Morrissey: The "Irish Blood, English Heart" thread

Irish blood, English heart
This I'm made of
There is no one on earth I'm afraid of
And no regime can buy or sell me

I've been dreaming of a time when
to be English is not to be baneful
to be standing by the flag, not feeling shameful
racist or racial

Irish blood, English heart
this I'm made of
There is no one on earth I'm afraid of
And I will die with both of my hands untied

I've been dreaming of a time when
the English are sick to death
of Labour, and Tories
and spit upon the name Oliver Cromwell
and denounce this royal line that still salute him
and will salute him
FOREVER...

there are even bits of Interpol and U2

When was Moz ever known to be subtle, though?

As a whole, I suppose the song's not bad, though even after repeated listens, it's not grabbing me. (Tis no Shoplifters....)

Can't help feeling like he's trying really hard to stay relevant.

[That said, I'd get more excited if I could see him play live---though after a mate told me how much tix are going for, fat chance of that!]

b) The myth of Cromwell as Bad Imperialist kinda sits ill with Mozza's Republican viewpoint

c) As a first gen Smiths fan I'm lately thinking, the more I analyze the Mozzter's lyrics, the more mediocre they seem.

What myth exactly is this?

I've never understood English Nationalism, and god knows Moz has got into enough trouble in the past for discussing it. Nationalist sentiments seem more understandable in countries like Ireland where identity has been part of the driving force in casting out an oppressor state.

You mean the 'myth',that population of Ireland was halved in the 12 years of Cromwell's occupation either by slaughter e.h of the inhabitants of Drogedha or Wexford or the systematic destruction of crops and buildings. I think the numbers are pretty much accepted, and not just by Irish nationalists.

OTM

I don't think, though, that the UK royal family salute Cromwell overmuch.

MORRISSEY has confirmed the final details of his eagerly-awaited comeback single - the first for seven years.
'Irish Blood, English Heart' will come out on May 10 backed with three new tracks from the singer that will not be found on his forthcoming seventh solo album 'You Are The Quarry'.
CD1 will feature 'It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small', while CD2 will include the B-sides 'Munich Air Disaster 1958', 'The Never Played Symphonies' and the enhanced video for 'Irish Blood, English Heart'.
The limited edition 7" vinyl will have 'It's Hard To Walk Tall When You're Small' on the flipside.

wtf is moz's problem with ripping off his fans? is a single spread over 3 releases and 2 formats really necessary? and you know all of this shit is gonna get slapped on a singles comp in 18 months anyway.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/newspaper/0,,176-1143699,00.html

that quote does make me sound like a bit of a dick.

i will write more about morrissey later.

Morrissey, 45, the singer once regarded as the most likely to induce inclinations to self-harm in his audience, is not only the star turn but also the ringmaster of this year’s Meltdown, an annual London arts festival. For the next 2Å weeks he is presenting his own programme of events at the festival on the capital’s South Bank. It kicked off on Friday with the first of his three performances.

Fans of the Smiths cheered as he sang songs from the band’s catalogue such as the hang-yourself-by-the-neck A Rush And a Push on stage at the Festival Hall in London before turning to his new album, You Are the Quarry.

The album has sold more than half a million copies worldwide in three weeks and is number two in the British charts. It is also number one in — where else? — Sweden, which has one of the world’s highest suicide rates, and number 11 in the United States, where he has become a cult figure among Hispanic audiences.

Morrissey’s reputation as a genuine British treasure has been restored in recent years. The boys’ club in his home town of Manchester, which was furious when he used its picture on the inside sleeve of the Smiths’ album The Queen Is Dead, has spent £25,000 in lottery cash establishing a room dedicated to the band as part of its centennial celebrations.

Even now he is never far from controversy. Last week he interrupted a gig in Dublin to announce that Ronald Reagan, the former US president, was dead — adding that he wished it was George W Bush instead.

He used his first television interview for 17 years, to criticise David Bowie, his predecessor as Meltdown host. “He was only relevant by accident,” Morrissey told Jonathan Ross on his chat show.

This week Morrissey gets to curate his own CD collection — endearingly entitled Songs to Save Your Life — on the cover of NME, Britain’s leading rock weekly.

