kind of repressed homosexuality. This problem is then compounded by the second group of people who seem so blatantly terrified by the notion that Morrissey may actually be gay. Their homophobia is blatant and ridiculous at times.
As a heterosexual male I have no problem accepting the possibility that Morrissey may indeed be gay. I have never spent much time debating Morrissey's sexuality as within the context of most of his songs his (or the narrator's) sexual orientation really makes no difference to the overall sentiment and meaning of the song.
In my opinion 'nightandday' has really hit the nail on the head and hers is as close to a definitive interpretation as you will get. "I have forgiven Jesus" makes no reference to any sexual orientation at all. To me the song is about a character that is an innately sexual or loving being but cannot vent their love or sexual frustration because they have problems with relationships and intimacy. This is a universal theme that will appeal to all varieties of people and their sexual orientations.
It is important not to take the song literally but at the same time it is very easy to see this character as Morrissey himself and the song as a testimony to his struggles with his own sexuality. Morrissey has always been fairly honest about his celibacy and never being comfortable defining himself as hetero, homo or bisexual. It is obvious Morrissey has some form of deep sexual tendencies (most of his songs have strong sexual connotations) but that he is both confused and repulsed by the idea of whatever these tendencies are. You could say the reason for him not being able to “offload this desire” is his own hang ups about his body and appearance. Is it simply a case of Morrissey being a cold unloving person who cannot form deep relationships? You don’t know and more importantly it doesn’t matter. The sentiment is what counts.
Anyhow let’s get back solely to the character. We do not know the exact reason why the character cannot vent their love or sexual tendencies. It is this very reason that is open to interpretation and what causes a lot of people to look at Morrissey rather than come up with their own reasons. The character has long blamed Jesus for making them the way they are but they are now at peace with themselves and have forgiven Jesus for creating them with this in-built dilemma.