ViewAskewbian

i love this band for their morbidness - good beat - and morrisey's voice - some of their lyrics make me giggle although afterwards i feel slightly wrong for it - kind of like the film happiness

'girlfriend in a coma
i know it's serious
there were times
when i wanted to murder
but now i'd hate for anything
to happen to her'

'if a double decker bus
kills the both of us
to die by your side
is such a wonderful way to die'

'sweetness i was only joking
when i said by rights you
should be blugeoned in your bed'

'in my life why do i give valuable time
to people i'd much rather kick in the eye'

mllefoo

There are just so many to choose from, but lately I've been enjoying:

I want to wish you an unhappy birthday
'Cause you're evil and you lie
And if you should die
I might feel a little sad
But I won't cry.

The Antipodean

This one from "Reel About The Fountain" always summed up the Smiths for me:

I dreamt about you last night
And I fell out of bed twice

Legz_Akimbo

I smoke because I'm hoping for an early death and I need to cling to something

Did I ever tell you by the way, I never did like your face?

I never talk to my neighbour, I'd rather not get involved

The music that they constantly play says nothing to me about my life

I was bored before I even began

With a past where to be "touched" meant to be "mental"

I want to live and I want to love. I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of

My all time favourite right now is:
Ice water for blood with neither heart or spine and then just to pass time, let us go and rob the blind

atlantamoi

What a GREAT lyricist. Depressing lyrics to happy tunes. I always joked that if my life is TOO much like a Smiths song then I'm in trouble. But the truth is, maybe we like them so much because we really can relate. What's cool is Morrissey has continued to release great stuff.

Meatpants

EXACTLY what I was thinking of.

sherm42

It's so easy to laugh
It's so easy to hate
It takes strength to be gentle and kind

BDB

Does it have to be Smiths Lyrics specifically???

From Vauxhall And I..

I Am Hated For Loving

Anonymous call, a poison pen
A brick in the small of the back again
I still don't belong

Legz_Akimbo

if we're including Moz solo....

There's too many people planning your downfall

me without clothes? a nation turns it back and gags

take it please... it's free!

no baby pulled screaming into this seething whirl by chance or whim (or even love!)

and the ultimate:
I can't help quoting you, 'cos everthing that you said rings true

benedict

.... I used to remind him of:-

"I was looking for a job
And I found a job
And heaven knows
I'm miserable now."

Coincidentallly, he mentioned to me over Yule that he'd read a piece suggesting that Morrissey got inspiration for some of his lyrics from quotations/books/films etc (which I guess must be fairly common).

He read one of the books not long afterwards and realised just how often M had dipped into that one volume!

[Edit: check out this page if intrigued. FYI, the book my brother read was "By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept" by Elizabeth Smart].

Legz_Akimbo

yes.. Moz has borrowed a lot of lyrics from book and film. The most widely used has to be "A Taste of Honey" by Shelagh Delaney (cover star of "Louder then Bombs" which itself was borrowed by Public Enemy and became "Louder Than a Bomb")

Here's another Moz lyric:
If you must write prose/poems the words you use should be your own - don't plagiarize or take "on loan"
There's always someone, somewhere, with a big nose who knows
They'll trip you up and laugh when you fall

Ky-Fi

Compare the best of their days
With the worst of your days
You won't win

Just do your best and don't worry.

I think Morrissey is one of the best lyric writers in the history of rock. I think in some ways he gets unfairly labeled as just writing gloomy, depressing stuff, and while he certainly does that, I would also argue that he is one of the funniest lyric writers ever, and his humor is so sharp it really holds up through the years.

ViewAskewbian

'and now i know how joan of arc felt
as the flames rose to her roman nose
and her walkman started to melt'

'so you say it's going to happen now
but what exactly does that mean
cause i've already waited too long
and all my hope is gone'

'would you like to marry me
and if you like you could by the ring'

'sometimes i feel more fullfilled
making christmas cards for the mentally ill'

benedict

<small></small> My brother quoted exactly that lyric when we were discussing the "borrowings" last week!

