Joey Barton: 'Morrissey is a modern-day Shakespeare' (GQ, 2012)

Joey Barton GQ interview mentioning Morrissey:

Joey Barton: 'Morrissey is a modern-day Shakespeare' - GQ
Morrissey has just launched his highly anticipated comeback single "Spent The Day In Bed", with Joey Barton making a special cameo. Here, we remember when GQ Style interviewed Barton on Morrissey back in 2012

 

[ALLIE WALLS]

Never tire of this shirt design. .
A certain someone in Oxford made the best ones though.
View attachment 42499
Regards,
FWD.

Got mine from Chris Adams back in the day. It was on a grey t shirt. Lovely it was.

 

[URBANUS]

Not worn a Smiths or Morrissey t-shirt since I worked at Volvo and had a colleague who always pointed out that Morrrissey had such a huge underbite.

I stood out like a sore thumb in my massive blonde quiff and those t-shirts.

 

[URBANUS]

Joey Barton is dumb. We all know that. Even comparing Moz to William S shows that. Barton is one hell of a yes man , which is why he got a job on the BBC and The Guardian .
The guy is a fake hard man as well. Beating up 18 years olds . He is a low life (in high school)

You are of course spot on but when you describe him you describe most men today so maybe Barton was the trend setter?

 

[Anonymous]

Actually, we don't all know/think he is dumb. You should read his book, he talks about all the bad stuff he has done and how he overcame many challenges to carve out a decent career.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/No-Nonsense-Autobiography-Joey-Barton/dp/1471147584

We all over come challanges.. lots of working class folk have a bad start
lots dont beat up 18 year olds. The guy is a weak persons idea of a hard man and nobodies idea of an intelligent man.
Morrissey is a great singer, he helped change the pop world. But Shakespeare ( if he was real) is one of the most important Englishmen ever. Morrissey isnt even the most important pop star ever. I say that with no malice
Joey writes for the Guardian because they love to patronise the working class. Hes too dumb to see that hes a little play thing for them
Joey is a complete yes man, when it comes to moz. Morrissey only lets gushing fans near him these days - which is why his career has been in such a bad way.
Joey, Russell Brand, Jonathan Ross etc
Keep reading your football player books. f*** me what a waste of time.
I prefered morrissey when he was morrissey rather than this pathetic faux macho man. Hangimg around with footballers trying to be a mans man to make ammends. Everyone who knows Morrissey knows he knows f*** all about football, just as he knew nothing about boxing.

 

[Anonymous]

English, very evidently, isn't your first language.

Quite.
The fact that some even try to consider the fact that morrissey is as important as Shakespeare shows how Stupid his modern fan base is.

 

[Anonymouswithapologies]

Quite.
The fact that some even try to consider the fact that morrissey is as important as Shakespeare shows how Stupid his modern fan base is.

maybe he is as IMPORTANT as Shakespeare


what put YOU in a position to judge someone's stupidity

 

[Quando quando quando]

maybe he is as IMPORTANT as Shakespeare


what put YOU in a position to judge someone's stupidity

Maybe it takes one to know one?

 

[AztecCamera]

Reckon WTF is Joe Barton? Is he Uncle Steve's new P.A.? I knew someone else would snatch up Damon. He is the the most in demand P.A. in LA right now. Stop talking in foreigner code by saying City and United whatever that means. I found someone for you foreign people so you can finally leave this board. DAVID HASSELHOFF aka "The Hoff" He is middle aged like Steve. Lives in LA like Steve. Has a tan like Steve, but the big thing is he sings in Nazi language!! He is perfect for you people.

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Maybe it takes one to know one?

Hey Q, is Joey Barton someone you would consider is a great player?
Don't know anything about that.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

im not in favour of over effusiveness.
there's this circle of dumb broads at my work (oh how i cant stand them!) whose whole schtick is being overly effusive, giving over indulgent praise where it hasnt been earned. just the other day i overheard one broad, sheepishly trying to get on the over effusive band wagon of meaningless positivity--it having the nature of a virus, it seems--say to the lead over effusive broad--the one who set the whole absurd tone--that she "looks 20" (moz's phrase "desperate womanhood" comes to mind). this woman has grey hair, sinewy hands and arms, porous skin, and i would guess her age to be about 50. yes, ill admit she looks good for her age. but looking good for your age does not mean looking twenty.
at first being around these old birds you may think "oh that's nice" when, for example, one of them tells you you do a great job when all you do is stand there looking surly, but after a while you start to realize the emptiness of everything they utter, to the point you dread coming into contact with them and certainly would never try to engage them in conversation. it's not a skillful behaviour to engage in--over-effusiveness that is. it doesnt lead to any real connection, either with people or reality, and so it's missing it's own point. instead, i propose we call things as they are. keep it real, as they say.

