Morrissey A-Z: "I Will See You in Far-Off Places"

After enjoying YATQ, that's pretty much how I felt about ROTT. It left me feeling so empty about his direction that I had no enthusiasm for YOR. I don't know what it is but it's almost like he tries so hard not to repeat himself - which is admirable - but then he (sometimes) gets into strange and muddled territory like this one.
SuedeMoz – it sounds like your thoughts of this period in Morrissey’s career match my own. I wanted to be swept away with all the adulation being thrown at Ringleader of the Tormentors and Years of Refusal, but I just couldn’t fully immerse myself in them (despite each album having some wonderful songs. Still, a poor Morrissey album (in my book), is better than a good album by almost any other artist.
 
So I love Ringleader so much. This is not one of my favorite songs on it, but as an introduction it works fantastically. I'm not sure this song could work anywhere else on the album. I love the thrashing chaos of it. It takes you right into the deep dark hole of this album all about death. "Nobody knows what human life is, why we come, why we go" is the first line of an album where nearly every song (if not every?) is about death. The song is a mission statement for what you're about to hear.

"One day I will close my eyes forever..."

And the lyric that most personally touches me and that I deeply related to when this album came out (being in a bad relationship), "it's so easy for us to sit together but it's so hard for our hearts to combine." To me this is Smiths-level "oh my god Morrissey GETS IT."
 
Tags
morrissey a-z
Back
Top Bottom