Favourite rhyming couplet or general lyric off ROTT (including b-sides)

Maurice E

Junior Member
Sad to say, but it seems harder and harder to find poetic lyrics and inspired couplets in the modern-day Moz songs. An interesting review of last Friday's Wembley show said that Moz now seems to try too hard to sound profound whereas in the old days he managed to impart wisdom without even trying.
Anyway; enough negativity!
What do you think are the best lyrics/couplets/phrases from the 2006 songs?

I'd go for:
'Years spent alone will never be returned' (Christian Dior)
'Sensually stroking the weaves of a sleeve' (Christian Dior)

In fact, I think I'll just vote for the whole of 'Christian Dior'!:)
 
turned sickness into...popular song

drawn to what scares me and scared of what bores me

the shadows of trees...they speak to me...they know a decent skin is all i am
 
People that think Morrissey is always trying to be profound and look for the meaning of life in his lyrics are completely missing the point. First and foremost he is a pop music songwriter who likes attractive slogans.

Just a few ROTT great lyrics, some so simple you can't understand why they haven't been done before, some completely off the wall:

Looking to the camera, messing around
and pulling faces.

There are explosive kegs
Between my legs

There is no such thing is life as normal (seems very obvious, why did no one think of putting it in a pop song before?)

A lopsided grin strained to keep the shyness in

No bible belters to mess with me

Haves cannot stand have nots

Everyone's friendly but nobody's friends

I would give you my heart, that's if I had one

Let's face it soon I will be dead
 
I couldn't disagree with you more. I find the following lines, couplets, verses all f***ing outstanding!

"I once thought that time accentuates despair
But now I don’t actually care
"

"I once was a mess of guilt because of the flesh"

"Will you follow and know
Know me more than you do
Track me down
And try to win me?
"

"For my own life I don’t care anything"

"It’s so easy for us to sit together
But it’s so hard for our hearts to combine
"

"Things I’ve heard and I’ve seen
And I’ve felt and I’ve been
Tell me I’ll never be anybody’s lover now
It begins in the heart
And it hurts when it’s true
It only hurts because it’s true
"

"Hold me closely if your will allows it"

"And I’d been shifting gears all of my life
But I’m still the same underneath
This you surely knew"


"Can you please stop time?
Can you stop the pain?
I feel too cold
And now I feel too warm again"


"Oh dear God, when will I be where I should be?"

"Just as Motherless birds fly high
Then... so shall I...
"

"A lop-sided grin
Strained to keep the shyness in
"

"I live the life
I feel the pain
To sing this song
To tell the tale
I wish I'd never even heard the song
"

"Yes I walk around somehow
But you have killed me
"

"You could have run wild
on the backstreets of Lyon or Marseille
reckless and legless and stoned
impregnating women
or kissing mad street-boys from Napoli
who couldn't even write their own name
"

"Gandlord, there's a clock on the wall
Making fun of us all
Ganglord, there's a clock on the wall
And it makes a joke of us all
"

"On the midnight streets, no moon and no stars
No one around to come down
And to soften the stings to my heart
"

"I've fallen in love
And the joke is on me
"


All genius, as far as I'm concerned. The line quoted from Pigsty still nearly has me in tears everytime I hear it :(
 
I couldn't disagree with you more. I find the following lines, couplets, verses all f***ing outstanding!

"I once thought that time accentuates despair
But now I don’t actually care
"

"I once was a mess of guilt because of the flesh"

"Will you follow and know
Know me more than you do
Track me down
And try to win me?
"

"For my own life I don’t care anything"

"It’s so easy for us to sit together
But it’s so hard for our hearts to combine
"

"Things I’ve heard and I’ve seen
And I’ve felt and I’ve been
Tell me I’ll never be anybody’s lover now
It begins in the heart
And it hurts when it’s true
It only hurts because it’s true
"

"Hold me closely if your will allows it"

"And I’d been shifting gears all of my life
But I’m still the same underneath
This you surely knew"


"Can you please stop time?
Can you stop the pain?
I feel too cold
And now I feel too warm again"


"Oh dear God, when will I be where I should be?"

