The importance of being Morrissey: help with transcription

TGrave

New Member
Hello, can somebody please help me with the transcription of the documentary “The importance of being Morrissey” (please!). I know somebody posted the transcription here many years ago, but some parts were missing or were not correct, and I would really like to have the full and correct transcription in English. I tried my best to decipher such parts and I managed to understand most of them but the following are the parts that I really couldn’t understand.
I know most people are really busy nowadays, but I'm also confident that there must be somebody kind enough out there to share their knowledge of English and help me, especially native speakers (or all those with a better ear than myself.) I would be very, very grateful if you could give me a hand with this. Please, please, don't leave me in the dark!!


Phrases or words I don’t understand in order of appearance (in square brackets and in bold):

(at the beginning of the documentary)
Self: His eccentricity lies in his [mercurial/peculiar] nature...
Burke: He's so [catered] for those of… lonely misfits who spend a lot of time in their bedrooms

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morrissey: This is the Churchill suite. The things that you end up doing for television. [They aren’t normal, isn’t it?] I mean, how many people did he send to their deaths?... just to make up the numbers

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Linder: Even before he's onstage, there's this amazing sorta'… you hear this football chant “Morrissey, Morrissey” the football chants start).
Morrissey: I smell assassination... [then comes an unintelligible comment].

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when meeting a fan in Australia)
Morrissey: I’m glad one person realizes that. Thank you for waiting all this time... [then comes an unintelligible comment].

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when talking about his presence onstage, after the meeting with the fan in Autralia)
Sawyer: He has a sense of stage [in that he’ll arrive], you know. He doesn't just slink on
Burke: It's always the quiet ones, isn’t it? Oh yeah [Whatcha' go there?] Well… he's a right dirty bastard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when presenting his home in LA)
Morrissey: Please... squeeze your bodies in. So welcome to my lowly shack. This is where I live. This! Choreography is [unintelligible word], don’t forget that.

--------------------------------------------------------------
(when talking about his first tour in the States)
Linder: I think people now seeing concert footage or [news footage] would be shocked. It was absolute pandemonium.
Morrissey: That was such a fantastic pinnacle... and I wasn't being a [whore] about it. I wasn't pushing myself forward, it just seemed to happen, very naturally.
O'Brien: If you spend any time with Morrissey, one of the things that you find yourself doing more than anything is sitting around, [put the tea on], dissecting and annihilating people's character.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(when going to the barber’s)
cuts to hair cut: shakes hand with barber
Barber: [barber says something unintelligible].
Morrissey: nice to meet you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(talking about his sexuality)
Off-camera Interviewer: One thing you never [talked about] was your sexuality...
Morrissey: And I'm not going to!
Linder: Morrissey's sexuality was so picked over by the press in the early days. [unintelligible comment] stop, [unintelligible comment] to think is boring more than anything else.
Sawyer: It's almost like [a more regal] not to let anybody know, isn’t it?, really.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(at the end of the documentary, when referring to the fact that he has no record deal)
Gallagher: The music business has changed... [then comes an unintelligible comment]. It's like it's full of f***in' wankers, a'ight.

Self: I find the fact that he hasn't got a record deal at the moment enormously [seductive].

Burke: You don't know this person, but you feel like there's a bit of a soul mate... wandering around. He's actually given you great pleasure... [then comes an unintelligible comment].

Gallagher: He's f***in' revered, man. His records will be listened to for, you know, until… George Bush blows the planet up, [I would thought].
 
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from memory, my answers are in bild


Hello, can somebody please help me with the transcription of the documentary “The importance of being Morrissey” (please!). I know somebody posted the transcription here many years ago, but some parts were missing or were not correct, and I would really like to have the full and correct transcription in English. I tried my best to decipher such parts and I managed to understand most of them but the following are the parts that I really couldn’t understand.
I know most people are really busy nowadays, but I'm also confident that there must be somebody kind enough out there to share their knowledge of English and help me, especially native speakers (or all those with a better ear than myself.) I would be very, very grateful if you could give me a hand with this. Please, please, don't leave me in the dark!!


