Morrissey A-Z: "Seasick, Yet Still Docked"

[That's Enough For Me]

From one of the worst songs yesterday (Scant-danavia), to one of the best today.

This for me, is the companion piece to Maudlin Street and rightfully takes it's place amongst his greatest ever songs.

Every line resonating, evocative non pub rock from Whyte for a change, yearning sound effects...all combining perfectly.

In summary it is the song that demonstrates what sound is made when heartache and heartbreak collide.

22/10

 

[Deleted member 29227]

A truly, absolutely beautiful song; wonderful lyrics, amazing vocals, all delivered completely drenched in melancholy & self-pity. Depending on your frame of mind at the time of listening, the whole despairing of it all could literally reduce you to tears. Heart-breaking.
Masterpiece without any doubt.

 

[Bonaparte Shandy]

Oh, to be taken up the Irwell one more time...

 

[gordyboy9]

Oh, to be taken up the Irwell one more time...

your a bit late the rimming thread was yesterday.

 

[skull]

Alain and Mick Ronson both deserve a huge amount of credit here, and it was songs like this that helped the album to secure good reviews after the critical drubbing that the first two singles had received.

The lyrics are sometimes inspired, but sometimes veer perilously close to self-parody. I recall that when the NME reviewed Beethoven Was Deaf, they were heavily critical of, "No one has even given me anything". You can understand why, as a man with millions of pounds and millions of fans shouldn't really be singing that line.

Lyrically I much prefer the optimism of I Know It's Gonna Happen Someday over the self-pity that Morrissey exhibits here, but I understand why it is so popular.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 25th from 264 solo songs.

I used to think the same about that line, "no one has ever given me...", but I believe he meant "for free", everything he has he had to gain it.

 

[Famous when dead]

Sublime.
FWD.

 

[Flibberty]

I used to think the same about that line, "no one has ever given me...", but I believe he meant "for free", everything he has he had to gain it.

For me that wouldn't really improve it or ring true.

Morrissey has barely worked in his life, and led a fairly cosseted life in his mother's house with the occasional trip to America thrown in.

Then he found fame and lived a cosseted life again.

People have given him everything.

 

[Deleted member 29227]

For me that wouldn't really improve it or ring true.

Morrissey has barely worked in his life, and led a fairly cosseted life in his mother's house with the occasional trip to America thrown in.

Then he found fame and lived a cosseted life again.

People have given him everything.

Despite not having really worked in the traditional sense that you, or I, would know, I think he has worked extremely hard for all his fame & fortune, & I don't begrudge him one cent of it; he wasn't 'given' it as part of any "cosseted life". He had/has a complex existence which is well documented. But, rather than focusing on the words in a literal sense, I think that particular line is referring to the intangibles missing in his life: love, meaningful & lasting relationships, etc., & I don't mean the love shown to him by his Mother. People/fans have given him everything he has; just not the one thing he desperately desires.

 

[Vegan Cro Spirit 444]

heart breaking haunting arpeggio Moz Masterpiece

 

[Skylarker]

My favorite song of all time. Also I think this is a better song than Asleep, which is essentially the same song thematically.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Alain and Mick Ronson both deserve a huge amount of credit here, and it was songs like this that helped the album to secure good reviews after the critical drubbing that the first two singles had received.

I recall that when the NME reviewed Beethoven Was Deaf, they were heavily critical of, "No one has even given me anything". You can understand why, as a man with millions of pounds and millions of fans shouldn't really be singing that line.

Don’t think Morrissey was singing about money or fan adoration when
he sang those lines. But what can one expect from lazy journalists that can’t be bothered to go deeper, idiots.

 

[Anonymous]

This is lovely. Another song about Johnny Marr not loving him back and running far, far away. What a fruitful union/non-union that was.

 

[Dirk Blaggard]

For me this is, what one may call a "True Morrissey song" , Nobody ever does a longing like M. It sits nicely next to
"Last Night I dreamt Somebody Loved Me.
A true classic. To think the other songs on the lp are Fatty and We Hate it when .. Not to mention a good song with a meaningless message "We're let you know"
I'm one of the three people in the whole wide world who liked Kill Uncle, but its a shame this lp wasn't released after Viva Hate ..As its like Viva Hates muscle-bound brother.
Both lps are a travel back to the 70s Britian. the lonely. isolation of teenaged

Thank you for posting this when you did

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Majestic. The haunting arpeggio and sepia tinged top line of ebow or muted controlled feedback adds to the beauty of the song.

