The overall song is about Morrissey finally feeling reasonably content with life. It has the tongue in cheek element of saying 'historians note' etc.
The part that always confused me was the reference to Claude Brasseur... Then I found an old interview with Morrissey where he said that at around the time of this song he found Claude Brasseur's films and they helped him through a difficult time, made him smile. So when he says 'from difficult child to spectral hand to Claude Brasseur' he isn't comparing himself to Claude Brasseur, he is saying that his final stage of development (in which he is happy) is due to finding Claude Brasseur.
The overall song is about Morrissey finally feeling reasonably content with life. It has the tongue in cheek element of saying 'historians note' etc.
The part that always confused me was the reference to Claude Brasseur... Then I found an old interview with Morrissey where he said that at around the time of this song he found Claude Brasseur's films and they helped him through a difficult time, made him smile. So when he says 'from difficult child to spectral hand to Claude Brasseur' he isn't comparing himself to Claude Brasseur, he is saying that his final stage of development (in which he is happy) is due to finding Claude Brasseur.