Morrissey A-Z: "Nobody Loves Us"

Masterful song, well positioned as the b-side to “Dagenham Dave” both songs telling the two sides of the working class coin - one, cheeky chappy, jokey on the surface level, the other, deeper and more grounded in inescapable reality
 
Sublime
 
.


BEAUTIFUL


💚💙💜❤️
 
Obviously an extraordinary song in every conceivable way. Obviously one of Morrissey’s best b-sides. Obviously one of his best songs full stop.
 
This song is so good I don’t even feel the need to reply to the thread. The song says everything we need to know.
 
‘NUL POINTS!’ Nobody Loves Us! Is that what this is? Oh, please yourself.

Goddard recognises the brilliance of the song yet tosses it off in a paragraph (whilst droning on for ages about ‘Golden Lights’) so you can tell exactly where his archy pointy head is at.

This is THE definitive Morrissey song. It soars majestically over everything else and if it all ended tits-up on Tibb Street tomorrow – this is the song we would remember him by.

As an anthem for the bike pedalling, doomed quiff and national-health specs brigade, the connection is too easy to go with. Our preferred reading of this song places it firmly and defiantly on the draining board of the northern kitchen sink. The ‘us’ is the north and the shat upon, put upon legions of the back streets of Salford, Manchester, Oldham and, er, Rochdale if you must.

The music is essentially ‘Alma Matters’ with a few timing/chord shifts: a memory of how great Alain was and why, sadly, it will never again be as good.

Like all great pieces of art, there’s a flaw that makes you perhaps love the whole thing more tenderly. How DID that line ‘make us our favourite jam’ ever get passed by quality control? JAM? Mams making JAM in 1960s Manchester? Do us a bleedin’ favour – the BETTER line should have been: ‘make us our favourite TEA’, ‘TEA’ – that food you had when you finally got in from school (spread cheese on toast, fish fingers with frozen peas or cheese dip) and watched ‘Magpie’ wondering if Tony Bastable would ever, one day, invite you to sit on his lap in the control room of Thames TV. ‘Jam’? My arse.

There are some astonishing versions out there, if you look. You Tube has the acoustic version which is stunning and Mr Shandy and myself have a number of live bootlegs.

Oh, the perversity of track listing. Ignored, rarely played and stuck on a shagging ‘B’ side, it deserves SO MUCH MORE.

Yes, perversity. For like all great artists the tendency to cling the very best to the bosom and push the trash. ‘Nobody Loves Us’? No, of course they don’t, which is why you’re not worthy of THIS. It’s mine.
 
‘NUL POINTS!’ Nobody Loves Us! Is that what this is? Oh, please yourself.

Goddard recognises the brilliance of the song yet tosses it off in a paragraph (whilst droning on for ages about ‘Golden Lights’) so you can tell exactly where his archy pointy head is at.

This is THE definitive Morrissey song. It soars majestically over everything else and if it all ended tits-up on Tibb Street tomorrow – this is the song we would remember him by.

As an anthem for the bike pedalling, doomed quiff and national-health specs brigade, the connection is too easy to go with. Our preferred reading of this song places it firmly and defiantly on the draining board of the northern kitchen sink. The ‘us’ is the north and the shat upon, put upon legions of the back streets of Salford, Manchester, Oldham and, er, Rochdale if you must.

The music is essentially ‘Alma Matters’ with a few timing/chord shifts: a memory of how great Alain was and why, sadly, it will never again be as good.

Like all great pieces of art, there’s a flaw that makes you perhaps love the whole thing more tenderly. How DID that line ‘make us our favourite jam’ ever get passed by quality control? JAM? Mams making JAM in 1960s Manchester? Do us a bleedin’ favour – the BETTER line should have been: ‘make us our favourite TEA’, ‘TEA’ – that food you had when you finally got in from school (spread cheese on toast, fish fingers with frozen peas or cheese dip) and watched ‘Magpie’ wondering if Tony Bastable would ever, one day, invite you to sit on his lap in the control room of Thames TV. ‘Jam’? My arse.

There are some astonishing versions out there, if you look. You Tube has the acoustic version which is stunning and Mr Shandy and myself have a number of live bootlegs.

Oh, the perversity of track listing. Ignored, rarely played and stuck on a shagging ‘B’ side, it deserves SO MUCH MORE.

Yes, perversity. For like all great artists the tendency to cling the very best to the bosom and push the trash. ‘Nobody Loves Us’? No, of course they don’t, which is why you’re not worthy of THIS. It’s mine.
Wonderful read (as always)
 
An absolute classic from the opening line.
Including this song on the original Southpaw would have been like encasing a diamond in shit.

I know what you mean.

This is the Morrissey that speaks to me most deeply which is why . . . (see my next comment)
 
the tune (which is a classic Moz chord sequence and arrangement)
I want to understand what a classic Moz chord sequence/arrangement is.

Because like Amy, maybe others here, this is the Moz I relate to . . . Classic.

(And I don't relate so much to Southpaw, YOR etc. - even though they're the same writers.)

But I'm never quite sure why this "classic Moz" stands out so or seems so defining.

Is it the vocal melody (something I don't understand)? Is it Whyte using a certain set of chords favoured by Morrissey.

In any event, I echo most of you here. One of his true greats. I just wonder why . . . ?
 
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The kindest thing you could say about this is that, musically, it's dull. There isn't much of a tune and the lyrics are nothing special either.
 
The kindest thing you could say about this is that, musically, it's dull. There isn't much of a tune and the lyrics are nothing special either.

While The Kid’s A Looker and Golden Lights are masterpieces in comparison, right?
 
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