William's Last Words

Hard not to read this as Richey's suicide note.

I'm surprised that I like this song as much as I do considering I don't particularly like Nicky's voice.

The song does blatantly read like a suicide letter which does make me question my opinion that Richey didn't commit suicide. Oh well, a beautiful song nonetheless.

May I also add, it's absolutely beautiful.

Has to be one of the saddest songs I've ever heard but still beautiful. I do agree that Nicky doesn't have the greatest voice in the world to say the least but you can clearly hear the emotion in his voice and that counts for a lot.

i love this song, nicky's voice is pretty crap but i don't think it would have been the same with james, nicky makes it sound so naive and innocent.

this could be considered as a kind of suicide note esp. after editing

BUT something that seems quite weird is the first line of bag lady (the hidden track) annoucing very clearly I AM NOT DEAD!!! just a bit strange i think... probs coincidence

Nicky edited down the lyrics to a way where there’s no other way to view them but as a goodbye or suicide note. I find that very odd since the Manics have gone out of their way to dispel the belief that Richey committed suicide after abandoning his car. Or maybe with close to 15 years gone they now accept the belief?

But in the context of seeing the entire piece, it is clearly not about Richey. It is about an old man on his death bed having one of his final conversations with an old friend. The piece is very long and Nicky used very little of it, using only a few lines from “William” and completely editing out the other end of the conversation from his friend.

But much like Elliott Smith or Kurt Cobain’s last songs, due to the fate of the writer, it’s almost impossible to not view them as a statement of intent. Even though they’re more than likely just misinterpreted character pieces. It’s not like their work wasn’t bleak before their inner-turmoil got too much. By the time they all made their final decisions, writing was probably the last thing they cared about.

In its edited-down state, I agree, but not when you see the prose they picked it out of...

It is a heart-wrenching song. I can't wait to read the un-edited version of the song in the booklet though. In all honesty though, this is the only song I skip in the album! I know thats really harsh but I just don't click with Nicky's voice. I think it's scratchy and uncomfortable to listen to. They could of at least made it a duet.

Yeh, the bit after is weird... not in the lyrics book or anything, completely freaked me out when it came on and I wasn't expecting it.

I just presume it's something the Manic's have written on the end of it, as a kind of tribute to Richie... I can't make sense of much of the lyrics though, anyone able to post them here?

Never mind... didn't realise they were already posted elsewhere on here... still can't make any sense of it though!