Hey Jim B!
The lyrics Damian quotes are from Morrissey's 'comeback' noughties album 'You Are The Quarry', which was indeed his best for a while. The next lines, with cruel Wildean wit, are 'You have never been in love / until you've seen the dawn rise / behind the home for the blind'. It seems to be part of his ongoing fascination with teenage 'street-toughs'. When he lived in Manchester, in early Smiths songs like Rusholme Ruffians, he seemed terrified of them but then in his solo stuff they became more glamourised in a Dickensian Urchin sort of way. And this one, with its protagonist 'Hector' and given Morrissey now lives in LA, is I assume about Latino street gangs. Or at least Morrissey's homoerotic/West Side Story/romantic version of them. Anyway, it's an absolutely cracking song!!
Shame he's such an arse these days.
https://youtu.be/YP73L4mkEPM
First of the Gang to Die
You have never been in love,
Until you've seen the stars,
Reflect in the reservoirs
And you have never been in love,
Until you've seen the dawn rise,
Behind the home for the blind
We are the pretty petty thieves,
And you're standing on our street
Where Hector was the first of the gang
With a gun in his hand
And the first to do time
The first of the gang to die. Oh my.
Where Hector was the first of the gang
With a gun in his hand
And the first to do time
The first of the gang to die.
You have never been in love,
Until you've seen sunlight thrown
Over smashed human bones
We are the pretty petty thieves,
And you're standing on our street
Where Hector was the first of the gang
With a gun in his hand
And the first to do time
The first of the gang to die.
Such a silly boy.
Hector was the first of the gang
With a gun in his hand
And a bullet in his gullet
The first lost lad under the sod.
And he stole from the rich and the poor
And the not-very-rich and the very poor
And he stole all hearts away
He stole all hearts away