"November Spawned a Monster" what's up with this song?

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I haven't heard Ambitious Outsiders, but on the basis of the lyric I have to say that

we're taking
Just keeping
The population down
You're giving, giving, giving
Well, it's your own fault
For reproducing
We're just keeping
The population down

sounds like an editorial to me, a claim to gay virtue straight out of some radical crusading gay magazine.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:44 (twenty years ago) link

I think you could fault him for being of no fixed or substantive allegiance, especially when you consider the focused lobbying of tracks like "Asian Rut", "Mexico", "NF Disco", etc. etc. In short you can fault him for being a dilettante, which is obviously part of his dare but on a critical level-- and with his literary pretensions he's the *most* deserving of that analysis-- his dalliances dilute his impact and make him seem like a presenter.

― Chris Ott (Chris Ott), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:46 (twenty years ago) link

Momus, you once said you'd like to see Morrissey and James Anderton locked up in a room together. What prompted that fantasy?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:46 (twenty years ago) link

Basically that scenario is what I witness daily on ILX, so all my dreams have come true.

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:48 (twenty years ago) link

(People with different opinions in a small space, sparks fly...)

― Momus (Momus), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:49 (twenty years ago) link

(I think that 'Ambitious Outsiders' is actually sung from the perspective of child abductors - "And we knows / When the school bus comes and goes". The earlier Morrissey actually editorialised on this subject much more - cf 'Suffer Little Children'.)

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:50 (twenty years ago) link

sounds like an editorial to me, a claim to gay virtue straight out of some radical crusading gay magazine.

of course you could say that its a claim to virtue in celibacy

― zappi (joni), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:52 (twenty years ago) link

I guess Nipper is right re: editorialising in SLC, but the lines concerned are so beautiful that I don't mind at all.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 13 November 2003 15:57 (twenty years ago) link

momus loves all artists that begin is mo. especially motorhead and monster face jones.

You forgot Mortiis.

I like Suzy's point because I made a similar one in an a.m.a. review of Maladjusted when it came out, ie that somehow the Smiths had both won (the obvious influences and connections via all the bands that Suzy lists) and lost (Moz's beloved pop obsessions of the past had become even MORE of the past, and even more now -- not merely in the passage of time sense, but the new combinations of mainstream pop and presentation since).

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Thursday, 13 November 2003 16:28 (twenty years ago) link

Is the love for the video serious? I find it one of the most embarassing moments in his career.

― Mary (Mary), Monday, 17 November 2003 20:00 (twenty years ago) link

six years pass...

I love how googling "Stevie Smith" and "Morrissey" together takes me to an OTM Momus post from years ago. Stevie Smith's poetry is very reminiscent of Morrissey's lyrics and themes.

― Cunga, Tuesday, 8 December 2009 20:03 (fourteen years ago) link

I'm still back on "it's an uplifting song because, even though she's so hideous no one will ever love or want her, she can dress herself"

― Huckabee Jesus lifeline (HI DERE), Tuesday, 8 December 2009 20:11 (fourteen years ago) link

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