Morrissey, the lead singer and lyricist for The Smiths, is a polarizing figure - at least among men (although women are more likely to embrace him unreservedly.) I met a Social Worker once, an ex-member of a Birmingham band, who described himself as having a "love-hate" relationship with the man – this is not unusual. Even those who genuinely like The Smiths are often reluctant to admit it.
Despite the stigma associated with saying it, I have decided to go out on a limb and admit that I like The Smiths quite a lot. Below I transcribe the lyrics for one of their songs, "I Know It's Over", a song which you can find on Youtube along with a beautiful cover of it by Jeff Buckley. I shall then discuss the song a little.
I Know It's Over
Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head,
And as I climb into an empty bed,
Oh well. Enough said.
I know it's over – still I cling,
I don't know where else I can go… Oh…
Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head.
See, the sea wants to take me,
The knife wants to slit me,
Do you think you can help me?
Sad veiled bride, please be happy,
Handsome groom, give her room.
Loud, loutish lover, treat her kindly
Though she needs you
More than she loves you.
And I know it's over – still I cling,
I don't know where else I can go,
Over and over and over and over...
I know it's over.
It never really began
But in my heart it was so real.
And you even spoke to me, and said:
"If you're so funny
Then why are you on your own tonight?
And if you are so clever
Why are you on your own tonight?
If you are so very entertaining
Why are you on your own tonight?"
I know…
'Cause tonight is just like any other night.
That's why you're on you own tonight.
With your triumphs and your charms,
While they're in each other's arms…
It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate,
It takes strength to be gentle and kind
Over, over, over, over…
It's so easy to laugh, it's so easy to hate,
It takes guts to be gentle and kind
Over, over,
Love is natural and real
But not for you, my love,
Not tonight my love.
Love is natural and real,
But not for such as you and I, my love.
Oh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head…
[Repeat x 4]
Now, the first thing to say about this song is that it is obviously autobiographical. The situation Morrissey describes is a relationship of unrequited love which only ended, if it ended, when the woman he loved married another man. When I was younger, I thought lyricists just wrote whatever sounded good at the time, fitted the tune. I now no longer believe this. Most great pop songs, I now believe, are autobiographical - examples from the Beatles of confessional songs include "Yesterday' and "Norwegian Wood". Many, though not all, of Smiths' songs are autobiographical. (There are exceptions, "Girlfriend in a Coma", for instance, is a song more playful than sincere.) In "Still Ill", to take another example, when Morrissey sings, "Under the iron bridge, we kissed/ And all I ended up with was sore lips", I believe he is describing something that actually happened to him.
Morrissey is undoubtedly a profoundly talented writer. When he sings "The sea wants to take me, the knife wants to slit me" he is saying, "Sometimes I want to drown myself, sometimes I want to slit my wrists". He projects his suicidal impulses on the means of their consummation. There is probably a name for this type of rhetorical device, this type of personification, but if so I don't know it. What is certain is that Morrissey is a great poet. In addition to being a kind of love song, there is a subtle hint of malice to the song. When Morrissey sings "She needs you more than she loves you" and "Love is natural and real, but not for you, my love", he is asserting the loved woman does not truly love her affianced. He is effectively saying to the groom, 'She doesn't really love you, it's really me she loves.' He denies her the authenticity of her feelings. This is the natural and even inevitable knee-jerk reaction of the spurned lover.
The song is at once beautiful and truly great. And it is great because it springs from authentic feelings.
The main reason why Morrissey elicits ambivalent reactions from male fans is that there is some doubt about his sexuality. In songs like "Hand in Glove", "This Charming Man" and even "Shoplifters of the World", there is some suggestion of a gay subtext. Partly, I believe, this suspicion about his sexuality arises from Morrissey's vocal delivery. And music fans do tend to worry about contagion. Even "I Know It's Over" can seem slightly suspect to a young man. For an adult male to address a song to his mother, well… Adolescent boys, as they mature, seek to individuate themselves from their parents and, in particular, tend to repudiate their former dependence on their mothers. They cut their mothers out of their lives. Perhaps it is only when a man becomes truly mature that he can acknowledge his love for his mother. When I was younger I had trouble with "I Know It's Over" for these adolescent reasons, that it seemed somehow fishy for Morrissey to address a song to his mother - I had difficulty with John Lennon's song "Mother" from his solo career for the same reason. Ironically, however, I quite liked "Heart Shaped Box" by Nirvana, perhaps because it is so ambivalent, because Cobain is saying "I love you" and "I hate you" to his mother simultaneously.
Despite rumors or impressions that Morrissey might be gay, he has never come out as gay. I have a friend who opines that Morrissey is probably bisexual and has had sexual relationships with both men and women; my own feeling is that Morrissey was and perhaps still is effectively celibate. His romantic life, it seems to me, has been typified by long periods of unrequited love, perhaps for one woman, perhaps for a couple serially. I get this feeling not only from "I Know It's Over" but also from another great song "Half a Person". It may well be that Morrissey needed a female love in his life and that this is why he found it so hard to let go of one. I leave it to you, dear reader, to deduce what you will about his sexuality from this.
When young men imagine rock stars, they tend to think of a life-style revolving around sex, drugs and rock and roll. "If I was a famous rock star," they think, "I'd be getting laid by a new girl every night." Some rockers, such as Gene Simmons from Kiss and Lemmy from Motorhead, who have each bragged of over a thousand conquests, fit the stereotype, but most rock stars don't. Famous musicians are not so far removed from ordinary people as adolescent males believe. Morrissey is not unique. Cobain, I suspect, may have only had two sexual partners in his life: his first girlfriend and Courtney Love. Yes, he enjoyed sex, but I doubt he was promiscuous. Cobain believed in love. I surmise that Mike Patton from Faith No More, after his marriage fell apart, went off sex altogether. The Beatles were rumored to have shagged their way around the world when they first became famous, a rumor McCartney has done nothing to dispel in later years - but I suspect McCartney is fibbing a little, partly from bravado and partly from regret at the opportunities he passed up when he was young. Consider: the subject of most popular music is love. I don't see how a belief in true love can co-exist with a need to screw anything with two legs.
I should give another reason why "I Know It's Over" appeals to me. Like Morrissey, much of my romantic life has been characterized by unrequited love, love that I have clung to for extremely long periods of my life. For many years I was in love with one girl and dating her best friend - I do not feel proud of this now. The lines, "I know it's over, it never really began, but in my heart it was so real" resonates with me as the story of the second part of my life. The song itself suggests closure. But can anyone ever really find closure? I doubt it.
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