Morrissey & The Smiths

Vincent Van MalderenThe World Will Listen

Corridor Wetteren – 2/12/15

“Passions just like mine”

discography, biography, legacy & fandom

Agenda

0. Introduction: “dial a cliché”1. Fandom2. The birth & demise of The Smiths3. Morrissey4. Legacy & (multi-)cultural impact

Flowers

Intellectual

For or against

Depressing

Crazy fans

“Dial a cliché”

Celibate

Vegetarian

Pope of mopeQuiff

Dangerous

“Dial a cliché”

X

1. Fandom

Video\Morrissey - Sister I'm A Poet - LIVE - 1988.mp4

SISTER I’M A POET

All over this town Yes, a low wind may blow And I can see through everybody's clothes With no reason To hide these words, I feel And no reason To talk about the books I read But still, I do

That's 'cause I'm a...Sister I'm a... All over this town

Along this way Outside the prison gates I love the romance of crime And I wonder : Does anybody feel the same way I do? And is evil just something you are Or something you do?

Sister I'm a...Sister I'm a... All over this town

All over this town They pull over In their Citroen vans Not to shake your hands With Meths on their breaths And you with youth on your side All alone...lone...alone, waiting at the lights But not this time

Sister I'm a...Sister I'm a...All over this town...All...oh Oh All over this town

2. The birth and demise of The Smiths

SUFFER LITTLE CHILDREN

Over the moor, take me to the moor Dig a shallow grave And I'll lay me down

Over the moor, take me to the moor Dig a shallow grave And I'll lay me down

Lesley-Anne, with your pretty white beads Oh John, you'll never be a man And you'll never see your home again Oh Manchester, so much to answer for

Edward, see those alluring lights ? Tonight will be your very last night

A woman said : "I know my son is dead I'll never rest my hands on his sacred head"

THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE

Please don't cry For the ghost and the storm outside Will not invade this sacred shrine Nor infiltrate your mind My life down I shall lie If the bogey-man should try To play tricks on your sacred mind To tease, torment, and tantalize Wavering shadows loom A piano plays in an empty room There'll be blood on the cleaver tonight And when darkness lifts and the room is bright I'll still be by your side For you are all that matters And I'll love you to till the day I die There never need be longing in your eyes As long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine

Video\The Smiths - This Charming Man [Top Of The Pops, 24 November 1983].mp4

THIS CHARMING MAN

Punctured bicycle On a hillside desolate Will nature make a man of me yet?

When in this charming car This charming man

Why pamper life's complexity When the leather runs smooth On the passenger's seat?

I would go out tonight But I haven't got a stitch to wear This man said "it's gruesome That someone so handsome should care"

Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy Who never knew his place He said "return the ring"He knows so much about these things He knows so much about these things

I would go out tonight But I haven't got a stitch to wear This man said "it's gruesome That someone so handsome should care"La, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming manOh, la-la, la-la, la-la, this charming man

Ah ! A jumped-up pantry boy Who never knew his place He said "return the ring"He knows so much about these things

The Smiths: 1983 - 1987

THE HEADMASTER’S RITUAL

Belligerent ghouls Run Manchester schools

Spineless swines Cemented minds

Sir leads the troops Jealous of youth Same old suit since nineteen sixty two

He does the military two-step downThe nape of my neck

I want to go home I don't want to stay Give up education As a bad mistake

Mid-week on the playing fields Sir thwacks you on the knees

Knees you in the groin Elbow in the face Bruises bigger than dinner plates

CEMETRY GATES

A dreaded sunny day So I meet you at the cemetry gates Keats and Yeats are on your side A dreaded sunny day So I meet you at the cemetry gates Keats and Yeats are on your side While Wilde is on mine

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones All those people, all those livesWhere are they now? With loves, and hates And passions just like mine They were born And then they lived And then they died It seems so unfair I want to cry

You say : "'Ere thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn" And you claim these words as your own But I've read well, and I've heard them said A hundred times (maybe less, maybe more) If you must write prose and poems The words you use should be your own Don't plagiarise or take "on loan" 'Cause there's always someone, somewhere With a big nose, who knows And who trips you up and laughs When you fall Who'll trip you up and laugh When you fall

I WON’T SHARE YOU

I won't share you, no I won't share you With the drive And ambition The zeal I feel This is my time

The note I wrote As she read, she said "Has the Perrier gone Straight to my head Or is life sick and cruel, instead?"

