Strangeways, Here We Come

[tca2005]

Your favourite track: Paint A Vulgar Picture - I find this song to be as close to perfection as anything I have ever heard, I don't know who it's supposed to be about or what the story is, but I read it as being extremely autobiographical, with some amazing bitter irony in there ("you could have said no if you'd wanted to, you could have walked away, couldn't you? - when we all know he couldn't). I feel this song is everything I personally would want to say to Morrissey, it's how I feel when I think how great it would be to meet him, then I realise that to him I would just be another "faceless" "fawning" and "boring" hanger-on "who could never begin to know". I also love the way there is an almost Gaelic feel to the way the track end, it really is heart-rendering and an amazing song in so many ways.

Your worst track: Last Night I Dreamt... - I know this will be heresy to alot of people, but the intro really puts me off and the song never seems to have been completed, to me anyway - of course, I like what there is, but I feel it's maybe not quite polished as the other songs and therefore doesn't quite fit on the album

Best lyric: there are so many, and I'm not just talking about lines I am talking about whole songs. Honourable mention should go to "Stop Me" for being hilarious and so true, it gives a certain beauty to a mundane, ugly, weekly occurence. I also love this: Some eighteen months ago/I travelled to a mystical time zone/And I missed my bed/And I soon came home, because I can imagine doing that myself, again, pathos mixed with bitter humour. In the end though I have to go with this: Best of ! Most of !/Satiate the need/Slip them into different sleeves!/Buy both, and feel deceived It's funny, ironic, bitter, self-deprecating, satirical, and mournful. I love the way he goes from the advertising-board lyrics in the first two lines, through to representing the obsession of the fan, he builds up the optimism describing them preparing to listen to the album, and ends with those two devastating words "feel deceived". Genius is an over-used word, but applicable in the case of these lines, this song, this album, this band.


Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you: I touched you at the soundcheck
You had no real way of knowing
In my heart I begged "Take me with you ...
I don't care where you're going..."

But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
Just a child from those ugly new houses
Who could never begin to know

You know why

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.: I love the individual songs, but I don't feel it has a particular "feel" as an album when compared to other albums. It all depends onwhether you judge an album on the individual tracks, in which case this album is hard to fault, or on the statement and impact of the album itself as a whole, in which case there are better albums.

PS I must add that I'm not saying that Morrissey resembles the character in Paint A Vulgar Pitcure, but I'm saying that he fears that is what he may become, or that a part of him the "ambitiont" and "zeal", I suppose, is pulling him in that direction.

[Lazy Dyke]

Your favourite track: "Rush and a push and the land is ours" Brilliant song, nothing else to say. "I won't share you" you know this is too hard to choose..

Your worst track: "Last night I dreamt.." I really don't like this track, I'm not sure why it's just this really long intro and then it never really hooks me.

Best lyric: "I've come to wish you an unhappy birthday, cuz you're evil. And if you should die, I may feel slightly sad, but I won't cry." or "Love peace & harmony - oh very nice, very nice, very nice but maybe in the next world."

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you: "I won't share you."

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.: I like this album, but it has a few weaknesses and therefore is my least favourite Smiths album. (If you can say least favourite that is) Death at ones elbow and last night I dreamt.. weaken it for me.

[Shakespeare's Sister]

Your favourite track: A Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours

Your worst track: Death At One's Elbow

Best lyric:

Girlfriend in a coma
I know, I know
It's serious

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you:

They said :
"There's too much caffeine
In your bloodstream
And a lack of real spice
In your life"

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.:

Behind the TQID, I class all Smith albums on the same level. I just cannot split them.

[JaneSays]

[Rodchenko]

[atomium]

Ok, finally I’m ready to write something about this album. You know, when became interested in The Smiths, and when I’d heard a couple of their songs, I just ordered a couple of their albums right away, “Strangeways, Here We Come” was one of them. At first I thought that Strangeways was a weak album, don’t ask why – because I don’t know exactly why me self. Lately, this album has meant more and more to me, and that’s great! There are so many fine songs, and I agree with you Elko – it’s either their 2nd or 3rd best album, I’ve had a hard time ranking between Hatful and Strangeways lately.

Your favourite track:
Hm...It’s got to be one of these:
- Rush And A Push And The Land Is Ours
- Girlfriend In A Coma
- Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before (Watching the music-video as we speak..I love it!)
- Paint A Vulgar Picture
- Death At One's Elbow

It’s hard to pick a favourite, but I think I like Rush and a Push best today.