I wondered aloud at the time whether the "big nose" was an obscure dig at jewish music publishers or just using the term in the traditional "nosey" sense.... I think Morrissey got in trouble before for something that seemed racist (might be wrong).

grunter

. . . what she asked of me at the end of the day . . .
well Caligula would have blushed . . .

redhenry

This REALLY is one of those times when I can truly respond that I could never even narrow down my favourite Smiths or Morrisey lyrics to even a select few.....

I have such a love for Morrissey and his writing ability that even when he 'borrows' from things he has seen and read, they still seem to take on some of his own persona.

Terry

bulletproof

Hmmmm..... How 'bout:

"Hand in glove
The sun shines out of our behinds"

"Is it wrong to want to live on your own?
No its not wrong- but I must know
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad?

Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
And don't go home tonight
Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you"

And of course, the song "Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want".

tofu

My favorite (that hasn't already been said)

"Panic"
Panic on the streets of London
Panic on the streets of Birmingham
I wonder to myself
Could life ever be sane again
On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down
I wonder to myself
Hopes may rise on the Grasmeres
But Honey Pie, you're not safe here
So you run down
To the safety of the town
But there's panic on the streets of Carlisle
Dublin, Dundee, Humberside
I wonder to myself
Burn down the disco
Hang the blessed D.J.
Because the music that they constantly play
IT SAYS NOTHING TO ME ABOUT MY LIFE
Hang the blessed D.J.
Because the music they constantly play
On the Leeds side-streets that you slip down
On the provincial towns that you jog 'round
Hang the D.J, Hang the D.J, Hang the D.J
Hang the D.J, Hang the D.J, Hang the D.J
HANG THE D.J, HANG THE D.J, HANG THE D.J
HANG THE D.J, HANG THE D.J, HANG THE D.J

Starlover

'You are repressed, but you're remarkably dressed' from Hairdresser on Fire.

Morrissey is still great solo!

ViewAskewbian

if we are going with moz solo let me add

'the more you ignore me the close i get
you're wasting your time
beware i bear my grudges
then lonley high court judges
when you sleep i will creep into your thoughts
like a bad debt that you can't pay
take the easy way and give in
and let me in'

back to the smiths - creating this thread made me think of a new sig - so the lines in my sig i shall add as well

Legz_Akimbo

> I wondered aloud at the time whether the "big nose"
> was an obscure dig at jewish music publishers or just
> using the term in the traditional "nosey" sense....

there is no doubt in my mind that Moz is referring to a nosy person hence the following lines:
they'll trip you up and laugh when you fall.

Since I'm here...

The sanest days are mad, why don't find out for yourself

and when you try to break my spirit, it just won't work because there's nothing left to break anymore

rejection is one thing but rejection from a fool is cruel

you don't think I'll make it - I never said I wanted to. Well, did I?

and when you want to live, how do you start? Where do you go? Who do you need to know?

Jadzia

Mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head....

Let me get my hands on your mammary glands...

There's more to life than books you know but not much more....

and solo:

So then came his reply
But on the desk is where I want you.
So I ask, even though I know,
Were you and he lovers?

Dave7393

The Smiths just might be my favorite band of all-time. If I start quoting lyrics, we'll be here awhile-- I just my quote their whole catalog.

Funny thing about The Smiths-- you usually meet people who love them, or you meet people who've never heard of them at all. It still amazes me how many incredible songs they recorded in such a short period of time.

I think that one of the more unusual Smiths songs that I'm particulary fond of is Paint a Vulgar Picture on the Strangeways album, because of its subject matter-- not the typical Morrissey story of love or woe, but rather the story of how that record company totally exploits their dead recording star. Absolutely brilliant song.

gilbertr76

Two of my favorite Smiths quotes are off of the Meat is Murder album.

I Want the One I Can't Have:

"On the day that your mentality catches up with your biology"


Barbarism Begins at Home:

"A crack on the head is what you get for not asking
and a crack on the head is what you get for asking"