THE SMITHS – THIS CHARMING MAN (ROUGH TRADE)
Possessing perhaps the greatest strange first line of a popular song ever (“punctured bicycle on a hillside”) the second single from The Smiths opens at a blistering pace, all coded for the cool kids in crappy clothing.
As with much of The Smiths catalogue it feels hard/difficult to imagine this song quite capturing the imagination of the music nation now as it did upon its release in 1983. From the perspective of a normal seeing set of eyes and ears The Smiths are just so strange a proposition to swallow and with this song of sexual exploration containing lines such as “bet he’ll make a man of me yet” it is difficult not to imagine a nation throwing up into a bucket in the process. Perhaps the eighties were more forward thinking than we give them credit for.
Thought of in some circles as the more sensitive antidote to the overproduced, over hyped alpha male Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Smiths serve to “corrupt” the youth in a much more subtle and substantive manner. In Morrissey truly was a frontman that was unique and genuinely strange. Wearing his heart most visibly on his sleeve their songs were as unnerving as they were classic. Obviously they weren’t for everyone but for a person looking for a way to find something positive in a whole lot of negative and depression the seemingly inclusive words of Morrissey provided the ultimate in relief for anyone brave enough to invest.
At this point I should concede that it was absolutely years before I realised that Morrissey was homosexual but surely (surely!) I should have picked up a clue or two from “This Charming Man.” In such a case then just what was it I was hearing in the song for all those years? How was I able to swallow such a drippy (and even dreary) singing voice? Was it Marr’s guitar playing? I doubt it being a person raised on loud hulking grunge guitars.
I think what it was the hook in the chorus. That strange scream and the enforced dip in proceedings that somehow felt so natural. That and the line about not having “a stitch to wear.” You and me both Morrissey. It never even occurred to me that the charming man might be gay/homosexual, which was never my world. A jumped up country boy myself I was as naïve as this song perversely sounds.
It’s a beautiful world we live in.
Thesaurus moment: misconstrue.
The Smiths
Rough Trade
Possessing perhaps the greatest strange first line of a popular song ever (“punctured bicycle on a hillside”) the second single from The Smiths opens at a blistering pace, all coded for the cool kids in crappy clothing.
As with much of The Smiths catalogue it feels hard/difficult to imagine this song quite capturing the imagination of the music nation now as it did upon its release in 1983. From the perspective of a normal seeing set of eyes and ears The Smiths are just so strange a proposition to swallow and with this song of sexual exploration containing lines such as “bet he’ll make a man of me yet” it is difficult not to imagine a nation throwing up into a bucket in the process. Perhaps the eighties were more forward thinking than we give them credit for.
Thought of in some circles as the more sensitive antidote to the overproduced, over hyped alpha male Frankie Goes To Hollywood, The Smiths serve to “corrupt” the youth in a much more subtle and substantive manner. In Morrissey truly was a frontman that was unique and genuinely strange. Wearing his heart most visibly on his sleeve their songs were as unnerving as they were classic. Obviously they weren’t for everyone but for a person looking for a way to find something positive in a whole lot of negative and depression the seemingly inclusive words of Morrissey provided the ultimate in relief for anyone brave enough to invest.
At this point I should concede that it was absolutely years before I realised that Morrissey was homosexual but surely (surely!) I should have picked up a clue or two from “This Charming Man.” In such a case then just what was it I was hearing in the song for all those years? How was I able to swallow such a drippy (and even dreary) singing voice? Was it Marr’s guitar playing? I doubt it being a person raised on loud hulking grunge guitars.
I think what it was the hook in the chorus. That strange scream and the enforced dip in proceedings that somehow felt so natural. That and the line about not having “a stitch to wear.” You and me both Morrissey. It never even occurred to me that the charming man might be gay/homosexual, which was never my world. A jumped up country boy myself I was as naïve as this song perversely sounds.
It’s a beautiful world we live in.
Thesaurus moment: misconstrue.
The Smiths
Rough Trade
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