"Yes!"No - no - no - no - no - no No - no - no - no - no - no Oh...

I won't share you, no I won't share you With the drive And the dreams inside This is my time

Life tends to come and go That's OK As long as you know Life tends to come and go As long as you know Know, know, know, know, know Know, know, know, know Oh...

I won't share you, no I won't share you With the drive And the dreams inside This is my time

I want the freedom and I want the guile I want the freedom and the guile Oh, life tends to come and go As long as you know Know, know, know, know Know, know, know, know Oh...

I won't share you, no I won't share you I'll see you somewhere I'll see you sometime Darling...

The Smiths, "as smart as pop music gets"

witty and morbidly romantic

poetry

intellectual, not

highbrowed

catchy, melodic

three-minute pop singles

emotional & humorous

style, style, style!

EEN DONKEREWESTMALLEGRAAG

3. Morrissey

1992 2015

Nationalism? Politics?“All of the rumors

Keeping me groundedI never said,

I never said that they wereCompletely unfounded”

BENGALI IN PLATFORMS

Bengali, BengaliBengali, BengaliNo no noHe does not want to depress youOh no no no no noHe only wants to impress youOh...

Bengali in platformsHe only wants to embrace your cultureAnd to be your friend foreverForever

Bengali, BengaliBengali, BengaliOh, shelve your Western plansAnd understandThat life is hard enough when you belong here…

NATIONAL FRONT DISCO

…But David, we wonder We wonder if the thunder Is ever really gonna begin Begin, begin Your mom says"I've lost my boy" But she should know Why you've gone Because again and again you've explained You've gone to the

National To the National To the National Front disco Because you want the day to come sooner You want the day to come sooner You want the day to come sooner When you've settled the score

Oh, the National

IRISH BLOOD ENGLISH HEART

Irish blood English heart,This I'm made of,There is no one on earth I'm afraid of,And no regime can buy or sell me

I've been dreaming of a time when,To be English is not to be baneful,To be standing by the flag, not feeling shameful,Racist or partial

Irish blood English heart,This I'm made of,There is no one on earth I'm afraid of,And I will die with both of my hands untied

I've been dreaming of a time when,The English are sick to death of Labor, and Tories,And spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell,And denounce this royal line that still salute him,And will salute himForever

Unloveable?

“I know I'm unloveableYou don't have to tell me

I don't have much in my lifeBut take it - it's yours”

(I’M) THE END OF THE FAMILY LINE

With no complications Fifteen generations (of mine) All honoring Nature Until I arrive (With incredible style)

I'm the end of the line The end of the family line The end of the line

No baby pulled screaming Out into this seething whirl By chance or whim (Or even love?)

Our family tree hacked into decline And I'm spared the pain Of ever saying ("Goodbye") …

SEASICK YET STILL DOCKED

I am a poor freezingly cold soulSo far from whereI intended to goScavenging through life's very constant lullsSo far from where I'm determined to go

Wish I knew the way to reach the one I loveThere is no way Wish I had the charm to attract the one I loveBut you see, I've got no charmMmm…

DEAR GOD, PLEASE HELP ME

…Will you follow and knowKnow me more than you doTrack me downAnd try to win me?

Then he motions to meWith his hand on my kneeDear God, did this kind of thing happen to you?

