Genius Lyrics
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The Smiths – There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
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“There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” is a sacred Smiths classic by now, one that makes fans across the globe join hands and mope together. To some it is a depressive anthem, to
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The Smiths – Asleep
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“Asleep” tells of the narrator’s desire to die. In his pain and sorrow, he wishes to be comforted as he drifts peacefully into death.
The song was originally released as the b-
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The Smiths – Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want
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Perhaps the Smiths at their most delicate, “Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want” is a minimal, yet lush two minutes of almost otherworldly beauty.
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The Smiths – Suffer Little Children
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“Suffer Little Children” is the final track on The Smiths’s self-titled debut album. It is about the Moors murders, but only mentions one of the two murderers involved, namely Myra
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The Smiths – Ask
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“Ask” is a singalong about how you should seize your opportunities in life – especially relating to your love life, before humanity destroys the world.
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The Smiths – I Don't Owe You Anything
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“I Don’t Owe You Anything” tells the story of a person trying to charm someone over Johnny Marr’s smooth groove.
As stated in the book Mozipedia – The Encyclopedia of Morrissey
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The Smiths – Meat Is Murder
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“Meat Is Murder”, with its simulated bovine cries and buzz-saw guitars, took vegetarianism to a new height in popular media. At the time when this song was recorded, animal welfare
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The Smiths – Hand in Glove
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“Hand in Glove” was released in May 1983 as The Smiths' first single.
The song was later featured on the band’s first album, The Smiths, and also on their two compilation albums
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The Smiths – What She Said
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“What She Said” is told from a female perspective – it’s rare for male songwriters to write about women with empathy rather than desire – and how it taps into a certain kind of
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The Smiths – Jeane
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[Verse 1] / Jeane / The low-life has lost its appeal / And I'm tired of walking these streets / To a room with its cupboard bare / Jeane / I'm not sure what happiness means / But I
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The Smiths – Never Had No One Ever
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“Never Had No One Ever” is the Smiths at their bleakest – like listening to the birth of a depression. Morrissey writes about having the nagging feeling of being an outsider his
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The Smiths – The Headmaster Ritual
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It’s safe to say that nobody else, before or since, has opened a significant rock album by hammering the bejesus out of the capoed, open-tuned chord that begins “The Headmaster
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The Smiths – Unloveable
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[Intro] / (Unlove—, unlove—, unloveable) / (Unlove—, unlove—, unloveable) / (Unlove—, unlove—, unloveable) / [Verse 1] / I know I'm unloveable / You don't have to tell me / I don't
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The Smiths – I Won’t Share You
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On “I Won’t Share You” Morrissey let’s his inner egoist show, shamelessly breaking up with his lover whom he sees as burden. The “lover” can be interpreted as Smiths' guitarist
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The Smiths – Girlfriend in a Coma
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An instance when Johnny Marr’s music and Morrissey’s lyrics' trademark incongruity (see “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others”) works, with Marr adding a strangely cheery backing to a
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The Smiths – You've Got Everything Now
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Morrissey expresses his bitterness towards a person whom he implies is only faking his happiness, because Morrissey believes that having a casual life isn’t enough.
Morrissey
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The Smiths – Rubber Ring
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Well respected by Smiths fans and critics alike, “Rubber Ring” is a song about coming of age, and leaving the awkward, difficult period in life that is being a teenager.
Morrissey
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The Smiths – The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
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[Chorus] / The boy with the thorn in his side / Behind the hatred there lies / A murderous desire / For love / [Verse 1] / How can they look into my eyes / And still they don't
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The Smiths – Miserable Lie
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“Miserable Lie” tells the story of a naive country boy corrupted by the lustful ways of a prostitute. A quintessential Smiths track.
It is especially notable for its odd song
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The Smiths – Nowhere Fast
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“Nowhere Fast” shows Meat Is Murder from its funny side as Morrissey croons:
I’d like to drop my trousers to the Queen
It’s hard to hear the song without wondering if Morrissey
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The Smiths – The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
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Please don't cry / For the ghost and the storm outside / Will not invade this sacred shrine / Nor infiltrate your mind / My life down I shall lie / If the bogey-man should try / To
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The Smiths – Accept Yourself
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[Verse 1] / Every day you must say / So how do I feel about my life / Anything is hard to find / When you will not open your eyes / When will you accept yourself? / [Verse 2] / I
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The Smiths – Girl Afraid
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On “Girl Afraid” Morrisey plays with the word girlfriend as “girl afraid” and boyfriend as “boy afraid”. The song deals with mistaken assumptions in the relationship of said girl
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The Smiths – This Charming Man
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“This Charming Man” is The Smiths' second single of 1983, depicting the story of a poor boy coming in contact with an upper class man and feeling unwelcome due to his lack of
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The Smiths – Frankly, Mr. Shankly
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“Frankly, Mr. Shankly” is a lark, an ambitious gofer’s resignation set to a light melody reminiscent of the Kinks. While referencing a real-life disagreement, this also calls back
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The Smiths – Well I Wonder
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“Well I Wonder”’s narrator is gone, with no hope of return. The song isn’t so much a cry for help as a futile, bleak, almost pathetic fading into a darkness with no light at the
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The Smiths – Shoplifters Of The World Unite
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The title alludes to the communist slogan “workers of the world, unite!”
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The Smiths – Vicar in a Tutu
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[Verse 1] / I was minding my business / Lifting some lead off / The roof of the Holy Name church / It was worthwhile living a laughable life / To set my eyes on the blistering
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The Smiths – London
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In this song Morrissey speaks out directly to a man who decided to catch a train to London to pursue a better life, continuously speaking to his own feelings and asking him if he
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The Smiths – Rusholme Ruffians
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“Rusholme Ruffians”, with Johnny Marr’s rockabilly riff, is about Manchester and makes the city (home of much of the history of British feminism, socialism, vegetarianism and the
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The Smiths – Death of a Disco Dancer
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Morrissey is effective in “Death of a Disco Dancer,” which pinpoints Johnny Marr’s importance to the band, as it builds from his scraping-fingernail fret work to a cacophony of
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The Smiths – Half a Person
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This song is about adolescence and a crush that Morrissey used to have during his teen years but never said anything to, which he is addressing here.
This song shows everything
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The Smiths – Wonderful Woman
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Here’s what Morrissey said about this song (as quoted in Simon Goddard’s book ‘Songs That Saved Your Life’):
“In a monotonous way, it’s quite tongue-and-cheek. The wonderful woman
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The Smiths – These Things Take Time
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“These Things Take Time” is another upbeat Smiths' song with an homoerotic sexual undertone. It was originally released as a B-side to the maxi single version of “What Difference
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The Smiths – The Queen is Dead
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“The Queen is Dead” parodies media fascination with the royal family over bombastic guitar bursts and an aggressive bass line. Officially listed on physical tracklist as “The Queen
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The Smiths – That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore
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The gorgeous, swirling “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore” might be the emotional peak of Meat Is Murder. It was released as the second and last single of the album.
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The Smiths – Is It Really So Strange?
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“Is It Really So Strange?” describes Morrissey’s friend Linda and her movements in living in both Manchester and London after her art exhibition was moved to the capital. She
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The Smiths – Paint a Vulgar Picture
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A dense song about Morrissey’s feelings towards the music industry, exemplified by tragedy – the death of a star, failing, or otherwise.
The lyrics takes the viewpoint of two
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The Smiths – Sheila Take a Bow
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[Verse 1] / Is it wrong to want to live on your own? / No, it's not wrong, but I must know / How can someone so young sing words so sad? / [Chorus] / Sheila take a, Sheila take a
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