 Genius Meanings
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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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Sara Lov – Well I Wonder
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Well, I wonder / Do you hear me when you sleep? / I hoarsely cry / Well, I wonder / Do you see me when we pass? / I half die / Please, keep me in mind / Please, keep me in mind
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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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Matchbox Twenty – Real World
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“Real World” holistically has an escapist theme, with the persona fantasizing about various situations and wanting to keep the “real world” away. However, the bridge indicates that
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The Smiths – I Want the One I Can't Have
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This is a record full of yearning, the humiliating obviousness of when you want something, low expectations, the melodrama of youth and romance.
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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 – How Soon Is Now?
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Sire Records chief Seymour Stein called it “the ‘Stairway to Heaven’ of the Eighties”, while co-writer Johnny Marr described it as “possibly our most enduring record. It’s most
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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 – 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 – I Know It's Over
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“I Know It’s Over” is a ballad for the desperate and lonely. It uses basic allusions to the idea of loneliness producing despair, but the attention to the speaker’s ego, and how it
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Morrissey – We'll Let You Know
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[Verse 1] / How sad are we? / And how sad have we been? / We'll let you know, we'll let you know / Oh, but only if you're really interested / You wonder how / We've stayed alive '
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Warwick Smith – The Cheaters Guide to the Galaxy
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[Chorus] / Too far / Sinning in the dark / Almost let it slip your name / Too hard / Fixing broken hearts / Burnt out sick of playing games / I know that i’m never gonna feel
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Chris Smither – Hey, Hey, Hey
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You know I am not a prophet / I wouldn't be one if you paid me / But it doesn't take a lot to see / Just where you're headed lately / Pretty soon you're gonna ask me / How come the
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The Smiths – Barbarism Begins at Home
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The brilliantly titled “Barbarism Begins at Home”, during which Morrissey yelps as if in pain, is also about children being hit – a crack on the head is what you get for asking
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Alvvays – Pressed
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In an article by The Guardian, Molly Rankin mentions “Pressed” was inspired by The Smiths and calls it her attempt to “unleash [her] inner Morrissey”.
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The Smiths – Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
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This is a typical Morrissey song about a person who is upset or depressed, and doesn’t want to waste any more time on thoughtless people. It was released as a single backed with “
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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 – What Difference Does It Make?
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“What Difference Does It Make?” is the Smiths' third single in the UK, released on the 16th of January, 1984. The song peaked at #12 on the UK Singles Chart, being relevant in the
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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 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 – 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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Phoebe Bridgers – Punisher
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“Punisher” is the title track from Phoebe Bridgers' sophomore album, written about her musical hero Elliott Smith. The song details a fictional encounter that Phoebe had with the
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Jamiroquai – Virtual Insanity
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“Virtual Insanity” is primarily about a dystopian future in which humanity is so dependent on technology that the world barely functions. They’re living in a kind of morbid virtual
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