THE SMITHS are the oxygen at my lungs! the veins and arteries in my blood! the essence of my soul! the reason I keep on living! LONG LIVE THE SMITHS!!!!!!!!!! the best band ever walked on the face of planet earth. period.
Wow!! A rare Smiths track indeed and possibly the only footage of them doing this song, fantastic stuff and pretty damn good quality. How many bands in their infancy could ever hope to sound that good live??
That very last note he sings 3:04 going through the last two open chords is just wonderful. I heard this song for the first time a week ago. Listened to it tons of times. Learnt it on guitar and now realizing that some notes Morrisey is singing are quite dissonant in order to make melodies and harmony more complex, makes me value this band each time more.. He had a really peculiar, unusual sense of music such as Marr sense of rhythm. So melancholic and gloomy. Just love it
Im 50 now & was a RELIGIOUS Smiths " fan in the 80s , had all there vinyl , but it wasent till 1996 that i bought a bootleg seethrough vinyl and i heard this for the 1st Time & It was like a Gift from GOD !!! It basically Was a Track that Should have been on the 1st : Smiths "" album , That Absolute Haunting Meloncholic , Hopeless Romantic sound , that No band have ever captured since !!! A True MASTERPIECE From Morissey & Marr !!!! ❤❤❤❤
Sublime. This is one of the earliest videos you will see of The Smiths. I wonder if Morrissey had any inkling of the important contribution he would make to music in the decades ahead. I did.
So glad someone has this. Wonderful Woman was the first smiths track I ever had (taped from the radio 1 Kid Jensen session - aired just before this gig and the best version for my money). By the time I got to see them for the first time (oct 83), they had dropped it from the set - and never played it again live (to my knowledge). It was always a hope, but the 17 times I saw them the buggers never once played it! I was always gutted. But so good to see this gig and this song here. Priceless!
andy wrote ALL the bass lines, the whole "writing rights" thing is based on the fact that legally the smiths were defined as "morrissey/marr" in the contracts and all the songs were credited that way (plus marr and moz wrote songs together as a duo for almost a year prior to the band forming), but andy and mike wrote their parts. Morrissey and Marr both have credited andy in later interviews saying that his bass playing sealed their success.
This song (this performance more specifically) makes me feel so much pain... not bad pain, but whenever Morrissey moans the chorus it almost feels like this catharsis of emotion, and its just so in sync with the music... idk man
never before, never again... but it's one of those songs that make you wish all other songs were this emotive, genuine, and endearing-thank god for 'repeat' .
Let's talk about why I love love love this song. First things first, the chords. There is so much flitting between sixth chords and fifth chords in the intro, creating a sense of joy and heating up to me, conflicting with the emotionally cooler minor chord. whenever I hear this song, I picture two people in bed together, kind of sheltered from the world, so that's why I enjoy the bursts of major chords throughout this minor key songs that act like pockets of energy. now lets talk about that chorus that absolutely intoxicates me on a good day. it's just melancholic moaning sounds really. again, the flitting between minor and major chords. makes it sound like something on life is coming together despite a sense of melancholy in the world around
Like The Beatles they managed to transcend the styles of the day and become a benchmark for musicianship. No, they didn't develop like The Beatles but we were all left wanting more of what they did.
Part of me longs for more albums and who knows what we would have got if they had continued on EMI. But another part of me is glad we just have those Rough Trade releases from that special period.
This band is a real and pure treasure among all the bullshit and crap....... both in music and in life!!!!! because their music is the real thing, even better than the real thing!!!!!
Astonishing song. Also Jeane. The hopelessness of forlorn love, straight out of the working class sadness of early 80s bedsits, turned into romantic beauty. It's poetry and its genius
I love this song -- utterly beautiful, sorrowful -- this pain in his voice,he suffers--which can only Mozz sing so,it drives me start crying!!!!! Great!! Thanks for posting!
There is less art, more matter in what Morrissey says. That's why they jerked the volume up 50 % compared to other bands. It's like he's reading his diary out loud, put to the most beautiful music imaginable. Even if you can't relate to everything Moz has experienced, like all great art you still enjoy listening to it. Just the heartfeltness of his voice is enough. However, it doesn't hurt that most things he sings about are clear and easy to grasp.
Andy's treble stabs were always timed just right, as opposed to the more traditional bass lines we hear from songs like Rusholme Ruffians he also shared this ability. My favorite bass player for sure. Once I wrote to him around 2009 or so online. He told me to have fun playing the bass and walking my golden retriever. I can't believe he's gone, Heaven knows I'm miserable now was the song that really made me want to learn how to play his instrument. I play a lot of Smiths songs on guitar from youtube guitar lessons, best band
This is absolutely brilliant. To be playing this great, folk-style, sorrowful sound in the Hacienda of all places--the stomping ground of New Order and the rave scene. New Order's "Blue Monday" was an enormous hit in 1982-1983, the dance anthem of Manchester arguably. It is so fantastic to see The Smiths opting to do something so entirely different, and so beautiful! I wish this song had had a wider release. Thanks for posting gem!!
The Smiths just have such replay value.. actually replay value is to weak of a term IMO... its that feeling of Rediscovering songs by them you have heard Countless times and falling in love with it all over again.. like a Wonderful Women that never gets old or boring... and i think ive met one...
I think you're right about the Ritz. The first gig at the Hacienda was December 82 (this July 83 gig was the second one there). The 82 gig featured the version of Handsome Devil that's the B-side of Hand in Glove. They also played "What do you see in him?" at that gig which is the first version of Wonderful Woman. I have a mixing desk copy of the gig. They were very raw back then - but still excellent!
That 'mixing desk copy' is called Handsome Devils. It was their third performance ever. Indeed very good, but they were playing very low (and because of that Morrissey sounds a bit frightening), I think Marr didn't tuned his guitar up already at that gig. Also I think it is in What Difference Does It Make, there is a second voice next to Moz', I think it's Marr (it sounds awful). That LP/Bootleg is some great time-document.
amazing song! well underated. i have a studio verision wich isnt found on there mainstream albums, but on a bootleg album called 'hand that rocks the cradle ' a compilation of rare smiths tracks both live and studio
i seen them 9 times first time dec 83 trinity college dublin last time fairways dundalk 86 at the gig in RAH also then again if i lived in England i think i would have seen em 109 times ur a cool dude man bye and its such a beautiful tune isnt it
I like how certain singers have that "just got out of bed" look - Kurt Cobain had that look as well. it's so far removed and refreshing from the overkill hyper fashion pop machine these days.