Parts I don’t understand in order of appearance (in square brackets and in capitals

(at the beginning of the documentary)
Self: His eccentricity lies in his [mercurial/peculiar] nature; in his ambiguity about his sexuality; in the strength and intellectual force of his writing. MERCURUAL
Burke: He's so [catered] for those of… lonely misfits who spend a lot of time in their bedrooms HE SO CATERED FOR


------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morrissey: This is the Churchill suite. The things that you end up doing for television. [They aren’t normal, isn’t it?] I mean, how many people did he send to their deaths?... just to make up the numbers THEY'RE ABNORMAL

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Linder: Even before he's onstage, there's this amazing sorta'… you hear this football chant “Morrissey, Morrissey” the football chants start.
Morrissey: I smell assassination. [??]. ASSASINIATION

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when meeting a fan in Australia)
Morrissey: I’m glad one person realizes that. Thank you for waiting all this time [??]. CORRECT

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when talking about his presence onstage, after the meeting with the fan in Autralia)
Sawyer: He has a sense of stage [in that he’ll arrive], you know. He doesn't just slink on CORRECT
Burke: It's always the quiet ones, isn’t it? Oh yeah [Whatcha' go there?] Well… he's a right dirty bastard. LUSTY NOISE

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when presenting his home in LA)
Morrissey: Please... squeeze your bodies in. So welcome to my lowly shack. This is where I live. This! Choreography is [???], don’t forget that. EXTRA

--------------------------------------------------------------
(when talking about his first tour in the States)
Linder: I think people now seeing concert footage or [news footage] would be shocked. It was absolute pandemonium. CORRECT
Morrissey: That was such a fantastic pinnacle... and I wasn't being a [whore] about it. I wasn't pushing myself forward, it just seemed to happen, very naturally. CORRECT
O'Brien: If you spend any time with Morrissey, one of the things that you find yourself doing more than anything is sitting around, [put the tea on], dissecting and annihilating people's character. It's his favorite thing in the world to do, I think. POT OF TEA ON

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(when going to the barber’s)
cuts to hair cut: shakes hand with barber
Barber: [???].
Morrissey: nice to meet you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(talking about his sexuality)
Off-camera Interviewer: One thing you never [talked about] was your sexuality... CORRECT
Morrissey: And I'm not going to!
Linder: Morrissey's sexuality was so picked over by the press in the early days. [???] stop, [???] to think is boring more than anything else.
Sawyer: It's almost like [a more regal] not to let anybody know, isn’t it?, really. MORE REGAL

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(at the end of the documentary, when referring to the fact that he has no record deal)
Gallagher: The music business has changed [???]. It's like it's full of f***in' wankers, a'ight?... if they can't flog your ass, then they ain't giving you a record deal. If they can't sell you to little kids who don't know shit from clay, they will not f***in' take a chance on you. CORRECT

Self: I find the fact that he hasn't got a record deal at the moment enormously [seductive]. It makes me want to give him a nice big cuddle because he's managed to alienate so many people in what after all it's an uncreative and uninteresting industry. CORRECT

Burke: You don't know this person, but you feel like there's a bit of a soul mate... wandering around. He's actually given you great pleasure [??]. CORRECT

Gallagher: He's f***in' revered, man. His records will be listened to for, you know, until… George Bush blows the planet up, [I would thought].
 
I knew it! My very first kind soul and answering from memory! Thank you so much for your help sundown playboyed!! It's very much appreciated.
Now I'm getting close, and I know there will be more kind people who will make their contributions. After all, don't you think it's a great opportunity to watch the documentary again on a Sunday afternoon, in bed, eating chocolate (or whatever you prefer)? Ah, you hadn't thought about that, right? Or you can watch it on youtube and still eat something delicious!
Anyway, I eagerly await for more help to finally complete the transcription and I apologize for bothering all of you with my request. Have a nice day.
 
I've got the feeling someone very, very generous will watch the documentary this weekend and then will help me complete the transcription. I'm not a dreamer. It could happen, right?... right?... Please?... please!... :pray:
 
do you just want someone to read your bits in bold and tell you if they are correct or what is actually said or the meaning?
 
