Morrissey A-Z: "Asian Rut"

good lyrics to this one,revenge is in the air.nice fade out at the end as well.
 
I’m a fan. KU as album Is in my top four.
mad a song, individually I don’t think it’s anything to shout about but, as an album track, it works.
 
It's never really grabbed me, to be honest. Given the horrible drama and violence of the subject matter, the song just feels a bit flat and one-dimensional. The ending is great, though.
 
Never got why song was deemed racist. Is it because he uses the word 'asian'? That's silly even on a 2020 level. Anyway, great moody piece, this. Heavy atmosphere, heavy, disturbing lyrics. And a nice vocal at that.
 
I have always been split on this song ever since release. But due to the length of the album - I don't get up to press "skip".

I accept it as part of the package of being a Moz from that early era - when we are all starved for information in the pre-internet age. Fortunately, this was also the dawn of the 'zine "Sing Your Life", which ultimately led us all to where we are now.

MrShoes
 
Nah. Weird Moz isn't interesting Moz.
 
Love this song. Music is really tense and defeated at the same time. Lyrics tell an interesting little story from an interesting perspective
 
Reminds me of Barry Lyndon.

Sad, tragic, absurd, violence from an ironic distance, funerary.

Someone should write an essay about how often mad laughter ends up in a Morrissey song.

 
Never got why song was deemed racist. Is it because he uses the word 'asian'? That's silly even on a 2020 level. Anyway, great moody piece, this. Heavy atmosphere, heavy, disturbing lyrics. And a nice vocal at that.

It was deemed racist because they were looking for it - apparently because his self-righteous animal rights stuff pissed them off so they wanted to tarnish him a bit.

I don't think they realized that he was so intensely odd that it would escalate to quite the insane level it escalated to.

They probably thought he'd just be slightly lower on his high horse.
 
Never got why song was deemed racist. Is it because he uses the word 'asian'? That's silly even on a 2020 level. Anyway, great moody piece, this. Heavy atmosphere, heavy, disturbing lyrics. And a nice vocal at that.

IMO, the lyrics are fairly too-on-the-nose. An "Asian boy" is seeking revenge for his only friend who was killed by "English boys" (three against one). The presumption that the action was racially motivated is predicated upon the friend being Asian or non-English.

If anything it is arguably anti-racist or commentary on the pain resulting from racism.

Of course the musical press, seeking to gather anything remotely negative to produce their dribble, connect the dots with other songs like, "Bengali" and the "National Front Disco", and wrapping oneself in your nation's flag - and you have the makings of fodder for the press.

MrShoes
 
An interesting song and I don't think it's exactly helped by the company it keeps on Kill Uncle. It's one of the stronger songs imo, with a slightly fuller production than most, and the lyric at least has some substance and shows some imagination.

I can't say that I have an issue with the subject matter, but I understand why some do when taken as a part of Morrissey's career.

In the poll on the other board it ranked 254 from 264 songs.
 
I know it could be placed with Morrissey's songs about politics but I thought of it more as being about crime and I've always liked it. It's unusual musically and I think the music fits the story. Also the ending lyric, "I'm just passing through here..." adds a lot to the song for me. The whole thing is in the tradition of ballads that tell stories about real people and places so it's an interesting and worthwhile song.
It's too easy to connect it to "Bengali In Platforms" if you want to but I don't think that's really the most interesting way to see it.
 
It was deemed racist because they were looking for it - apparently because his self-righteous animal rights stuff pissed them off so they wanted to tarnish him a bit.

I don't think they realized that he was so intensely odd that it would escalate to quite the insane level it escalated to.

They probably thought he'd just be slightly lower on his high horse.
It's so strange. Obviously times had moved on by the Kill Uncle reissue in 2013 but in their review of it, Pitchfork said that "Morrissey withholds empathy for the victim of a racist attack" in "Asian Rut". Which seems like a genuinely bizarre reading of the song, to me.

From what I remember at the time, people who hated the "message" of "Bengali in Platforms" on Viva Hate found the "message" of "Asian Rut" on Kill Uncle almost provocative: like, oh so because we've called you a bit racist now you've gone and written a song about it from an Asian boy's perspective, etc...
 
It's so strange. Obviously times had moved on by the Kill Uncle reissue in 2013 but in their review of it, Pitchfork said that "Morrissey withholds empathy for the victim of a racist attack" in "Asian Rut". Which seems like a genuinely bizarre reading of the song, to me.

From what I remember at the time, people who hated the "message" of "Bengali in Platforms" on Viva Hate found the "message" of "Asian Rut" on Kill Uncle almost provocative: like, oh so because we've called you a bit racist now you've gone and written a song about it from an Asian boy's perspective, etc...

Yeah, some UK hacks couldn't believe he didn't apologise or explain & took Asian Rut as him doubling down.

I expect Moz just didn't think it was serious & was continuing along the same line of inspiration - there was a lot about race in UK films/plays of the time. My Beautiful laundrette & Made In Britain are still famous, but it was a mainstay of serious tv drama.

Pitchfork heard what they expected to hear based on its reputation.
 
It's so strange. Obviously times had moved on by the Kill Uncle reissue in 2013 but in their review of it, Pitchfork said that "Morrissey withholds empathy for the victim of a racist attack" in "Asian Rut". Which seems like a genuinely bizarre reading of the song, to me.

From what I remember at the time, people who hated the "message" of "Bengali in Platforms" on Viva Hate found the "message" of "Asian Rut" on Kill Uncle almost provocative: like, oh so because we've called you a bit racist now you've gone and written a song about it from an Asian boy's perspective, etc...

Pitchfork call itself, "The Most Trusted Voice In Music". They like so many of other music journos - its all much ado about nothing.
 
Lovely murder ballad, if you can call it that way. But this would explain the simple narrative . Musically it reminds me of the 3 Penny Opera. The narrator is most likely one of the killers trying to make himself scarce.

Perfect song for a strange day.
 
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I also think another problem is that Morrissey is lot more screwed up by his Irish background than he lets on & England often forgets that Irish Catholics have not always been a welcome minority & he's not writing from majority perspective.

He was talking to a Scottish journalist in 2004 & Scotland does tend to notice that kind of thing:

20210122_141522.jpg
 
I admit I was also confused about the song's message upon its release in 1991. Back then, the arrangement and vocal delivery sounded a bit condescending, even vitriolic. See also "Journalist who lie', sounding similarly ridiculous, but not in a good sense. So one could feel he sings those lyrics in disdain.
It might no be the case, I am just saying, that I, as a non-native speaker, and who didn't really have access to British press, felt this way. It is one perspective to consider, especially for Nerak, to give us a break about Morrissey being hunted for his animal liberation or whatever views.
 
I also think another problem is that Morrissey is lot more screwed up by his Irish background than he lets on & England often forgets that Irish Catholics have not always been a welcome minority & he's not writing from majority perspective.

He was talking to a Scottish journalist in 2004 & Scotland does tend to notice that kind of thing:

View attachment 67828

Appears to me that either Morrissey may suffer from some self-denial or fancy himself an ambitious-insider instead.

Separately -- Nerak, are you Morrissey-Solo's own academic historian? The speed at which you are able to produce supporting reference material is notable. All in good fun and in the interests of communal discourse - of course!

MrShoes
 
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