Morrissey A-Z: "Glamorous Glue"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member



Our song for today is this one, a Morrissey/Whyte composition and the second track on Your Arsenal.

What do we think?
 
This my jam yo. The lyrics speak true almost 30 years on - to me at least. Don't forget : "OUR RAYMOND OUR DOUGLAS OUR BUNNY"

Now let's begin the discussion over who heard "job" versus "jars" the first couple a listens? And, what is being discussed in said jars - drug sniffing or pints?
 
A fantastic song, continues the momentum and strength that "You're Gonna Need..." started with. "Your Arsenal" is my favourite album of his, so I could be biased though...I love every song off of that album (yes, even the singles)!
 
I like the way the video feels claustrophobic with virtually no wide angle shots and a lot of close up shots. It goes well with the music and is quite atmospheric. Almost 'film noir' 'but in colour. I get a feel of being immersed in a particular time and place.
 
Great song, appropriately Jean Genie given Arsenal's glam credentials. Prefer this to Jean Genie actually. Fave lyric: "We won't vote Conservative, because we never have."
 
I really think this should've been the lead single from YA... accessible and far superior to "We Hate It.." and "...Fatty."
 
It was an inspired choice and something of a gamble for Morrissey to ask Mick Ronson to produce the album. His career as a producer hadn't exactly been full of successes, so much so that his sister later commented that it was Morrissey's money that allowed him to keep the heating on in his house as he was ailing from cancer. I think its his contribution that makes Your Arsenal the best sounding album of Morrissey's career and lifts songs like this several notches.

The songwriting from Morrissey and Alain is fine, but nothing too special in itself. I do like the "I used to dream and I used to vow, I wouldn't dream of it now" lines...

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 12 from 264 solo songs.
 
Now this is more like it! Does anyone know why he decided to make videos after not doing so for the Smiths?
 
It was an inspired choice and something of a gamble for Morrissey to ask Mick Ronson to produce the album. His career as a producer hadn't exactly been full of successes, so much so that his sister later commented that it was Morrissey's money that allowed him to keep the heating on in his house as he was ailing from cancer. I think its his contribution that makes Your Arsenal the best sounding album of Morrissey's career and lifts songs like this several notches.

The songwriting from Morrissey and Alain is fine, but nothing too special in itself. I do like the "I used to dream and I used to vow, I wouldn't dream of it now" lines...

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 12 from 264 solo songs.
saw the mick ronson docu and they kept mentioning the morrissey money,without it they would have definitely been in the shit with micks health and just keeping the lights on.
glam glue is a great song,very grungey and like the dreamy break at 2.20.
 
This song is a bit overrated imo. It has great music but is spoiled by a rather disjointed and unengaging lyric that sounds like it was made up of bits and pieces Morrissey found down the side of his sofa cushions one morning.
 
This song is a bit overrated imo. It has great music but is spoiled by a rather disjointed and unengaging lyric that sounds like it was made up of bits and pieces Morrissey found down the side of his sofa cushions one morning.

Perhaps, but in those days Moz had a lot of couch scraps worth digging into.
 
This song is a bit overrated imo. It has great music but is spoiled by a rather disjointed and unengaging lyric that sounds like it was made up of bits and pieces Morrissey found down the side of his sofa cushions one morning.
Yep, I struggle to see the fuss made about this song, too. It's got good energy but that's about it.
Needs an extra musical section as it doesn't really have a chorus.
One of only two or three weak songs on an otherwise great album.
 
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I like this, but more for the feel of it as part of the 'Your Arsenal' album, than any specific part. Taken in isolation neither the music or lyrics are particularly special, but coming after the limp-wristed 'Kill Uncle' this has a glorious swagger about it, and it's the first time Morrissey truly sounds like he's part of an actual band since The Smiths split.

I'm probably reaching here, as it's a fairly stock chord progression, but I've often wondered if this track from 1989 might have been a musical influence, as the verse has a very similar feel:
 
Great song, appropriately Jean Genie given Arsenal's glam credentials. Prefer this to Jean Genie actually. Fave lyric: "We won't vote Conservative, because we never have."

You nailed the musical reference: it is quite similar to Jean Genie. But it is more powerful and I thought it had a "Raw power" vine to it as well. Or more broadly a nod to the punk scene.

I wonder if the lyrics are about the London punk scene of the 70s too, which was really dead by the time of the early 90s but which still persisted as an underground scene in the US in various places, LA being one of them (and Morrissey had been spending time in LA by that time). I could be wrong of course. The only certain thing that comes out of the lyrics is a nostalgia for an era that has passed, everything else is vague.
 
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