thus, i have to disagree with this joey barton and further state my inability to appreciate his comment based on it's over-effusiveness. i think it would be fair to say that moz is like an oscar wilde-- a huge, huge compliment as it is. he is certainly, like oscar, a lord of language and infinitely quotable. but he is not shakespeare whose scope and breadth of all things pertaining to human nature and to language absolutely no one comes close. it's hard, in short, to take such a comment seriously and makes me wonder if perhaps he caught the over-effusive virus too.

(and i say this without any particular affection for shakespeare, unlike oscar, whom i have loads of affection for)

 

[Anonymouswithapologies]

no... morrissey isn't like oscar wilde

he isn't like shakespeare either

but we can consider his IMPORTANCE

 

[Quando quando quando]

Hey Q, is Joey Barton someone you would consider is a great player?
Don't know anything about that.

Maybe he is, but not at football.
I think he could be an actor.
Villain type of course. But what's wrong with that?

 

[URBANUS]

Maybe he is, but not at football.
I think he could be an actor.
Villain type of course. But what's wrong with that?

He had his moments but just like Deschamps he was more a water carrier more than anything. Tricky at times but mostly a prick but even they have a place in the game cause football fans love entertainment.



The worst of Joey Barton:

 

[AztecCamera]

Stop calling kickball or socker football!!!

 

[URBANUS]

Stop calling kickball or socker football!!!

That is sugar in swedish.

It makes more sense that a game where they actually kick the ball is football (played with feet) rather than a sport where they carry the ball with their hands and only kick it when they come close to a giant letter H which stands for harassment cause all your handball dudes to that to women.

 

[Deleted member 25370]

im not in favour of over effusiveness.
there's this circle of dumb broads at my work (oh how i cant stand them!) whose whole schtick is being overly effusive, giving over indulgent praise where it hasnt been earned. just the other day i overheard one broad, sheepishly trying to get on the over effusive band wagon of meaningless positivity--it having the nature of a virus, it seems--say to the lead over effusive broad--the one who set the whole absurd tone--that she "looks 20" (moz's phrase "desperate womanhood" comes to mind). this woman has grey hair, sinewy hands and arms, porous skin, and i would guess her age to be about 50. yes, ill admit she looks good for her age. but looking good for your age does not mean looking twenty.
at first being around these old birds you may think "oh that's nice" when, for example, one of them tells you you do a great job when all you do is stand there looking surly, but after a while you start to realize the emptiness of everything they utter, to the point you dread coming into contact with them and certainly would never try to engage them in conversation. it's not a skillful behaviour to engage in--over-effusiveness that is. it doesnt lead to any real connection, either with people or reality, and so it's missing it's own point. instead, i propose we call things as they are. keep it real, as they say.

thus, i have to disagree with this joey barton and further state my inability to appreciate his comment based on it's over-effusiveness. i think it would be fair to say that moz is like an oscar wilde-- a huge, huge compliment as it is. he is certainly, like oscar, a lord of language and infinitely quotable. but he is not shakespeare whose scope and breadth of all things pertaining to human nature and to language absolutely no one comes close. it's hard, in short, to take such a comment seriously and makes me wonder if perhaps he caught the over-effusive virus too.

(and i say this without any particular affection for shakespeare, unlike oscar, whom i have loads of affection for)

i see your point, rifke, and i like that phrase "old birds" that you use for the "dumb broads" you have to work with. jeez, i have colleagues like that and it especially sucks on a monday morning when all you want is spend the day in bed far away from these creepy ham actors. for them the workplace is just an extension of their family life, thats my guess, and honestly, i dont want to be a part of it. makes me puke just thinking about it.
i think that barton used "shakespeare" as a metaphor, e.g. to point out certain similarities that he sees between both, shakespeare and morrissey, or maybe only to convey an understanding for the importance that morrissey has had for him in his life, like shakespeare had for literature and language. thats how i read it.

i just had to think about this funny book by david lodge which is all about metonomy and metaphor, i think it's called "nice work", and the third part of his campus trilogy. loved it when i discovered it in manchester in the mid 90s. (i'll post a link in the reading section)

