You can spend a lifetime deciphering Morrissey's lyrics and just when you think you have it someone proposes another interpretation. You can't go wrong listening to the entire Smiths catalog. In fact it should be required listening.
Andy Rourke was sucha great bass player RIP. And Johnny Marr on guitar was so young and cool at this time. The neat thing was, usually Marr, and Rourke would work out and record the music with the drummer, then days later Morrissey would come alone later and listen then write and record his vocals on top of the music my himself. It worked out pretty good. They were only together for about 4 or so years but their impact on the world was big. Changed things. They were another Manchester band before Oasis or The Stone Roses. By the way, lots of the lyrics were throw away and weren't that deep, but just fun. Don't try to figure it out too much. Lots of their references were British which loses interpretation to Americans.
…also ‘will nature make a man of me yet?’ I interpret as ‘oh lord! Give me strength!’ A great tune - typical poetic for the smith’s - some archaic speech patterns like a hillside desolate. Your interpretation of this is tune is spot on!
I have always interpreted this song as a young man meeting an older man flirting with him and him debating if he wants to have his first gay experience or not. Morrisey himself has a male partner but I believe he has been with women throughout his life and is very cagey about his labelling himself
This is obviously a coming of age song and there are clear overtones of sexual attraction for each other. The bike/country boy feels almost ashamed he doesn't have the attire to be seen with the "charming man" who is by far wealthier and more wordly of the two. Morrissey and the Smiths were way ahead of their time in composing songs where the topics were taboo in society.
Or because he looks at the smooth leather seats in the charming car and reckons it would be more comfortable than being stuck on a hillside with a broken bike.
I always found the metaphor to be that of an older wiseman coming across a younger man, dealing with the weight of the world and offered a third option; separate from the ones considered accepted. An escape from the troubles of early adulthood and perspective at what truly matters. Don't buy the girl the ring, there's so much more to life then settling for the first girl from highschool.
It's not an "older wise man". He's gay, and he's hitting on his passenger, he asks him out (A line we don't hear) and the reply is "I haven't got a stitch to wear". He then yes does try to talk him out of marriage.
This type of british music is gone now sadly. We have lost our identity completely. We used to set trends world over. Now most look at us as the model of failure.
Are the lyrics on screen definitely correct? it's just that for years I thought "on a hillside desolate..." was "on a hillside YESTERDAY"..." and I thought "why pamper life's complexities..." was "Why PONDER life's complexities..." and I defininately thought "jumped up pantry boy..." was "jumped up COUNTRY boy..."
I take this metaphorically . The punctured bicycle is , I feel if you live up north in Manchester England. 26:18 I feel is descriptive .The bicycle is the only thing he has in his life ,but like life was in the eighties a lot of young people where unemployed and a way in which I grew up ,not having opportunities,but also the charming man is someone who is rich,so in England if you are working class you don’t matter that much compared to rich elite class distinctions,that in life if you have nothing you are expected to know your place by the way you talk and have limited education and your also classed as factory fodder,having no stitch to wear is nothing so he feels he should no is place .expected to feel like a no one,but the charming man as no inferior complex ,it’s about how it feels growing up with high unemployment and no direction,so knowing is place also means he as no direction.The smiths took a lot of influences of,early social films. Like rebel with out a course,also British 60s cinema ,early films such as Saturday night Sunday morning which when they where first viewed in the 60s they became hits but there where doubts weather they would be well received because of dialect when they where shown if you where working class it would be the first time any working class people where seen on TV.They became known as kitchen sink dramas about real working class people,also coronation street soap opera was first seen on TV.I am proud to be a norther and I am proud of being from near Manchester Lancashire and love the smiths we know how to party up north.The smiths give us a window of time and place of being unemployed in the 80s not much as changed due to powers at be
Thanks for reacting to this song. And especially for not avoiding the pretty overtly gay subtext throughout, like a lot of reactors do. This, alongside "Hand in Glove" were important songs for the 80s LGBT+ community so its great to see you two keep them alive.
@@markeithmollusk9503 And a number of straight ppl would probably agree - and go to some lengths to avoid the "gay" aspect. But I don't believe that changes the way it was interpreted by a group with virtually NO songs to relate to at the time.
@@markeithmollusk9503 Yes you're right and I know that interview. But the artist can only speak to their intent, not how the songs are received. Consider Alive by Pearl Jam. And Morrissey is notorious for his vague and misleading answers - I don't believe half of what he says about the Smiths. Not to mention he's become a hugely problematic character since the old days. And why are you so concerned that this song be understood as being about straight men??
I’ve just realised there’s actually people on this planet that talk like this woman I thought it was a trope but she’s real. Now I understand why people can get guns easily and she people
A jumped up Pantry Boy is a person that grew up poor that either pretends to be or presents themselves as someone or something more important than they are: which when followed by the line "who never knew his place" means someone poor pretending to be something more without shame or concern about presenting himself outside of his class. So if the Charming Man told the younger boy to "return the ring" that means he either hasn't given it to someone yet but he planned to, or he was given a ring: so he's either a "kept" man without freedom (which is why he doesn't consider himself a man) or he hasn't found the courage to give the ring. (So he isn't a "man" yet) The Charming man is either hitting on him and saying come out with me or telling him that he is too young to tie himself down so return the ring and go live life with him tonight. Its either an invite for a date or an invite to live for a night on the town without retraint: to whatever end
Is this woman doing her best kim k. Or Paris Hilton impression.. like. Like Like .like why the silly inflection after every word like so annoying guys . I'm english. We cant stand it!
Many of the lines are quotes or allusions to classic films like Sleuth “jumped up pantry boy…” The lyrics are full of double entendre and homoeroticism and his lyrics always have an ambiguous and untrustworthy narrator. The lines can be coming from the protagonist or the man in the car.
" it's a horrible place to pause but whateverrrrrrrrrr"...what a waste of a reaction, great song completely over the heads of two numbskulls..thank god only smart people get the Smiths
It's amazing how anyone could be this irritated by some gay shit. 😄 It's about how conziliant old married guys turn to convince boys from the wild side. To be bonobo is in conflict with they're education (state).
