BookishBoy
Well-Known Member
Today's song is this Morrissey/Manzur composition, the lead single from the Low in High School album. (It reached #69 on the UK singles chart.)
What do we think?
Yes, for a modern day Morrissey song, it really was a hit: its plays on YouTube dwarf most of the other songs we've looked at so far in the A-Z - 3.7 million, when I looked this morning.A more polarising song than I would have thought. Sure, some of the lyrics are painfully basic (really, Moz, “the news contrived to frighten” us? Never heard that one before), but I actually really like the tune and the bridge section has some great vocals. The little keyboard riff provides some more complex instrumental interplay that builds more layers to the song that one might have thought. And, after another drought of Moz content, it was kinda a hit (!) - for him, and his seeming obsession with Polish chart placements, this must have been an up-yours to the so-called “pop establishment.” So, yeah, I like this song, despite the amount of times I’ve heard it.
Weird video, though.
8/10
Have to say that I disagree with you here. I think the 'stop watching the news' line is actually pretty good and original advice, as is the follow-up about the news contriving to frighten you, and making you feel like your mind is not your own. It's well observed and expressed, and particularly resonant in these current times. The lyric that makes me cringe (and almost ruins the song) is 'no bus, no boss, no rain, no train etc' which just seems childish and lazy.This is such a strange one for me - I hated it on first listen but then it grew and grew on me and now I think it's a witty, catchy pop song about mental health and loneliness.
(Although, let's be fair, it is almost ruined by the cringe lyrics about watching the news. I mean, it's great that you tell your friends that kind of thing, fair enough, but don't put it in a bloody song! You might as well sing "And I recommend to all of my friends that they / Stop shopping online / Because the retail experience is much better in person"...)
Absolutely fair enough! (Weirdly, I love the "no bus, no boss, no rain, no train" section, which seems to sum up perfectly the drudgery of a daily commute to a crappy job - although the emasculation / castration bit just makes me laugh...)Have to say that I disagree with you here. I think the 'stop watching the news' line is actually pretty good and original advice, as is the follow-up about the news contriving to frighten you, and making you feel like your mind is not your own. It's well observed and expressed, and particularly resonant in these current times. The lyric that makes me cringe (and almost ruins the song) is 'no bus, no boss, no rain, no train etc' which just seems childish and lazy.
The song may prove to be Morrissey's last ever airplay hit. All the Morrissey-friendly UK radio stations A-listed this making it his best known song since First of the Gang, which is why it gets such a good reception at concerts. It's nowhere near his best song, but it's one of his best known.