Eratosphere Forums - Metrical Poetry, Free Verse, Fiction, Art, Critique, Discussions Able Muse - a review of poetry, prose and art

Forum Left Top

Notices

Reply
Thread Tools Display Modes
  #131  
Unread 10-23-2017, 11:29 PM
James Brancheau James Brancheau is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Taipei
Posts: 2,623
Default

I wasn't familiar with those Morrissey lyrics, Damian. Thanks for that.

I was always pretty fond of "People Are Strange" by The Doors, though there's not much to it. Perhaps partly because the music and the lyrics seem a perfect match (and one hell of a song to try to get out of your head...). Though I don't like "Moonlight Drive" nearly as much, "let's swim to the moon" is a pretty cool moment.

JB
Reply With Quote
  #132  
Unread 10-24-2017, 02:38 PM
Mark McDonnell Mark McDonnell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: May 2016
Location: Staffordshire, England
Posts: 4,420
Default

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

Last edited by Mark McDonnell; 10-24-2017 at 02:46 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #133  
Unread 10-24-2017, 08:27 PM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

My friends and I at college were eagerly waiting for the next Smiths single: "Christ I'm still so f***ing miserable".
Reply With Quote
  #134  
Unread 10-25-2017, 05:06 AM
Damian Balassone Damian Balassone is offline
New Member
 
Join Date: Aug 2012
Location: Australia
Posts: 98
Default

John, I think we're on a wavelength. I love that opening to 'Dirty Old Town' too, and have always loved the Joe Jackson song 'It's Different for Girls' that you allude to (particularly the acoustic version from a live album). And I'm with you on John Fogerty - what a voice and a what a songwriter. He has the ability to invoke an image with very few words:

Barefoot girls dancing in the moonlight

is another line from Green River that instantly puts a picture in my mind.

Mark, it's good to know there's someone else out there who digs that Morrissey song. A friend introduced me to Mozza's music a few years back and I saw the light. Also love Everyday is Sunday, Come Back to Camden, Boxers and Seasick Yet Still Docked and Smith songs like Cemetery Gates, Boy with the Thorn in His Side and I Know It's Over. He's a funny old bugger, but I can't help but be captivated whenever I see him interviewed.
Reply With Quote
  #135  
Unread 10-25-2017, 05:32 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

My brother's kept up with Morrissey. I just know the Smiths stuff, but that is powerful, and I like his voice as well. Nothing quite like it.

Cheers,
John
Reply With Quote
  #136  
Unread 10-25-2017, 11:55 AM
James Brancheau James Brancheau is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Taipei
Posts: 2,623
Default

Many thanks, Mark. Yeah, like John, I kinda lost track of him after The Smiths. I especially like those first two verses. And below that one was Suedehead and I couldn't help but listen to that too (one I actually do know).
Reply With Quote
  #137  
Unread 10-28-2017, 09:03 AM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

More Dylan:

They say that Pat Garrett's got your number
So sleep with one eye open while you wonder
If every little sound just might be thunder
Thunder from the barrel of his gun.


Cheers,
John
Reply With Quote
  #138  
Unread 11-04-2017, 11:33 AM
Douglas G. Brown's Avatar
Douglas G. Brown Douglas G. Brown is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2012
Location: Belfast, Maine
Posts: 1,306
Default

W S Gilbert penned many a memorable phrase, of which my favorite is;

Things are seldom what they seem;
Skim milk masquerades as cream.

I married a woman like that once; worked for companies with management like that more then once.
Reply With Quote
  #139  
Unread 11-04-2017, 01:53 PM
John Isbell John Isbell is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2017
Location: TX
Posts: 6,630
Default

And The Mikado's "My Object All Sublime" perfectly explains Dante's Inferno...

Cheers,
John
Reply With Quote
  #140  
Unread 11-09-2017, 12:11 PM
James Brancheau James Brancheau is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Taipei
Posts: 2,623
Default

Wrong thread. See Gems.

Last edited by James Brancheau; 11-09-2017 at 12:19 PM.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Forum Jump



Forum Right Top
Forum Left Bottom Forum Right Bottom
 
Right Left
Member Login
Forgot password?
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Statistics:
Forum Members: 8,399
Total Threads: 21,839
Total Posts: 270,784
There are 212 users
currently browsing forums.
Forum LeftForum Right


Forum Sponsor:
Donate & Support Able Muse / Eratosphere
Forum LeftForum Right
Right Right
Right Bottom Left Right Bottom Right

Hosted by ApplauZ Online