Morrissey retiring?

[Practising Troublemaker]

Did anyone stop to think that maybe this guy doesn't really write for the NME?

The thought had crossed my mind but I thought it could to express my view anyway.

 

[Bluebirds]

Hi all,

Jamie from the NME here. I was wondering if I could garner some opinions of you Morrissey fans and experts?

Quite a few things have been going on recently that suggest Morrissey is stepping away from music. He's finding touring tough, has said he finds it lonely, and there is a greatest hits in the pipeline. Could he be winding things down?

I was wondering what you all thought about the possibility of Morrissey retiring? Do you think it'd be the right time for him to do it, considering his frustrations with the music industry and the ovious fact that he enjoys a reclusive lifestyle rather than being in the spot-light?

Would be grateful for any comments, please do post below.

Thanks. JF.

I've even got a headline for you:

Flying the flag or flirting with the bus pass?

or

Ringleader of the Pensioners?

 

[Ben Chill]

I almost feel angry at you for even posting this. It's like how FOX News asks questions to rankle people. "Is Al Gore a child molester? Find out at 11!" That's exactly what this is. You know Morrissey's not planning to retire. Morrissey needs our adoration to function. He loves touring. He's been on tour for eons. He can't make himself stop. He's planning a new album. He's already done the greatest hits thing and he'll do it again. It's no indication that he's retiring.

Not only that, but he's an artist who can NOT stop producing art. Can you really see him relaxing in his mansion on a hill somewhere, sipping tea and ignoring his urge to write? He's driven. He'll never retire. It's not within him to do so.

Why don't you guys report on actual music news instead of trying to force news to happen?

Very good post. This could easily end up as 'Moz fans say it's time for him to retire'
And SoLo(w) will get the blame.

 

[Girlgoneshoplifting]

Honestly I dont see that happening in the near future. and I think every "big" artist get tired from touring.
I still feel like he has alot to say(through his lyrics) and as long as he's alive he still we be having enough opinions and feelings needing expression through singing and writing etc. As I have heard him say in interviews, he finally knows his place (in my own wording) when on stage. I don't think he could and would want to stop.
I also find his last 2 full lengths great with a couple of classics already.
This prooves at least to me that he still has it. (after personally thinking he lost it after the last great album Vauxhall and I).

And if he did I know there will be alot of even more depressed Mozza fans hahaha

 

[the more you explore me!]

I've even got a headline for you:

Flying the flag or flirting with the bus pass?

or

Ringleader of the Pensioners?

Heavens knows i've lost my dentures now!

 

[Girlgoneshoplifting]

Morrissey reaches his careers cemetary gates

 

[MelissaY1]

same here, i would have told you that Lennon Mccartney were gods, 4 years ago. but i grew up and realized that what they wrote really had no soul.
Help was written in 5 minutes, and thats because they needed something to write about.

See, I gotta disagree with you there. I think some of their stuff definitely had soul. I'm not talking about HELP, and stuff they wrote when they were younger, teen idol types. Of course there was nothing "soulful" about "I Wanna Hold Your Hand": I'm talking about work from Rubber Soul, the white album, Sgt. Pepper, Revolver, and Lennon's solo work??? Come on, that stuff is highly moving. "Mother"?? "God"?, "Working Class Hero?" But we all have our opinions and you're entitled to yours...

I think Morrissey/Marr have written amazing soulful stuff as well and of course Morrissey's solo work (or most of it) included

 

[MelissaY1]

it's true though. did you know that the mccartney anthem "Yesterday" started out as "Scrambled Eggs"..it went "scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, baby how i love your legs". and then he pulled out his rhyme book a couple of days later and wrote yesterday. it's no secret. the book "paul mccartney: many years from now" opened my eyes...i was quite the beatles fanatic. i thought they were alpha and omega. and well...yeah.
almost all lennon mccartney creations were written because they were pestered for material from the record company, or purely for profit. brilliant pop songs...but have no soul or meaning...deeper meaning..nothing. it is all very sad.

And that's why Yesterday is one of the Beatles songs I honestly hate. LOL I can't listen to it...if I hear it on the radio, I switch it off...And yes, early on in their career they wrote stuff to please the record companies and were under contract to get out stuff within a certain amount of time to reach record company deadlines, etc. But I think their later years were far more personal works...how can you say stuff like "Let It Be" which was influenced by the passing of Paul's mother has no soul??