"Just as Motherless birds fly high
Then... so shall I...
"

"A lop-sided grin
Strained to keep the shyness in
"

"I live the life
I feel the pain
To sing this song
To tell the tale
I wish I'd never even heard the song
"

"Yes I walk around somehow
But you have killed me
"

"You could have run wild
on the backstreets of Lyon or Marseille
reckless and legless and stoned
impregnating women
or kissing mad street-boys from Napoli
who couldn't even write their own name
"

"Gandlord, there's a clock on the wall
Making fun of us all
Ganglord, there's a clock on the wall
And it makes a joke of us all
"

"On the midnight streets, no moon and no stars
No one around to come down
And to soften the stings to my heart
"

"I've fallen in love
And the joke is on me
"


All genius, as far as I'm concerned. The line quoted from Pigsty still nearly has me in tears everytime I hear it :(

Actually I forgot just how good the lyrics are to Pigsty. Would you please stop time/I can't reach you anymore/And I've been shifting gears...But I'm still the same... etc; it's all vintage Moz!
I do think there's less humour in the current stuff though. 'Daddy's Voice' to me was Morrissey's last great comedy song!
 
^^and "It's the same old SoS, but with brand new broken fortune"

Ahh, yes another classic Pigsty couplet!
I was talking to a friend at the Star and Garter recently about how I love it when Morrissey uses a cliché or goes back over old ground, and then seeks to acknowledge or justify it!
The SOS line is a fine example. Others include;
"Love at first sight, may sound trite. But it's true y'know" and
"This story is old. I know, but it goes on". Brilliant stuff!
 
Yes there's always and element of self-mockery. And you know he's also always aware that he's going to be misunderstood.

Take a line like

"At last I am born, Historians note"

He's laughing at the critics even before they start spouting about how pompous he is for thinking historians would be interested in him.
 
"A lopsided grin, strained to keep the shyness in"

"Visconti is me / Magnani you'll never be"

"Take people from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania just spare me!"

"You represent embarrassment and failure"

"I am a ghost, and as far as I know / I haven’t even died"

"I once thought that time accentuates despair / But now I don’t actually care"

"Then he motions to me / With his hand on my knee"

"I live a life, I feel the pain / To sing the song, to tell the tale / I wish I’d never even heard the song"

"I'm depending on you to see I get safely to / The port where my heart is too lost to find / And will be there to meet you when it's your time" (you have to agree that these are up there with the most poetic lines he's ever written, regardless of whether you like the song)

"On the midnight streets, no moon and no stars / No one around to come down / And to soften the stings to my heart"

"Ganglord, the police are / Kicking their way into my house / And haunting me, taunting me / Wanting me to break their laws" (probably the whole of Ganglord actually; it's brilliant).
 
I think ROTT (and ROTT b-sides) are packed with good lyrics

"If your God bestows protection upon you
and if the USA doesn't bomb you
I believe I will see you
somewhere-safe
looking into the camera
messing around and pulling faces"

"Retrousse nose
turned up and mischevious
forget-me-not eyes
that cried if we ever left his side"

"The way he chewes his food
rips right through your senses"

"Even now in the final hour of my life I'm falling inlove ... again"

"Dear God, take him, take them, take anyone,
the still-born the new-born the infirm - take anyone,
take people from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
just spare me"

"But then I look at you and I know
that somewhere, there's a someone
who can soothe me."

"I just want to see the boy happy
with some hope in his pale eyes
is that too much to ask?"

"I once used to chase,
affection withdrawn,
but now I just sit back and yawn,
because I'm born, born, born"

And the whole of Ganglord.
 
it only works when you hear it, but mine is:

Things I’ve heard and I’ve seen
And I’ve felt and I’ve been
Tell me I’ll never be anybody’s lover now
It begins in the heart
And it hurts when it’s true
It only hurts because it’s true
 
it only works when you hear it, but mine is:

Things I’ve heard and I’ve seen
And I’ve felt and I’ve been
Tell me I’ll never be anybody’s lover now
It begins in the heart
And it hurts when it’s true
It only hurts because it’s true

I do think as Morrissey's career has gone on, the way he delivers the lines are just as important as the lines themselves. The singing on ROTT is exceptional.
 
I do think as Morrissey's career has gone on, the way he delivers the lines are just as important as the lines themselves. The singing on ROTT is exceptional.

I'm depending on you to see I get safely to / The port where my heart is too lost to find / And will be there to meet you when it's your time" (you have to agree that these are up there with the most poetic lines he's ever written, regardless of whether you like the song)


Which song is it? I just cant remeber:confused:
 
I'm depending on you to see I get safely to / The port where my heart is too lost to find / And will be there to meet you when it's your time" (you have to agree that these are up there with the most poetic lines he's ever written, regardless of whether you like the song)


Which song is it? I just cant remeber:confused:


It's 'Sweetie Pie', sweetie pie ;)
 
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