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.
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.