THE SMITHS – HOW SOON IS NOW? (ROUGH TRADE)

THE SMITHS – HOW SOON IS NOW? (ROUGH TRADE)

Generally I think this will tend to be The Smiths track that will blow people away upon first listen – very rarely did Marr’s playing and Morrissey’s vocals sync so perfectly. The guitar sound here is majestic and haunting and most importantly does not sound like anything anyone as ever heard before or since, genuinely these chops are the sort that cause a person to sit up and question “how on earth is he doing that?”

In a way this is modern bombastic, which in itself is a term that does not really lend much credit to vastness of the composition. Even before Morrissey kicks in the song is already towering over everything in its vicinity, there is a true sense of drama attached to proceedings and a distinct majesty inevitably prevails.

With his words Morrissey really managed to touch a nerve with so many on this single. Here is a dogged description of pathetic loneliness but still loneliness that is very tangible and was/is experienced by thousands if not millions of individual in search of fruits away from solitude. Did it really take a man with a silly quiff and hearing aid to put it so succinctly into words? Well I guess it did because it takes a certain bravery to risk the modern life castigation of being seen as a person so vehemently feeling sorry for oneself, for expressing their misery and not looking necessarily looking beyond it.

All in all this is probably the most famous track of The Smiths. Over the years Americans have jumped for it not least with horrible emo bands covering it or it taking on a whole new (and not necessarily complimentary) meaning by serving as the theme music to a teenage witch TV show. Perhaps though with Morrissey’s strange fondness for the oddest things kitsch and pop he just might secretly have been a fan of Charmless. No way.

There are times in my life when this song will always serve me well but others when it might just be my worst enemy encouraging me to indulge in my softest thoughts and weakest temperament. You can see the world’s quandary.

Thesaurus moment: motion.

The Smiths
Rough Trade

THE SMITHS – THIS CHARMING MAN (ROUGH TRADE)

THE SMITHS – THIS CHARMING MAN (ROUGH TRADE)

Possessing perhaps the greatest strange first line of a popular song ever (“punctured bicycle on a hillside”) the second single from The Smiths opens at a blistering pace, all coded for the cool kids in crappy clothing.

As with much of The Smiths catalogue it feels hard/difficult to imagine this song quite capturing the imagination of the music nation now as it did upon its release in 1983. From the perspective of a normal seeing set of eyes and ears The Smiths are just so strange a proposition to swallow and with this song of sexual exploration containing lines such as “bet he’ll make a man of me yet” it is difficult not to imagine a nation throwing up into a bucket in the process. Perhaps the eighties were more forward thinking than we give them credit for.

Thought of in some circles as the more sensitive antidote to the overproduced, over hyped alpha male Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Smiths serve to “corrupt” the youth in a much more subtle and substantive manner. In Morrissey truly was a frontman that was unique and genuinely strange. Wearing his heart most visibly on his sleeve their songs were as unnerving as they were classic. Obviously they weren’t for everyone but for a person looking for a way to find something positive in a whole lot of negative and depression the seemingly inclusive words of Morrissey provided the ultimate in relief for anyone brave enough to invest.

At this point I should concede that it was absolutely years before I realised that Morrissey was homosexual but surely (surely!) I should have picked up a clue or two from “This Charming Man.” In such a case then just what was it I was hearing in the song for all those years? How was I able to swallow such a drippy (and even dreary) singing voice? Was it Marr’s guitar playing? I doubt it being a person raised on loud hulking grunge guitars.

I think what it was the hook in the chorus. That strange scream and the enforced dip in proceedings that somehow felt so natural. That and the line about not having “a stitch to wear.” You and me both Morrissey. It never even occurred to me that the charming man might be gay/homosexual, which was never my world. A jumped up country boy myself I was as naïve as this song perversely sounds.

It’s a beautiful world we live in.

Thesaurus moment: misconstrue.

The Smiths
Rough Trade