Also From This Artist

• Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)

Preface

Served me well as an “album”. it’s homogenous both in themes and in the sounds that I heard. a fusion of politics, love, and comedy with very British lyrics and 80s instrumentation. Marr’s playing reminded me of Knopfler at some points, on the other hand, Morrissey’s nasal, sometimes goofy singing is second to none. it’s more mature than the previous album (Strangeways) I listened to. I still like to hear more from them.

Review

The title track, The Queen is Dead starts energetically, especially the drums. it’s very political, clearly addressing Prince Charles and the monarchy in the UK. It sounds very modern. the effects, guitar strums, and drums sound very much like The Smiths. the flanger guitars from Marr are easily distinguishable. a bit boring at the end.

Oh, has the world changed or have I changed?

The second track is also rather socio-political. criticizing the music industry, and expressing the wild, free human desires he experiences. it’s funny, and almost rude (“Oh give us your money”) but also very relatable and honest (“Still I’d rather be famous than righteous or holy”).

I’m a sickening wreck
I’ve got the twenty-first century breathing down my neck
I must move fast, you understand me

Having smiled with the previous track, I Know It’s Over is totally the opposite. the title, the mood, a lower tempo, gloomy lyrics, and Morrissey’s singing all contribute to this atmosphere. he describes his life as compared to the moment before getting buried as if he dies everyday as going back to the most instinctual cry for help, asking his mother for help. it’s a love song about someone jealous, angry, and hopeless. probably unlucky too because he feels like even “the knife” and “the sea” want to attack and murder him.

Love is natural and real But not for such as you and I

I like to think of it as a sociological narrative too, where even love isn’t for everybody. it’s only a privilege for the selected few. the speaker who’s not one, finally gives up and “the soil falls over his head”.

Never Had No One Ever sounds very good. he sings a bit differently, like I’ve never heard from him before. the melody is also beautiful. they usually sound whiney -as I’ve mentioned before- in a “hurt and lost”, but not in a “broken and failed” tone. Cemetry Gates is so British for some reason. it contrasts the jolly title and the gloomy mood once again. mentioning great writers Ketas, Yeats, and Wilde (even a line from Shakespeare) and how we walked the graveyard with a friend and contemplated the pettiness of life. a bit of wordplay in the line “we go inside and we gravely read the stones”, gravely reading the graves.

All those people, all those lives, where are they now?
With-a loves and hates and passions just like mine
They were born, and then they lived, and then they died
Seems so unfair, I want to cry

Bigmouth Strikes Again sounds proud and energetic, and not necessarily happy. “And now I know how Joan of Arc felt”, he’s Joan of Arc probably because he has a voice that’s heard, because he says unordinary things, and is a controversial character against the status quo of his time. however, martyrdom (a modern equivalent would be censorship) not only doesn’t mute the voice but also becomes a new stage on its own where the character can reach an even greater audience.

The Boy with the Thorn in His Side sounds vulnerable, frustrated, and intimate. I like the scats, new to me. he does his typical nasal singing a lot in this one too. I like to think of it as a love song (and not limited to human romantic heterosexual love but merely a deep drive for something or someone).

The boy with the thorn in his side
Behind the hatred, there lies
A murderous desire for love

Vicar in a Tutu is again funny to me, probably because of the word “tutu”. also, the rhythm does have an effect. probably a critique of the church, how it steals your money and is eventually useless. it has a weird ending effect, unlike others. I instantly guessed that There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is a famous piece (which was later proven right), because of how typical and balanced it sounds. this is the sound of The Smiths. The melody sounds a lot like Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now from their self-titled album. it’s a love song that sounds jingly as always, the lyrics are rather moody. the singing, bassline, and guitar strums are also very iconic of the duo. I hear strings for the first time here, makes it stand out. I’m guessing they tried hard to extract a single out of this one track.

Please don’t drop me home
Because it’s not my home, it’s their home
And I’m welcome no more

he expresses his fanatic, strange love. it’s from an outcast who’s not often accepted and understood, even by his family. he is obviously in love, but his peaks of love are still cynical and dispirited. he’s frustrated with what he lacks so he (much angrily even! “I don’t care, I don’t care, I don’t care”) compensates by fanatically fantasizing about love, hoping for at least death to be not a yet again lonely experience.

And if a double-decker bus crashes into us
To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-tonne truck kills the both of us
To die by your side, well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine

Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others is odd! there’s a weird effect at the beginning where the volume goes down and comes back up again, making me wonder if something’s wrong with my device. probably a mistake but later embraced? this also includes a little bit of strings. I don’t quite understand the text but it could, again, be a frustrated guy walking and overhearing people cheap talk and gossip. he discovers that these have always been the only one concern of humans, while he’s among the few romantics who would cherish even a beloved one’s pillow. honestly, I just think they wanted to have 10 songs, hence this song.

Send me the pillow that you dream on
And I’ll send you mine