Morrissey A-Z: "Trouble Loves Me"

I want to know who he's been on the flesh rampage with.

It's a great song.
 
A quality song and it really ought to have been the second single from the album.

The lyric "To chide me, not to guide me" is awkward, as many critics commented, but it builds and improves as it goes on.

It ranked 39th from 264 solo songs on the Hoffman board.
 
An absolute stand-out Morrissey song, for me, and one that towers above (most of) the rest of Maladjusted. A great composition by Alain and then the way that the lyrics and vocals build, no rush, to the song's climax:

Show me a barrel and watch me scrape it
Faced with the music, as always I'll face it
In the half-light
So English, frowning
Then at midnight I
Can't get you out of my head


Magical.
 
Not a song that I ever really play.
But after hearing this again it’s shot up in the Carlislebaz board .
I can here the beauty now, and I know this song will receive many posts of absolute pleasure for most .
The good thing about the A-Z is that it has made me listen to songs that I dismissed as poor, and some are now really enjoyable
 
I always see people swoon over this one but, I’m sad to say, I’ve never had the same reaction.
Sure it’s a good song, and a relative Maladjusted highlight, with its elegant melodies and melancholy progression, and I love how it builds near the end, especially Spencer’s on beat drum hits on “can’t get you out of my head”.
The lyrics are also pretty good, with some classic Moz moaning, looking back on a relationship (failed, obviously) with some typical self-deprecation for good measure.
However, while I enjoy it, there’s something holding it back from being a great song, or an all-time classic, and it’s probably to do with the album, rather than the song itself.
The production is characteristically weak, as it is throughout the album, and Moz doesn’t completely sell this tragicomic despair that the song needs to carry its message. And even though the progression is pleasant, it still seeps into a similar wash of colours vein like some of the least accomplished songs on the LP.
All in all, a good song, just I don’t get the hype fully.
7/10
 
great song,great music,great voice.might not be everybodies cup of tea but it comes across very well live and is a crowd pleaser.
8 fulfills/10 kills.
 
It was the highlight of Maladjusted back in the day and if anything it gets better with age. Beautiful.
 
Up there with the best of the best. A masterpiece.
 
Oh yes! Absolutely love this track; great voice, great heart-felt lyrics full of sadness/longing/self-deprecation, & all brought together via some wonderful musicianship. The opening piano really sets the scene before the track builds slowly, climaxes, then peters out with the same simple piano; there are some beautiful guitar inflections, & Cobrin is superb on drums here.
It is, without any doubt, a masterpiece.

'Oh, please fulfil me
Otherwise, kill me'


Marvellous.
 
I've said this elsewhere, but I am surprised Maladjusted had to be painted as such as an abject failure in order to make ...Quarry more attractive as per the comeback era. It has its duds, but there are some absolutely stellar tracks from that album and that era, of which this is the highlight. This is better than anything on Quarry, and that is not hyperbole. A gorgeous composition and a fantastic lyric.
10/10.
 
This is mentioned on PJLM, so checked to see if it was available on YT, & found the referenced live radio session from 1997 (MORRISSEY - August 16, 1997 - Modern Rock Live (Y107, Los Angeles, USA), which features 5 wonderful tracks, including a slightly different version of TLM. Band sound great on this tbh. Enjoy.

 
Maladjusted is such a curious album: in my books the first four tracks are as good as anything Morrissey has ever done, then the quality totally plummets. Trouble Loves Me is a lovely song, always like a signature piece. Almost good enough to be his own My Way.
 
Perfect for me, in the same league with his other great popsongs ( EDILS, NMHIF, TMYIMTCIG, …).
10/10

By the way, there was a time when I only wanted to hear this song from Maladjusted, and couldn’t be bothered with the rest of the album. I know think there are several more great songs from that period, but this will always remain the stand-out track.
 
Trouble Loves Me, Come back to Camden, Southpaw...the reason why I come here, the reason why I still listen to Moz after 30-odd years. Absolute perfection..."Go to waste in the wrong arms..." makes me cry every time.
 
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