 

[Albion]

brilliant pop songs...but have no soul or meaning...deeper meaning..nothing. it is all very sad.

In My Life
(Lennon, McCartney)

There are places I'll remember
All my life though some have changed
Some forever not for better
Some have gone and some remain
All these places have their moments
With lovers and friends I still can recall
Some are dead and some are living
In my life I've loved them all.

But of all these friends and lovers
There is no one compares with you
And these mem'ries lose their meaning
When I think of love as something new
Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more.

Though I know I'll never lose affection
For people and things that went before
I know I'll often stop and think about them
In my life I love you more.
In my life I love you more.

 

[Morrissey the 23rd]

Hi all,

Jamie from the NME here. I was wondering if I could garner some opinions of you Morrissey fans and experts?

Quite a few things have been going on recently that suggest Morrissey is stepping away from music. He's finding touring tough, has said he finds it lonely, and there is a greatest hits in the pipeline. Could he be winding things down?

I was wondering what you all thought about the possibility of Morrissey retiring? Do you think it'd be the right time for him to do it, considering his frustrations with the music industry and the ovious fact that he enjoys a reclusive lifestyle rather than being in the spot-light?

Would be grateful for any comments, please do post below.

Thanks. JF.

The NME went into decline when it began flirting with disaster. Stop making up stories if you want your comic to recover.

 

[Morrissey the 23rd]

As Peter and myself stated earlier, Jamie is not a troll because David and mods have all the members' email addresses.

If Jamie was a troll, the thread has been shifted to off-topic.

Working for the NME does not exclude him from being a troll. I say he is a troll.

Beware The Troll:
http://www.teamtechnology.co.uk/troll.htm

PS:
http://www.lyricsfreak.com/m/morrissey/journalists+who+lie_20096080.html

Be careful JF.

 

[mozmic_dancer]

it's true though. did you know that the mccartney anthem "Yesterday" started out as "Scrambled Eggs"..it went "scrambled eggs, scrambled eggs, baby how i love your legs". and then he pulled out his rhyme book a couple of days later and wrote yesterday. it's no secret. the book "paul mccartney: many years from now" opened my eyes...i was quite the beatles fanatic. i thought they were alpha and omega. and well...yeah.
almost all lennon mccartney creations were written because they were pestered for material from the record company, or purely for profit. brilliant pop songs...but have no soul or meaning...deeper meaning..nothing. it is all very sad.

Pandora, that is a great story. Both Lennon and McCartney wrote like that. They would have a tune and then start out with basic lyrics, sometimes nonsensical stuff. They would throw in words that had the same syllables as the melody and then replace the words in later when an idea pops up.

I can't explain why they did that. I'm not a songwriter, but this kind of method served them well. Even George Harrison learned this method.

"Something in the way she moves, attracts me like a pommegranate..."

Look up the lyrics to "Help". When you read them, try to forget about the bouncy little melody and backing vocals. What's left is actually the beginnings of Lennon's shift from formula to more introspective lyrics. He was not in a happy mood.

That song is real.

 

[MelissaY1]

Pandora, that is a great story. Both Lennon and McCartney wrote like that. They would have a tune and then start out with basic lyrics, sometimes nonsensical stuff. They would throw in words that had the same syllables as the melody and then replace the words in later when an idea pops up.

I can't explain why they did that. I'm not a songwriter, but this kind of method served them well. Even George Harrison learned this method.

"Something in the way she moves, attracts me like a pommegranate..."

Look up the lyrics to "Help". When you read them, try to forget about the bouncy little melody and backing vocals. What's left is actually the beginnings of Lennon's shift from formula to more introspective lyrics. He was not in a happy mood.

That song is real.

That's right. John has been quoted as saying when they were on location filming "Help" that that was his "Fat Elvis" period: the Beatles were getting tired of touring, he was going through complications with Cynthia and the birth of Julian and not being around to be a father to him....he was very depressed during that time. Sure a lot of the Beatles' stuff came off as pop, upbeat stuff, but delve deeper into their catalog and really pay attention to their lyrics there's some deep stuff in there. George was perhaps the most spiritual writer out of all of them: Within You Without You? Love You To?

When I was around 11 years old I started getting into my parents' Beatles records they didn't listen to anymore and just pored over the lyrics word for word particularly on the White Album. What came off as nonsensical stuff really started to grab me as I got older.

 

[Dave]

I hear that the Beatles are retiring.

 

[MelissaY1]

I hear that the Beatles are retiring.