His fans include Russell, the designer Stella McCartney, daughter of the former Beatle Sir Paul, Paddy Harverson, the Prince of Wales’s new spin doctor, and JK Rowling, the Harry Potter author, who admits to crying when the Smiths split in 1987.

Russell, whose debut novel The Wrong Boy is about a youth obsessed with writing to Morrissey, is turning it into a script for a television series. “I am a big admirer,” he said. “It would be lovely to have Morrissey’s presence in the series, be it in the flesh or the zeitgeist.”

This month’s Meltdown festival will include two concerts by the New York Dolls, whose British fan club Morrissey ran as a teenager; Nancy Sinatra, daughter of Frank; Sparks, the group fronted by oddball American brothers Ron and Russell Mael; Alan Bennett, the writer; and Jane Birkin, the British actress who became a singing star in France.

Fans were so keen to see Morrissey’s first London show for more than a decade that they were paying £100 to touts for tickets with a face value of £30. Once inside they chanted “Morrissey” repeatedly before a black backdrop fell to the floor of the stage, spelling out his name in wide letters.

A synthesised voice began to list various words and phrases such as “wife-beater”, “racist”, “neon Britain” and “Jimmy Tarbuck” (the comedian). As the words faded, the backdrop lit up in red and the band came on. Morrissey strolled on stage wearing a smoking jacket.

Toby Gee, 24, a mathematician from London, said: “Every Day Is Like Sunday was great. Morrissey’s voice has just got better, and that type of song sounds much greater now than it did 10 years ago.”

Glenn Carmichael, 49, a poet from Bristol, said: “It was great. I was expecting more Smiths-type songs but it was a good idea to move away from that as otherwise people would just keep comparing Morrissey to the old days. As he said, he has to move on from 20 years ago.”

And by the way, this may drag things a little O-T - but interestingly for me anyway! - but what was it about Cloughie's tenure at Leeds that might so fascinate David Peace? I admit to knowing very little about early 70s, pre-Revie (?) Leeds United... though of course, Blake Morrison's poem "The Ballad of the Yorkshire Ripper" includes report of the Leeds United fans at Elland Road chanting "Ripper 12 Police Nil" at the height of the YR killings...

I suspect that only Robin C can help us.

No, Clough was post-Revie. Revie brought Leeds up from the 2nd div in '64 (?) and a decade of success followed (or near-success - Leeds were continually on the verge of winning everything, they ultimately won rather little).

Sorry, back to more interesting stuff...

I assumed the journalist was directly referring to the 'hung by his pretty white neck' line.

What is all this Clough business about? I scrolled up but couldn't find it.

http://microsites.nme.com/thisweek/img/cover_190604_L.jpg

Morrissey - The Never Played Symphonies
The Killers - Jenny Was a Friend Of Mine
Gene - Fighting Fit
Sparks - Barbecutie
The Slits - Love and Romance
The Ordinary Boys - (Little) Bubble
New York Dolls - Vietnamese Baby
Franz Ferdinand - Jacqueline (live)
Raymonde - No one Can Hold A Candle To You
Ludus - Let Me Go Where My Pictures Go
Sack - Colorado Springs
Remma - Worry Young (demo version)
Pony Club - Single
Jobriath - Morning Star Ship
Damien Dempsey - Factories
The Libertines - Time For Heroes
Sir John Betjeman - A Child Ill

I'm afraid I don't think the song is good.

'IB, EH' is much better.

I say this despite not liking to say bad things about M.

Anyhow, the one thing: It reminds me of the Beatles, the harmonies in the 'chorus'. And I don't know why.

I guess that's similar to the record's story.

It would be interesting to think of the other things M. could have used as a pay-off: surprising things, twists, whatever. 'He killed hearts'. 'He stole his own heart - but from whom?'. 'He stole a lot of things, but never anyone's heart' (suitably scansioned, you understand) -- anything but: 'Oh, yes, and you know what this loveable rogue did? He stole all hearts away!' (repeat).

I was thinking for a minute: "I wish N. would post and back me up" - then I realized that he wouldn't back me up: he would say I was being weird and he didn't understand why I was saying what I was saying, and tell me to get over it, or something.

N. might back you up, too, but not today.

I wonder if he's stealing anything away, just now.

I expect so.

that would explain.