 

[Quando quando quando]

im not in favour of over effusiveness.
there's this circle of dumb broads at my work (oh how i cant stand them!) whose whole schtick is being overly effusive, giving over indulgent praise where it hasnt been earned. just the other day i overheard one broad, sheepishly trying to get on the over effusive band wagon of meaningless positivity--it having the nature of a virus, it seems--say to the lead over effusive broad--the one who set the whole absurd tone--that she "looks 20" (moz's phrase "desperate womanhood" comes to mind). this woman has grey hair, sinewy hands and arms, porous skin, and i would guess her age to be about 50. yes, ill admit she looks good for her age. but looking good for your age does not mean looking twenty.
at first being around these old birds you may think "oh that's nice" when, for example, one of them tells you you do a great job when all you do is stand there looking surly, but after a while you start to realize the emptiness of everything they utter, to the point you dread coming into contact with them and certainly would never try to engage them in conversation. it's not a skillful behaviour to engage in--over-effusiveness that is. it doesnt lead to any real connection, either with people or reality, and so it's missing it's own point. instead, i propose we call things as they are. keep it real, as they say.

thus, i have to disagree with this joey barton and further state my inability to appreciate his comment based on it's over-effusiveness. i think it would be fair to say that moz is like an oscar wilde-- a huge, huge compliment as it is. he is certainly, like oscar, a lord of language and infinitely quotable. but he is not shakespeare whose scope and breadth of all things pertaining to human nature and to language absolutely no one comes close. it's hard, in short, to take a comment seriously and makes me wonder if perhaps he caught the over-effusive virus too.

(and i say this without any particular affection for shakespeare, unlike oscar, whom i have loads of affection for)

Of course it is over-effusive to say Morrissey is a modern Shakespeare. But coming from Joey Barton makes if funny.
Morrissey is not a modern day Shakespeare and he is not a modern day Oscar Wilde either. He is Morrissey.

And although as far as I know he didn't mention Shakespeare as a major influence as he did with Oscar Wilde, of course there are similarities. The universal themes are there as well as with Oscar Wilde.
Personally I do think Moz has studied intense a lot of English literature as many other subjects and as he once said, nobody knows how much documentation he has, regarding for instance Oscar Wilde.
It may seem all very Morrissey-esque but the sources he uses are a big part of his artistic personage and makes it so interesting.

He uses them very consciously and creates something new.
Something Morrissey-esque which is what I would like to prefer as compared to "artists" who are mere copies of the original artists.

 

[Anonymous]

He wrote a novel
And it won an award

Benny-the-British-Butcher

I hope a manic rams a butcher knife into your throat

 

[The Wild Turkey]

Maybe he is, but not at football.
I think he could be an actor.
Villain type of course. But what's wrong with that?

Ok, alright, uh-huh. Now I know that Joey is better at causin' a commotion than he is at playin'.
Hey, ya gotta say he has great taste in music though.

 

[nicky wire's legs]

i see your point, rifke, and i like that phrase "old birds" that you use for the "dumb broads" you have to work with. jeez, i have colleagues like that and it especially sucks on a monday morning when all you want is spend the day in bed far away from these creepy ham actors. for them the workplace is just an extension of their family life, thats my guess, and honestly, i dont want to be a part of it. makes me puke just thinking about it.
i think that barton used "shakespeare" as a metaphor, e.g. to point out certain similarities that he sees between both, shakespeare and morrissey, or maybe only to convey an understanding for the importance that morrissey has had for him in his life, like shakespeare had for literature and language. thats how i read it.

i just had to think about this funny book by david lodge which is all about metonomy and metaphor, i think it's called "nice work", and the third part of his campus trilogy. loved it when i discovered it in manchester in the mid 90s. (i'll post a link in the reading section)

'creepy ham actors" haha! that's way better than 'old birds'. that's what ill be calling them in my head from now on
yes, it seems for my creepy ham actors too the workplace is an extension of their family life. it seems also to be their major source of fun. like work is a party or something. which is fine if it actually is that much fine. but it just isnt. they act like everything is sooooo funny and that they're these great comedians and meanwhile i've never heard them say anything funny or witty in all the time i've known them. but then because i dont laugh at their "jokes", im seen as not being fun, as someone who doesnt know how to have a good time.which sucks to be cast in that light all the time, to have other peoples low standards dictate how you're perceived.
ohhhh i get it. morrissey is LIKE a modern day shakespeare, not THE modern shakespeare.