Really??? When?

 

[mozmic_dancer]

That's right. John has been quoted as saying when they were on location filming "Help" that that was his "Fat Elvis" period: the Beatles were getting tired of touring, he was going through complications with Cynthia and the birth of Julian and not being around to be a father to him....he was very depressed during that time. Sure a lot of the Beatles' stuff came off as pop, upbeat stuff, but delve deeper into their catalog and really pay attention to their lyrics there's some deep stuff in there. George was perhaps the most spiritual writer out of all of them: Within You Without You? Love You To?

When I was around 11 years old I started getting into my parents' Beatles records they didn't listen to anymore and just pored over the lyrics word for word particularly on the White Album. What came off as nonsensical stuff really started to grab me as I got older.

If the Beatles taught us anything, it is that lyrics do matter. These were originally the songs that saved my life because they shared bits of themselves and wisdom with me. Maybe the stuff didn't read like sonnets on paper but they did have soul and they got more soulful when The End came for them.

But, getting back to Morrissey, I believe he still has alot to say. He's older, but I'm older too and his words and music still speak to me. As a young man, he challenged the notion of what a pop star should be, which is contrary to what everyone else thought at the time; he was this frail, tall, blouse-wearing, flower-tossing, bespeckled, celibrate, tea-toddling dandy who wrote what mattered to him and spoke out what needed to be said. It was revolutionary and real.

He remains to this day true to himself and a vital, progressive artist that for many in music is a challenge to the notion of the ageing pop star who's expected to carry on as some sort of jukebox for nostalgia seekers. He's done some great material for a man who never expected to be a solo artist to begin with. I enjoyed ROTT and anticipate his next album whatever form it takes, for it's very possible that best work is yet to come.

 

[PregnantForTheLastTime]

Mozmic, I love how you misstyped "celibrate" because it looks like a conflation of "celibate" and "cerebral." How apt that was!

 

[sweet and tender hooligan]

I don't think Morrissey will ever Retire. I don't think he could do nothing for any amount of time. It doesn't matter to him what peaple think. He wants to create something and i don't think he ever could stop.

 

[mozmic_dancer]

Mozmic, I love how you misstyped "celibrate" because it looks like a conflation of "celibate" and "cerebral." How apt that was!

Ha, ha! I love happy typos like that, too. I feel like I just invented a new word. Good spot.

I'm not certain what the author of this thread intends to do with the thoughts expressed here. At this point, I don't think it matters anymore. If anything, this thread may stand as a sort of reaffirmation for some as to why Morrissey still matters.

 

[MelissaY1]

If the Beatles taught us anything, it is that lyrics do matter. These were originally the songs that saved my life because they shared bits of themselves and wisdom with me. Maybe the stuff didn't read like sonnets on paper but they did have soul and they got more soulful when The End came for them.

But, getting back to Morrissey, I believe he still has alot to say. He's older, but I'm older too and his words and music still speak to me. As a young man, he challenged the notion of what a pop star should be, which is contrary to what everyone else thought at the time; he was this frail, tall, blouse-wearing, flower-tossing, bespeckled, celibrate, tea-toddling dandy who wrote what mattered to him and spoke out what needed to be said. It was revolutionary and real.

He remains to this day true to himself and a vital, progressive artist that for many in music is a challenge to the notion of the ageing pop star who's expected to carry on as some sort of jukebox for nostalgia seekers. He's done some great material for a man who never expected to be a solo artist to begin with. I enjoyed ROTT and anticipate his next album whatever form it takes, for it's very possible that best work is yet to come.

I totally agree. I think that's why his music and The Smiths as a group's music have touched me so much and now at this point in my life to me they are like my second Beatles. I have a lot of varied tastes in music from metal, to 80s pop/new wave, to Desi Arnaz and I was blown away when I really started getting into The Smiths and then later Morrissey's music as a solo artist. Not since my "discovery"/love of the Beatles which has been going on since I was 4 and I'm now almost 30 has a group/singer touched me as much.

I like that Morrissey writes for himself, like John Lennon did. Things that are very personal to his life and yet also personal to a lot of people that can relate to his music. I love that he speaks his mind on animal rights and political things at his shows, etc. I think I just expected more out of ROTT considering how much I loved Quarry. I only like about half of ROTT...for some reason after The Father That Must Be Killed the rest of it goes downhill after that for me. I can't really explain it. And you could be right, perhaps his next album could be even better...