As Saint Paul once said; "It's a motherfucking grower, is what."
Anyway, the album starts with America Is Not The World. As album openers go, it's up there with, well, The Queen Is Dead, in fact. It almost has the aura of a marching tune about it, with its rolling drumbeat and so on, and maybe it is. Maybe it's Morrissey's Battle Hymn Of The New Republic, the New Republic being this one here with the 12 songs about how fucking amazing this New Republic has turned out to be.
Again, Steven, you really shouldn't have.
Historically, the most endearing element of picking up the latest Morrissey has been to see what the hell mad song titles he's came up with this time. Third song in, we get a title fit for a beheaded king, via the brilliantly arrogant I Have Forgiven Jesus. Here, Steven seems to accept his lot, finally, if only for a brief verse or two, and says, Y'know what man? I guess there ain't a big deal I can do about the whole bizarre individual I ended up. Thanks anyway, Jesus, but I wish you'd taken a little more time.
That seems to be the jist of it all.
He just seems a bit annoyed, is all, that the star of Mel Gibson's Passionate has gone and made him all lustful and so on, when at the same time he made poor Morrissey so idiosyncratic and quiet and damn well… picky, that he can't act out these lustful notions.
In other words;
"I have forgiven Jesus,
For all the desire he placed in me,
When there's nothing I can do,
About desire."
No-one does grandiose self-pity like Morrissey. No-one takes adolescent whimpering and turns it into such arrestingly anguished howls of middle-aged resign. So glorious is his word-play, that you don't even stop to think, "Come on, how many more songs can we hear about that damn court case?"
Incidentally, plenty seems to be the answer.
Come Back To Camden is a lilting plea for someone or other to get back to this little slab of London, where "Taxi drivers never stop talking, under slate-grey Victorian sky." It's a romanticised view of London that has found fresh advocates in the likes of The Libertines, and which reached a pinnacle with The Pogues' The Old Main Drag, the most achingly, hauntingly beautiful song about getting paid for hand-jobs that you ever did hear.
The World Is Full Of Crushing Bores takes its cue from Paint A Vulgar Picture, one of the many stand-outs on The Smith's final, underrated masterpiece, Strangeways Here I Come. Here, we get Morrissey's vitriolic bile directed towards ;
Article comments
1 - HW Saxton Jr.
Duke,In all honesty I must say that I've
never cared for The Smiths or anything
Morissey has done solo.You certainly do
make reading about it interesting though
I'll admit.I do agree with you 101% on
"The Pogues". The disc what is called:
"Sugar Cane Juice,Sex That Don't Lead To
Baby Making and The Leather Strip What
Stings Like A Mother Fucker When Applied
To Ones Backside" is a GRRRRRRRRRRRREAT
record to throw back a few pints to.
2 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
Aw, HW, thanks man. That was real nice is what.
Excellent, excellent duke-ification of that 2nd pogues album, there. Stunning.
I have a tattoo of Shane on my left arm. You might say i approached the fanatical. Shane, incidentally, on the occasion when i finally got to meet him, was incredibly embaressed about it.
Again, thank you ever so lots for the kindness of vocabulary.
3 - HW Saxton Jr.
Thanks for the kind words DDM.You are an
inspiration to many around this neck of
the woods.My own self included.
You got to meet Shane? Color me jealous.
I cannot think of many "famous" people
I'd actually like to meet but MacGowan
is one of 'em (I got to meet Divine once
though).He seems like he'd be very down
to earth though I'm afraid I'd probably
become a tongue tied bumbling idiot(even
more so than usual)if I ever did.
ar
4 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
HW, you met Divine? Wow! Pink Flamingos has the biggest number of film folks what The Duke would want to meet of any cinematic work. Unfortunately, the chances of meeting Divine are now scarpered, but John Waters and the bloke with the singing arsehole, they would be wonderful.
As to my meeting with Shane...
In early 2003, i think, just as i was winding down towards the whole "having to get sober" thing, Shane appeared as a guest DJ at the Belfast Death Disco, organised by BP Fallon and Alan McGee. My fiancee and i went up, and lo and behold, there he was, sitting at the the bar. I was indeed tongue-tied and what not, and he seemed highly annoyed by my bursts of "uh...how...uh...you alright shane?" He was indeed incredibly down to earth, and we chatted for much of two hours (after i got my tongue unravelled) about Sergio Leone and stuff, while my fiancee took pictures and watched as her partner's lifetime ambition reached a glorious conclusion. He even played my demo during his set, which i cheekily brought along with me, just in case. Brilliant stuff. He even gave me his phone number, which led to the hitherto unthinkable occurance of phoning his hotel and being told sternly to phone back later on account of he was writing a song. lol. "I'm writing a song!!!!"
Amazingly, i also have the prestigious honour of having been told by shane macgowan that "maybe i should quit drinking". Imagine!!
Ah, memories.
5 - HW Saxton Jr.
Duke that is a great story,especially
what with Shane telling you that you may
want to reconsider your relationship w/
the drink and all.LOL.
I got to meet Divine while he was on the
"Jungle Jezebel" tour. You remember the
record I trust. He was sooooo funny and
really nice.Very similar to the onscreen
persona.A natural comic. We were invited
to go party with him and his entourage
but I had to work early the next day and
couldn't go.I have regretted this ever
since. I should've went as Jobs can be
found and this was a once in a lifetime
oppurtunity missed.But I thought wrongly
that I might have another chance someday
which of course I never did and Divine
died soon after.
Congrats on your 1st Year man.Seriously.
Happy B day and all that. I understand
100%.I've wrestled demons of my own and
it wasn't much fun.The fact that any of
my friends or family still claim to know
me is testimony to their capacity for
forgiveness.
By the by did you ever make contact with
Steckler or TV Mikels ??? Just curious.
6 - HW Saxton Jr
Duke,by the way It would've been around
1986 that I met Divine if memory serves me right.
7 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
HW, brilliant Divine story. Don't worry, man, I'm sure Divine says the same thing wherever he ended up. "I should've made that HW fella hang around a bit" he's thinking.
Thank you for the b-day wishes. Means a whole lot. :)
As to the contacts, they're riding atop my "to-do" list. i just wanna have something worthwhile to say. I been racking my brain. How do you adress these lords of smutty genius???
I will be sending the emails shortly, this weekend no doubt. I will keep you posted.
And yead, family and friends have an AMAZING capacity for forgiveness.
Gotta forgive yourself, too, though, which is often a lot more difficult.
Man, that Morrissey, eh? lol
8 - HW Saxton Jr.
Yeah,It's funny how these posts get off
onto unrelated tangents. Good luck with
the interviews.A quick Divine story and
then I've got to scoot along.
Divine LOVED being a celebrity.He was
more than happy to sign autographs,talk
to his fans,take photos and the like.
Well,when I met Divine,after the show,
all of the boys and girls were crowding
about asking him a million questions,
taking photos and all that and Divine
quipped:"God,I feel just like Elizabeth
Taylor... only thinner" LOL!!! I laughed
my arse off man. Ciao.
9 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
god, thats just about the best Divine quote i've ever heard! "only thinner!" Ha! Great stuff HW. thanks for sharing!