Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker podcast

Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Great listen, thanks.

Johnny's spoken about the early days of The Smiths (before they were even called that) on many occasions, but he sounds particularly enthusiastic and positive here.
I don't sense any secret longing from him to reform but if you didn't know anything about their history and listened to this fresh you might say "That's a guy who'd like to take another shot at writing with this Morrissey character!"
 
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Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

This was cool, thanks for sharing.

Now imagine how awesome it would've been if it had been an interview with both Morrissey and Marr.
 
An anonymous person writes:

That bit starts around the 41:22 mark and lasts until 49:30

EPISODE 42 – JOHNNY MARR - Sodajerker

Songwriter and guitarist Johnny Marr, loved by pop fans worldwide for his work with The Smiths, The The, Electronic, Modest Mouse and The Cribs, joins Simon and Brian for a conversation about the writing processes behind his fantastic new solo album The Messenger. Johnny also talks in detail about his musical influences, growing up in Manchester, his relationship with the guitar, his songwriting partnership with Morrissey, and his collaborations with artists like Kirsty MacColl (‘Walking Down Madison’) and Billy Bragg (‘Sexuality’).



Also from HangtheDJ16:

Rewind: The Smiths Revisited - entertainment.ie

Here's an article that appeared on an Irish site.. It's not that insightful or anything but I thought I'd point it out.
 
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Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Many years ago, I submitted the demo instrumental of Walking Down Madison to this site after hanging onto it for years. I had obtained it (still have that original cassette) shortly after the Smiths split, but I never knew until this interview that I had in my hands the first thing JM ever wrote after The Smiths. I still have not heard any other copy of the song make the rounds, so as far as I know, I have the only source tape for that. Yeah me.
 
Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Many years ago, I submitted the demo instrumental of Walking Down Madison to this site after hanging onto it for years. I had obtained it (still have that original cassette) shortly after the Smiths split, but I never knew until this interview that I had in my hands the first thing JM ever wrote after The Smiths. I still have not heard any other copy of the song make the rounds, so as far as I know, I have the only source tape for that. Yeah me.

You should really check out this thing called youtube sometime.




I think he should re-record and add vocals to this, because it sounds absolutely nothing like the final version.

 
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Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Many years ago, I submitted the demo instrumental of Walking Down Madison to this site after hanging onto it for years. I had obtained it (still have that original cassette) shortly after the Smiths split, but I never knew until this interview that I had in my hands the first thing JM ever wrote after The Smiths. I still have not heard any other copy of the song make the rounds, so as far as I know, I have the only source tape for that. Yeah me.

Go on, share it, then.
 
Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Funny, considering that is my youtube account posting of it. The other postings of it on youtube (and lastfm, etc. also all come from my original mp3 which I provided on this site and ended up on FranklyVulgar or whatever that download-content site was.

You should really check out this thing called youtube sometime.




I think he should re-record and add vocals to this, because it sounds absolutely nothing like the final version.

 
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Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

Funny, considering that is my youtube account posting of it. The other postings of it on youtube (and lastfm, etc. also all come from my original mp3 which I provided on this site and ended up on FranklyVulgar or whatever that download-content site was.

So what you are really saying is that your song is a fake since it sounds nothing at all like the MacColl version, you have given no evidence that you own the tape, or that the person playing on the tape is JM, and you are just a troll? Oh I see!

Just kidding...the keyboard/synth sounds like the one he was using around the Smiths era (and I actually hate its sound design, it sounds cheesy and tacky). I can see why Moz didn't want to change directions in The Smiths and would've initially turned down this new keyboard driven sound because it sounds dated now and would've sounded dated 2 months after its release then.

Listen to Electronic, you can tell when it came out just by listening to it (with the exception of the second album which sounds like it came out in 91 instead of 96). Its weird that Bernard got so much of the "sound" of Electronic wrong, but New Order's "sound" still sounds like some band that could come out today. In other words The Smiths, sound like they could've come out anytime post 1966, New Order sounds like it could've come out anytime post 1983, and Electronic sounds like it ONLY could've come out 1989 to 1992.
 
Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

thank you for posting!
 
Re: Johnny Marr talks early days of writing songs with Morrissey pre-Smiths "band" on Sodajerker pod

For the longest time, I only had the fact that the guy who sold it to me told me it came from someone who was at the studio at the time and had cut it from the master tapes, the fact that it said "Johnny Marr - Walking Down Madison" written on the cassette label, and the fact that it did sound like a cousin to Money Changes Everything and The Draize Train, as my sole proof. However, at some point I was able to get a hold of someone who managed JM's web site for him. He helped get a copy to JM (or so I was told) who supposedly confirmed the tack as his, that he wrote it in 1988, and that (the demo, not the final track obviously) was produced by John Porter. Not the most bullet-proof form of verification, but enough for me. I do still have the cassette and will dig it out of storage someday.
 

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