Hi there. What I would like is that somebody tells me if the bits in bold are correct and if they are not, then correct them. And also that they provide the bits that I couldn't understand at all, the ones that read, "then comes an unintelligible comment." Just the transcription, I have no problem with the meaning.
Thanks for asking CougarFrog. I hope I'm making myself clear enough. I know I'm probably asking too much but you people are the only ones who can give me a hand.
 
Unfortunately the Noel Gallagher bits are indecipherable to human ears.
 
You're absolutely right Skylarker!! Maybe someone from Manchester can help us understand his accent (??) :D, just a thought. The Kathy Burke bits also drive me crazy, sooo hard to understand.
 
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So, I'm still around, waiting for someone to help this poor freezingly cold soul... I mean, literally, it's cold in here.
 
I'm a sucker for your pleading. I haven't watched it through again. I'll maybe watch it tonight and comment further tomorrow. No hardship there.

My comments today are from memory:

Self: His eccentricity lies in his [mercurial] nature... CORRECT as in "Mercurial = changeable; volatile; fickle; flighty; erratic: a mercurial nature".

Burke: He sort of catered for those … lonely misfits who spend a lot of time in their bedrooms

Morrissey: I smell assassination... I smell gunpowder].

Sawyer: He has a sense of stage [in that he’ll arrive] , you know. He doesn't just slink on CORRECT .... the arrival is an event in itself

(when presenting his home in LA)
Morrissey: Please... squeeze your bodies in. So welcome to my lowly shack. This is where I live. This! Choreography is "Extra" don’t forget that. (as in extra charge/ fee $)

O'Brien: If you spend any time with Morrissey, one of the things that you find yourself doing more than anything is sitting around, [put the tea on], dissecting and annihilating people's character. [Seems you got that right] meaning brewing a pot of tea/ drinking tea.
 
YES!!! Finally, another selfless soul has come to my rescue! :D And with explanations and everything, which are most welcome. THANK YOU SO MUCH Tingle3 for taking the time to do this. I am so very grateful.
And please, by all means, watch it!!! Watch it again and help me finish the transcription, because now I'm depending on you :blushing: (just joking. But not on the "watch it" part haha. OK, I'll stop now :p).
 
Hello TGrave

Spurred by a showing of the film "Enigma" on TV over the weekend I decided to make what I could of the VHS tape I have of "Importance". Alan Turing would be proud, I'm sure.

Is this project for a DVD issue of the show, or maybe its to help all the hard-of-hearing Morrissey fans? If you produce a DVD please let me have a copy ;)

I'm particularly pleased with my interpretation of Morrissey backstage in Australia. (Note blackened bananas and Frosties on the table).

I loved watching the programme again. I love the comment in the barbers about LA:
"Lively is it?"
"It is. I'm not"

The part that makes me squirm is Morrissey with Deano where he's being asked about "any gatherings or.....?" I really hope that was a set-up. Surely it was. Otherwise it makes Deano look silly.

I liked hearing for the first time (because I was liustening very carefully) someone say before they go on stage at the Albert Hall, (I was there BTW - not back stage but in the audience), about "keep your eyes up". I seem to recall that the band didn't much.

Was there really no mention of vegetarianism? I can't recall. But I find that a surprise.

That O'Brien chap seems very nice. Very pleasant. Need to know more.

Best wishes....


******************************

(at the beginning of the documentary)
Self: His eccentricity lies in his mercurial nature...
Burke: He's catered for those sort of… lonely misfits that spent a lot of time in their bedrooms

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Morrissey: This is the Churchill suite. The things that you end up doing for television. It’s just abnormal isn’t it? ( major stress on ‘nor’) I mean, how many people did he send to their deaths?... just to make up the numbers

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(Linder: Even before he's onstage, there's this amazing sorta'… you hear this football chant “Morrissey, Morrissey” the football chants start).
Morrissey: I smell assassination... I smell gunpowder
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when meeting a fan in Australia)
Morrissey: I’m glad one person realizes that. Thank you for waiting all this time... It’s bound to have been disappointing------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(when talking about his presence onstage, after the meeting with the fan in Australia)
Sawyer: He has a sense of stage [in that he’ll arrive], you know. He doesn't just slink on
Burke: It's always the quiet ones, innit? Oh yeah, you gotta watch out for them. I think he's a right dirty bastard.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(when presenting his home in LA)
Morrissey: Please... squeeze your bodies in. So welcome to my lowly shack. This is where I live. This! Choreography is extra; don’t forget that.

