The singer copped the song’s title from Richard Allen’s 1971 pulp novel of the same name, but the book’s theme (post-skinhead gangs) was a red herring as the song was effectively a treatise on obsessive love. It helped, of course, that the music was eminently catchy, but while Morrissey delivered one of his most emotive vocals, his lyrics were equally arresting. 5 in the UK – higher than any of his former band’s singles.
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November Spawned A Monster was reputedly inspired by the 19th-century French poetic novel Les Chants e Maldoror (The Songs Of Maldoror), but whatever its origins, it provoked one of the best Morrissey lyrics, which, in biographer Johnny Rogan’s words, “forces the listener to confront their own prejudices head-on”.Īfter The Smiths split, Morrissey immediately found his feet as a solo artist, when his first single, Suedehead, peaked at No. Indeed, brilliantly conceived lines such as “Sleep on and dream of love/Because it’s the closest you will ever get to love/Poor, twisted child, so ugly, so ugly” leave the listener in two minds as to whether the song’s narrator is the child’s saviour or his tormentor. He pulls few punches about the song’s subject matter (which concerns the plight of a disabled child), and his words are particularly effective because they’re riddled with ambiguity. Sonically, it’s memorable for its atypically funky arrangement, featuring then on-trend housey piano riffs and a killer Andy Rourke bassline but it also brought out the best in Morrissey’s lyrical aspirations. Listen to the best of The Smiths here, and check out our 10 best Morrissey lyrics, below.ġ0: November Spawned A Monster (solo single A-side, 1990)Ĭo-written by Morrissey and producer Clive Langer (also famed for co-writing Shipbuilding with Elvis Costello), 1990’s November Spawned A Monster is one of the singer’s personal favourites – and it’s not hard to hear why. In celebration of his best bon mots, Dig! earmark the ten best Morrissey lyrics. As befits a man who loves nothing more than “the goodness of privacy in a warm room with books”, his famously flamboyant and erudite style has been informed by writers as diverse as Oscar Wilde and Keith Waterhouse, but he’s a highly original talent with a formidable body of work in his own right. After all, John never said the film was a historically accurate biopic.Īs he says, "It’s obviously not all true, but it’s the truth.One of rock music’s most singular lyricists, Morrissey first staked out his territory during The Smiths’ remarkable five-year run before embarking on a distinguished solo career. Perhaps then, the scene in the film is about how John felt at the time, and not necessarily a factual retelling of the creation of the song.
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It was not to my recollection inspired by anyone, although at the time Elton secretly thought it was." The truth being that I scribbled the lyric down on a lined notepad at the kitchen table of Elton’s mother’s apartment in the London suburb of Northwood Hills, breakfast time sometime in 1969. "I can only assume that the invention is more appealing than the actual truth. "I thought it might be timely to correct the massive amount of misinformation regarding how the lyrics to “Your Song” were originally conceived," he wrote. Last fall, he wrote a blog post about the song, specifically hoping to debunk longstanding rumors that he wrote it on the roof of 20 Denmark Street in London’s Tin Pan Alley. But according to Taupin, the lyrics weren't inspired by a specific person.