“SPENCER COBRIN, drummer: Mick Ronson was a lovely fella, completely understated, unassuming, soft-spoken. He was also very sick at the time. His spirit came out when he picked up the guitar. I remember sitting next to him at the console when he put down some eerie e-bow guitar on “Seasick, Yet Still Docked”. I noticed his fingertips were gnarly and calloused. I could see his passion for music by looking at those fingers of his.”


and ....



“MORRISSEY: Mick had zero ego and cared only for the common good – he was without a shred of preciousness given the incredible turns his life had taken. Furthermore, he was blond-haired, blue-eyed handsome – still a shy smile. It struck me how he would have been magnificent for The Smiths’ first LP, but any mention of a top-notch producer and Rough Trade would drop like ’30s TB patients at the thought of having to pay for something.”


just imagine.

Morrissey: "It sounds too much like Waitrose. It needs to be more Harrods"

Here's what you might not find in Autobiography… wrestling matches with Vini Reilly! Ouija boards, sauna sessions and extravagant pastries! A secret love of Black Box’s “Ride On Time”!..

www.google.com

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

This song has a really great verse melody and instrumentation.
But ... there's no other section to the song. It needs another musical bit.
That's why it always falls a bit flat. It feels like a half-written part of a brilliant song.

But I think it’s intentional. The song reflects how life is for most, or that state of being, a feeling of pointless routine or stagnation, of going nowhere, docked.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

My favorite song of all time. Also I think this is a better song than Asleep, which is essentially the same song thematically.

Might be a double bummer, but would be great to hear Morrissey do
Life Is A Pigsty into Seasick, live.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Pure perfection.
Every single line hits the nail while the ship sets sai.
The desolate accoustic strum provides the perfect backbone.

but the ship never sets sail.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Despite not having really worked in the traditional sense that you, or I, would know, I think he has worked extremely hard for all his fame & fortune, & I don't begrudge him one cent of it; he wasn't 'given' it as part of any "cosseted life". He had/has a complex existence which is well documented. But, rather than focusing on the words in a literal sense, I think that particular line is referring to the intangibles missing in his life: love, meaningful & lasting relationships, etc., & I don't mean the love shown to him by his Mother. People/fans have given him everything he has; just not the one thing he desperately desires.

hear hear !

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

Of course Morrissey can do whatever he wants to do, but this ‘promo’ video is a bit of a mystery, guess he just felt strongly enough about the song to make a video, and that old footage (looks American?) wonder where he got that from?

Our song for today is this Morrissey/Whyte composition from the Your Arsenal album.

What do we think?

As pointed out before, lyrically a nod to the great artist Joni Mitchell





I am a poor wayfaring stranger
Traveling through all these highs and lows
I heard there was no sickness
And no toil or danger
Just mercy and plenty
Where peaceful waters flow
Where peaceful waters flow

Come all you fair and tender school girls
Be careful now--when you court young men
They are like the stars
On a summer morning
They sparkle up the night
And they're gone again
Daybreak--gone again

If I'd only seen through the silky veils of ardor
What a killing crime this love can be
I would have locked up my heart
In a golden sheath of armor
And kept its crazy beating
Under strictest secrecy
High security

I wish I had the wings
Of Noah's pretty little white dove
So I could fly this raging river
To reach the one I love
But I have no wings
And the water is so wide

We'll have to row a little harder
It's just in dreams we fly
In my dreams we fly!

 

[Skylarker]

Might be a double bummer, but would be great to hear Morrissey do
Life Is A Pigsty into Seasick, live.

I think the thing that makes those songs stand apart from each other is that Pigsty seems to generally be more about getting older and reflecting and being generally more jaded. Whereas Asleep is almost adolescent...it is nearly too melodramatic but for how beautifully he sings it and how shocking it is to hear such a blunt, almost unpoetic evocation of wanting to die. I think that the power of Asleep is that it pulls no punches and it just comes right out as what it is: a suicide note.

The reason I think Seasick is the best of his songs that cover the theme of never finding love is because it's this sublime blend of self-pity, anger, self-loathing, despondency...but the narrator just kind of drifts. Doesn't threaten to off himself, isn't yet re-catalyzed by age to try again (like he is in Pigsty 13 years later.) And I just love the cyclical shape of the words; how he sings them...what do they call that in music? A round? How he just sings couplet after couplet and there is no chorus and no ending or resolution narratively. In that sense it's similar to Last Night I Dreamt...

Whereas Asleep is so seemingly final and Pigsty is kind of...open to interpretation as to where he is in life and whether or not he's actually resigned himself to being alone.