--------------------------------------------------------------
(when talking about his first tour in the States)
Linder: I think people now seeing concert footage or newsreel would be shocked. It was absolute pandemonium.

Morrissey: That was such a fantastic pinnacle... and I wasn't being a whore about it. I wasn't pushing myself forward, it just seemed to happen, very naturally.

O'Brien: If you spend any time with Morrissey, one of the things that you find yourself doing more than anything is sitting around, pot of tea on, dissecting and annihilating people's characters.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------
(when going to the barber’s)
cuts to hair cut: shakes hand with barber
Morrissey: Hello
Barber: Pleased to meet you. I’m Kieran.
Morrissey: Nice to meet you.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(talking about his sexuality)
Off-camera Interviewer: One thing you never answer and that’s about your sexuality...
Morrissey: And I'm not going to!
Linder: Morrissey's sexuality was so picked over by the press in the early days. I don’t think he’s stopped. I just think it’s boring more than anything else. Sawyer: It's almost like, that “I’m more regal” not to let anybody know, isn’t it?, really.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(at the end of the documentary, when referring to the fact that he has no record deal)
Gallagher: The music business has changed now man... It's like it's full of f***in' wankers, right.

Self: I find the fact that he hasn't got a record deal at the moment enormously seductive.

Burke: You don't know this person, but you feel like there's a bit of a soul mate... wandering around. Who’s actually given you (delete: great) pleasure, you know

Gallagher: He's f***in' revered, man. His records will be listened to for the, you know, until… George Bush blows the planet up, I would of thought.
 
"I'm still right here, where I always was..." ;)
Ooohhh Tingle3, one of the few good samaritans left!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH!! You have no idea how grateful I am! I have the biggest smile on my face:D. Thank you for taking the time to watch the documentary again and help me, you are very generous.
This transcription is something I wanted to have for myself, so I guess the hard-of-hearing person would be me, haha (no DVD issue, sorry:().

The part of the show that makes me smile is when Morrissey is with the Australian fan:
Fan: Thank you so much for your time and everything you’ve done. You’ve made so many people so happy.
Morrissey: I didn’t mean to.


The documentary does mention vegetarianism:
Narrator: And he focuses that rage onto specific targets. Enemy number one: the meat industry.
Morrissey: Today on the news, there was a story that 27 million cooked chickens have been recalled, which is the biggest recall in U.S. history, because they're lethal to humans. If they hadn't been recalled, it could have killed 80 million Americans.
Narrator: The views of the most vocal vegetarian in pop music are typically uncompromising.
Morrissey: It's really on the same moral level as child abuse. It’s the same thing. Animals are like children. They look to us for protection. We should protect them. I really feel quite smug about mad cow disease and foot and mouth and so forth and I just think... “Well, what do you expect? People have been saying it for years.”
etc, etc...
---------------------------------------

This has been fantastic. Do you think we can do the same with the "Wrestle with Russell" interview?? :p I would LOVE to have the full transcription of this one. I've already started, but this is much more difficult, with many more bits that I can't understand (especially the Russell Brand's bits). Yes, that would be abusing your generosity in a major way :blushing:. It's just that I'm so glad that...
Anyway, Tingle3, once more, thank you very much for your considerate and selfless help, really.
Best regards
 
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Eeee, I'm very pleased to have helped you TGrave.

Ah, yes I remember the 'cooked chickens' lines now. I must have FFWDed through that and other sections of the tape.

I must look up Richard O'Brien in Mozipedia to see what it says.

I'll help out with the Wrestle with Russell thing. D'you know I think I've only ever seen it once. Didn't enjoy it.

Last weekend I played a 2002 interview between Janice & Morrissey. Very entertaining. Fair amount of insight into his life in LA which was all news then. Can't wait for another. Exciting times!:D
 
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