Your worst track:
Maybe: Death Of A Disco Dancer…Haven’t got anything against that song, just that if I’ve got to choose one right now it’s got to be that one.

Best lyric:
Probably:

I started something
I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
...And now I'm not too sure

Don’t know why, just like it.

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you:
I can’t think of anyone right now. A line, maybe this one: And people who are weaker than you or I, They take what they want from life

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.:
As I mentioned at the top, I’ve recently started to listen more to this album, and I like it. Probably I would rank it after Hatful, as my 3rd favourite, but I’m not so sure..

[Ishihara]

Strangeways...

Your favourite track:
Death of a Disco Dancer

Your worst track:
Girlfriend in a Coma, too bouncy a bit silly

Best lyric:
"I never talk to my neighbor, I'd rather not get involved"

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you:
"I never talk to my neighbor, I'd rather not get involved"
Last night a dreamt somebody loved me - sums up my teen years so perfectly

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.:
Vastly superior, it's a Smiths album with enough depth and musical craftsmanship to have been released as all instrumentals. With the addition of Morrissey's lyrics put it over the top as a legendary classic. Because of this was such a great album it made the breakup of the Smiths overwhelmingly difficult for me.

I also love the picture of Johnny on the CD insert, by including it, I think it was Morrissey's way of admitting Johnny was indeed overworked.

[Pashernate_Lover]

[Ishihara]

[Pashernate_Lover]

[Ishihara]

[MarkW]

Your favourite track:
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before has to be my first choice but Death Of Disco Dancer and Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me are close behind.

Your worst track:
Difficult call but probably Death At One's Elbow.

Best lyric:
And the pain was enough to make
A shy, bald, buddhist reflect
And plan a mass murder

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you:
Nothings changed, I still love you, oh, I still love you
...only slightly, only slightly less than I used to, my love

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.:
My favourite Smiths album. The passing of over 20 years has not diminished my feelings about this album. I love it unreservedly and have always felt that the band saved their best until last. One can only wonder just what Morrisey/Marr could have gone on to achieve together had they not split at this point.

[chicken]

errrmmm...full analysis seems like work right now....
and i'm off-duty

just wanted to say i adore this cd.

[Nymphetamine]

Your favourite track: My favourite track would have be 'Paint a Vulgar Picture'. It's my favourite because this song is the pinnacle of music accompanying lyrics majestically and perfectly. It also portrays the music industry well and is very much a modern song even if it over twenty two years old. It is also ironic as it serves a reminder of what the most ardent of music industry mavericks can and usually do succumb too, this includes Morrissey in later life.

Your worst track: It is hard to say what track I dislike the most, but I would have to say 'Death of a Disco Dancer'. I have been certain as to what this song is about, people have given me differing interpretations of the song, such as being about depression, being about the AIDS crisis of that decade and the NME tried to turn the meaning of something more sinister in the early 1990's. Lyrically, I'm not overly impressed and this is the same with the instrumental.

Best lyric:

"So, drink, drink, drink
And be ill tonight"

Song/lyric/line you relate to most/has relevance to you:

"Last night I dreamt
That somebody loved me
No hope, no harm
Just another false alarm"

Overall opinion of album, how it compares to others, etc.: This is my favourite album of all time, I love the cover, I love the sleeve, and more importantly I love virtually all the songs on the albums. Songs such as Girlfriend in a Coma and Unhappy Birthday capture all of the negative emotions of life, anquish, hate, bitterness, sadness and depression yet within those vigorous emotions lays satire and razor sharp wit that has my sides splitting endlessly.

Last night I dreamt that someone loved me is just heaven. It's a very personal song to many people including me, the lyrics are heartwrenching and the music offering a desolate sense of loneliness and emotional hardship. I won't share you is also another personal song to many people and conjures up the way we have all felt before. I started something I couldn't finish shows Marr at his best, Stop me if you think you've heard this one before is one of the more potent song on the album and is probably the most well known from the album bar Girlfriend in a Coma. Rush and a Push is fantastic and Death at One's Elbow and Death of a Disco Dancer aren't the greatest songs, but they are decent none the less.

[Pashernate_Lover]

I instantly loved this album, listened to it 7 times in a row waiting to get picked up from the DMV when I was 17 (my family is famously late). As the years pass it gets even more nuances and facets that just knock me over with adoration. Funny enough, I had just listened to this whole CD when I read your post Nymphetamine and I couldn't agree more. Brilliant album.