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Morrissey's Smiths Lyrics: Are they 'in character', or from his own viewpoint?

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Some are clearly characters, like 'Reel Around the Fountain' or 'Girlfriend in a Coma'.
But is he creating characters in virtually every song?

'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now', 'Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me', 'Never Had No-one Ever', 'That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore' etc. These to me work as great character sketches, but how do you see it?

If these are characters, I see Morrissey as one of the best writers/humorists in pop. If however they are *him talking*, I'm not so sure. Then the ironic distance I like to imagine in some of these songs, and In M's vocal performances, diminishes, although it doesn't stop him ironising his own feelings as such. Does this make any sense?

Discuss these issues (if they interest you).

― Davidw, Monday, 12 April 2004 21:43 (twenty-two years ago)

'Frankly Mr Shankly': an example of a song where we *know* it's Morrissey talking because of the band's history.
However even here we can see this great portrait emerging of a venal pop star....

― Davidw, Monday, 12 April 2004 21:46 (twenty-two years ago)

What is "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" about? We were listening to this last night and I said, "This song is about a young couple who gets pregnant and drowns the baby after the birth" and my wife said, "WHAT?" I mean, it sounds that way to me, maybe it isn't, I don't know.

Most of these songs, or at least the most effective ones, are the earlier songs, and seem very character based, and as a result, I find myself much more able to empathize with the situations, because if it was really just Morrissey moaning about his own life (and there are a few of those), I don't think I'd care.

― anthony kyle monday (akmonday), Monday, 12 April 2004 21:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Any singer is always a character. Morrissey is a persona just as much as the characters he portrays in his lyrics. Of course all of the songs aren't supposed to represent the same person, but they're all pretty much variations on a theme.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 12 April 2004 21:55 (twenty-two years ago)

The singer in "This Night" is the central character from A Taste of Honey or one of the early 60s British "Kitchen Sink" dramas. Some of the lines are lifted directly from the play.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 12 April 2004 21:56 (twenty-two years ago)

'Any singer is always a character. Morrissey is a persona just as much as the characters he portrays in his lyrics. Of course all of the songs aren't supposed to represent the same person, but they're all pretty much variations on a theme.'

I'm wondering noodle. There's a chance this isn't giving Morrissey
as much credit as he deserves. Okay so his charcter sketching doesn't have great variety, but then even his hero Oscar Wilde includes interchangeable witty/cynical characters in most of his adult works of fiction.

― Davidw, Monday, 12 April 2004 21:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Well I'm not so much saying that all the characters = Morrissey as that his obsessions lie with outsiders/victims. Can't think of many Mozzer songs in which that isn't the case.

― noodle vague (noodle vague), Monday, 12 April 2004 22:03 (twenty-two years ago)

...

― ..., Monday, 12 April 2004 23:56 (twenty-two years ago)

Bump

― Davidw, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 12:54 (twenty-two years ago)

"This Night Has Opened My Eyes" is about the play "A Taste of Honey" by Shelagh Delaney, Anthony. Many of the lines are direct lifts. Check it out. There's a movie, too.

― antexit (antexit), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 14:33 (twenty-two years ago)

oh, sorry Noodle

― antexit (antexit), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 14:34 (twenty-two years ago)

mostly "in character", from what i gather about his life (and let's face it, after the first album, he wasn't ignored, protentially loveless or having to use curdled milk in a bedsit). so first person:
"Paint a Vulgar Picture"
"Frankly Mr Shankly"
cos they deal with being well-known and musical.
everything else is either thematic or in-character

― paulhw (paulhw), Tuesday, 13 April 2004 20:37 (twenty-two years ago)

this is all for the good, stressing as it does the observational rather than solipsistic aspect of his work.

― de, Tuesday, 13 April 2004 23:33 (twenty-two years ago)

nine years pass...

http://thischarmingcharlie.tumblr.com/

― reggie (qualmsley), Wednesday, 14 August 2013 20:30 (twelve years ago)


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