Morrissey-solo
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posted by
davidt
on Tuesday October 07 2003, @09:00AM
An anonymous person writes:
Norwegian writer Frode Grytten writes about The Smiths' 'Suffer Little Children' and the similarity between the Moors Murders and the Baneheia killings (Baneheia is an area where people used to go for walks and recreation, and where two little girls were killed after being sexually abused. The killers were caught and stood trial, and people all over the country followed this case closely). Rough translation from Norwegian: Morrissey's Murder Ballad A Manchester pub, Spring, 1984: The grandfather of John Kilbride listens to a pop song pouring out of the juke box. He remains sitting. And listening. A sombre guitar. A grieving voice. A woman laughing. Over the moor... I'm on the moor... the child is on the moor. Afterwards the grandfather is furious. If he meets the guys who made this song, he's going to kill them. The man rushes into the editorial office of the tabloid newspaper in Manchester: He is determined to sue the pop band from here to Saddleworth Moor. It is four local lads who have recorded "Suffer Little Children". The Smiths have just released their debut self-titled LP, and the flawless pop song rounds off an album which has received a lot of attention and good criticism from all over the country. Now their future career is in danger. They have barely shaken off the ridiculous accusations of encouraging paedophilia in the song "Reel Around The Fountain" (opening track) before the tabloids attack them again. The four English boys with Irish roots have opened an old wound. The Moors Murders. A July night 21 years earlier: The teenager Pauline Reid gets picked up by the blonde Myra Hindley. Pauline is on her way to a dance at the Railwaymen's Club in Manchester. Hindley offers to drive her the rest of the way. In the car the driver starts talking about some valuable gloves which have been lost somewhere on Saddleworth Moor, a little way north of the town. If Pauline comes along to help looking for them, a substantial reward is awaiting. But out on the desolated moor awaits the mentally disturbed Ian Brady, Myra Hindley's boyfriend. In the cruellest way the girl is murdered and her body buried down in the ground to conceal the ill deed. Later the couple repeat their horrible ill deeds every half year. These kids too have to pay with their lives out on Saddleworth Moor: Keith Bennet (12), Lesley-Anne Downey (10), John Kilbride (12), Edward Evans (17). An appalling incident in British history. A perfect theme for a frisky pop tune? Hardly. The seriousness of the case is too much. Still one man is asking for trouble. That is, of course, Steven Patrick Morrissey, a boy who grew up in the streets where the victims were picked up, a boy who could himself have fallen into the hands of Hindley and Brady. When Morrissey later formed the band The Smiths with the guitarist Johnny Marr, the lyrics to "Suffer Little Children" were amongst the first he presented. Marr composed a beautiful melody. Morrissey chanted the words. The scandal was a fact. A song about the serial murders on Top of The Pops! A delightful hymn about perversions! For comparison: What had happened if a Norwegian band had made a grabbing pop tune about the killings at Baneheia? The relatives of the dead never went to court against The Smiths. Quite the contrary; Morrissey became friends with the mother of the late Lesley-Anne Downey. When people got to sit down and really listen to "Suffer Little Children", the storm calmed. This was what everyone could hear: a moving and compassionate song, performed by a Morrissey who mourns with the parents and calls forth the dead children. In full seriousness Morrissey gives the dead a voice. They must not be forgotten. They must not disappear. In his persistent sorrow Morrissey embraces not only the murdered, but all vulnerable children: See me! Love me! Hold me! Find me! Only artists with a talent as great as Marr and Morrissey could have done it. They created a unique song in the history of popular music. So painful. So beautiful. So hard to forget. Frode Grytten
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beautifully worded essay (Score:1, Informative)
There are at least 20 books on the Moors Murders.
I recommend:
The Moors Murderers by Jonathan Goodman (1994).
"Oh Manchester, so much to answer for."
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