Now I'm spreading your legsWith mine in-betweenDear God, if I could I would help you

And now I am walking through RomeAnd there is no room to moveBut the heart feels free

4. Legacy & (multi-) cultural impact

Morrissey & The Smiths covered by:Arcade Fire Belle & Sebastian Kirsty MacColl Supergrass

David Bowie Dinosaur Jr Schneider TM Nouvelle Vague

Death Cab For Cutie Placebo Dum Dum Girls Therapy?

Low Jeff Buckley Noel Gallagher Chrissie Hynde

Radiohead Miley Cyrus Neil Finn Marianne Faithfull

Muse Mark Ronson The Divinie Comedy Nancy Sinatra

At The Drive-In TATU The Magic Numbers …Deftones Everything But The

GirlThe Wedding Present

“Morrissey is right up there with Bob

Dylan...”

“The Smiths were always about so much more than

the lyrics, and like any great band, they blended

the interplay between melody and meaning

expertly”

“I like them. Linda was into Morrissey; they wrote to

each other a lot. Big fans. I played with Johnny Marr a

bit. It was original.”

“A huge proportion of people who heard “This Charming Man” went

out and started a band. There aren’t many bands who can say

they’ve influenced people to that degree. That’s their greatest

legacy. It’s not just great melody and lyrics. It’s an attitude.”

“He (Morrissey) was my best mentor in a way

because he didn’t have the self-serving thing that Lee

Hazlewood had.”

“None of my mates liked them – they were more hooligan

types. They’d come into work and say “Fuckin’ hell, did you see that poof on Top Of The

Pops with the bush in his back pocket?” But I thought it was

life-changing.”

“In de eerste plaats vind ik de melodieën van The Smiths gewoonweg prachtig. Dat valt misschien niet zo op, omdat

Morrissey z'n teksten op een nogal klagerige toon zingt. Maar mens, je moet echt eens luisteren naar de prachtige melodieën

die Morrissey verzint op de gitaarpartijen van Johnny Marr. Werkelijk een rijkdom aan klanken en aan notenbalken. Om 'u'

tegen te zeggen.»«Ten tweede zijn er natuurlijk de ongeëvenaarde teksten van Morrissey. Mensen verwijzen vaak naar het melancholische in

die teksten, naar het morbide, maar er zit enorm veel humor in én ze zijn een samenvatting van twintig, dertig jaar popmuziek.

In zijn teksten levert hij commentaar op alles wat er in die popmuziek gebeurd is en op alles wat er in Engeland is gebeurd

in de jaren vanaf de oorlog. Een fantastische, ironische kijk op de westerse maatschappij en haar mensen. Werkelijk een

ongelofelijke mix van sociale commentaren en persoonlijke mijmeringen.” (Luc De Vos)

Link met Wetteren?

THE END

Video\Morrissey - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out (live in Manchester) 2005 [HD].mp4

THERE’S A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT

Take me out tonight Where there's music and there's people And they're young and alive Driving in your car I never never want to go home Because I haven't got one Anymore

Take me out tonight Because I want to see people and I Want to see life Driving in your car Oh, please don't drop me home Because it's not my home, it's theirHome, and I'm welcome no more

And if a double-decker bus Crashes into us To die by your side Is such a heavenly way to die And if a ten-ton truck Kills the both of us To die by your side Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

Take me out tonight Take me anywhere, I don't care I don't care, I don't care And in the darkened underpass I thought oh God, my chance has come at last(But then a strange fear gripped me and I Just couldn't ask)

Take me out tonight Oh, take me anywhere, I don't care I don't care, I don't care Driving in your car I never never want to go home Because I haven't got one, daOh, I haven't got one

And if a double-decker bus Crashes into us To die by your side Is such a heavenly way to die And if a ten-ton truck Kills the both of us To die by your side Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine

The Smiths: https://open.spotify.com/user/116712577/playlist/0OZiAK5ngEDglAoFTL3Jwu

Morrissey:https://open.spotify.com/user/116712577/playlist/60U3gD66R0IR9217YY2wNZ

Thank you from the heart of my bottom!