Morrissey courted controversy again with this one. It's on the surface a song about a disabled girl, "a hostage to kindness and the wheels underneath her" but I think it's applicable to anyone who feels ugly and unloved. It uses language and terms that appear cruel to enforce how she feels, to show the hypocrisy of people, and by appearing both to torment and sympathise, forces us to think about our own attitudes. "And if the lights were out, could you even dare, to kiss her full on the mouth or anywhere". The backing "vocals" were provided by Canadian singer Mary Margaret O' Hara, a rather eccentric woman who at the time had released a wonderful album, "Miss America". Morrissey said ""She's the oddest, most eccentric person I've ever met, I went into the vocal booth and said 'Just simply give birth', which she most expertly did, while I stood behind with a mop and a bucket". Of course a lot of people missed the point and accused him of mocking the disabled.
Another one of my all time favorite Morrissey songs. As far as the meaning goes, I can only guess, but I assume it is about the dignity of diabled people. I worked with a kid for two years, who was spastically paralized. He sometimes made sounds that were very close to what we hear in that spooky middle-part, especially when he laughed. Back when it came out, some people thought that song was making fun of disable people, but this is not my take-away. I think it is rather making fun of people who can't behave normally around disabled people. The live version from the album "Beethoven was deaf" is very decent, if you want to check that out somtime later. Keep up the great work!
I always saw the monster in question as the song "Ouija Board, Ouija Board" which was released in November 89 to poor critical response and thus ending the love affair of the UK music press.
It's a dark one this, very dark. Iirc The monster in question is Myra Hindley, something to look up if you're brave enough. Suffice to say the term monster resonates with most Britons of the time, she and her partner and their crimes cast a very long shadow...
This one is about a disabled child begging the world for dignity and not to be treated like a monster. "A hostage to kindness And the wheels underneath her" refers to a wheelchair and how they must rely on people being kind to get by in life.
