Far Out magazine: The story behind There is a Light 'revealed'

Peppermint

Well-Known Member
Not sure there is anything new here, since this short piece is hung on a couple of old quotes from Johnny, but I hadn't read them before so I thought others might like to see.

Excerpt:

Joe Taysom·July 30, 2020
The Story Behind The Song: How The Smiths song ‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ became their ‘hidden secret’



‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ is one of the quintessential tracks by The Smiths, one which perfectly juxtaposed Johnny Marr’s phenomenal jangly guitars with the sombre lyricism of Morrissey.
Bizarrely, despite being the most popular song by The Smiths in terms of streaming platform figures—having racked up over 196 million plays on Spotify alone—it was never released as a single while the Mancunians were together. It wasn’t until 1992, some five years after their split and six years following it appearing on The Queen Is Dead, when the song would finally be released as a single.

Remarkably, the song literally dropped out of thin air for the group. “We did it at the start of the day,” Marr recalled to NME in 2011. “It was an enjoyable 40 minutes. When we all got together, one-two-three-four, it was the first time all four of us had heard what it sounded like. It was magical. Someone told me that if you listen with the volume really, really up you can hear me shout ‘That was amazing’ right at the end.”

Full piece: https://faroutmagazine.co.uk/the-story-behind-the-smiths-song-there-is-a-light-that-never-goes-out/
 
I particularly like the way they secretly hid this hidden secret track on their secretly released album which charted at number two in the UK Secret Albums Chart in 1986, a year that nobody's allowed to talk about because it's a secret.
 
Moz said it almost didn't make the album - can you believe that? Wow.

"Meekly, I had missed the value of There Is a Light... and I suggested to Johnny that it shouldn't be included on the album. He laughs a you-silly-thing warranty, and I drop the protest. The humilitation I live with, because this suggestion is everlasting since the song became - and continues to be - greatly loved as one of the most powerful components of the Smiths canon. It is often a relief to be wrong."
 
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