CrystalGeezer
My secret's my enzyme.
All of these mentioned. Except Tony the Pony.
It's always a bit vague asking for under-rated songs. Under-rated by who exactly?
To make the whole exercise slightly less vague, here's a list of the 60 worst Morrissey/Smiths songs of all time (as voted in the biggest ever Moz/Smith poll).
So which of these do you think are actually quite good?
(169) 201 Oh Well I’ll Never Learn (1988), average score: 7,17
(178) 202 A Song From Under The Floorboards (2006) 7,16
(186) 203 I Am Two People (2004) 7,15
(188) 204 Don’t Make Fun Of Daddy’s Voice (2004) 7,15
(184) 205 That’s Entertainment (1991) 7,14
(187) 206 I Just Want To See The Boy Happy (2006) 7,10
(---) 207 Born To Hang (unreleased) 7,07
(191) 208 Now I Am A Was (1997) 7,06
(194) 209 Heir Apparent (1997) 7,03
(193) 210 Pashernate Love (1991) 7,01
(192) 211 On The Streets I Ran (2006) 6,99
(201) 212 The Public Image (2004) 6,89
(190) 213 This Is Not Your Country (1997) 6,88
(197) 214 Christian Dior (2006) 6,87
(196) 215 Dial-A-Cliché (1988) 6,85
(195) 216 Redondo Beach (2005) 6,85
(198) 217 Roy’s Keen (1997) 6,84
(---) 218 Fantastic Bird (2009) 6,83
(199) 219 At Amber (1990) 6,81
(---) 220 Children In Pieces (2008) 6,80
(200) 221 Dagenham Dave (1995) 6,80
(205) 222 At Last I Am Born (2006) 6,71
(204) 223 Moonriver (1994) 6,70
(202) 224 Ammunition (1997) 6,69
(206) 225 Margaret On The Guillotine (1988) 6,69
(---) 226 Drive-In Saturday (2008) 6,66
(---) 227 You Were Good In Your Time (2009) 6,66
(203) 228 The Draize Train (1986) 6,65
(207) 229 Mexico (2004) 6,64
(212) 230 East West (1989) 6,62
(211) 231 The Father Who Must Be Killed (2006) 6,61
(209) 232 Best Friend On The Payroll (1995) 6,60
(---) 233 Because Of My Poor Education (2009) 6,56
(208) 234 Cosmic Dancer (1991) 6,54
(215) 235 Death At One’s Elbow (1987) 6,53
(210) 236 Black Eyed Susan (1995) 6,52
(214) 237 America Is Not The World (2004) 6,50
(216) 238 Money Changes Everything (1986) 6,49
(---) 239 Oh Phoney (unreleased) 6,46
(213) 240 Work Is A Four Letter Word (1987) 6,41
(220) 241 He Cried (1997) 6,38
(219) 242 Asian Rut (1991) 6,33
(217) 243 Ambitious Outsiders (1997) 6,30
(218) 244 There Speaks A True Friend (1992) 6,26
(---) 245 Sorry Doesn't Help (2009) 6,22
(223) 246 All The Lazy Dykes (2004) 6,15
(221) 247 You’ve Had Her (1992) 6,11
(224) 248 Slum Mums (2004) 6,10
(227) 249 Noise Is The Best Revenge (2005) 6,09
(225) 250 Tony The Pony (1991) 6,08
(222) 251 What’s The World (1987) 6,07
(226) 252 Get Off The Stage (1990) 5,96
(228) 253 Found Found Found (1991) 5,82
(229) 254 The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye (1991) 5,77
(230) 255 Sweetie Pie (2006) 5,53
(231) 256 Sorrow Will Come In The End (1997) 5,51
(232) 257 Papa Jack (1997) 5,11
(233) 258 Golden Lights (1986) 4,93
(234) 259 Journalists Who Lie (1991) 4,78
Always thought a lot of album tracks off Maladjusted get a bad rep. I really really like Papa Jack, Ammunition and He Cried.
What's wrong with you people? Several post in and still no mention of...
P.
I can't believe no one has mentioned my favorite yet: "I'd Love To" ("The more you ignore me..." b-side). I still remember buying the CD single at Vinyl Solution in Grand Rapids, Mich and speeding back to my small basement apartment during my senior year of college (I had no CD player in my car back then). Then hearing it for the first time and the hairs on my arm standing up.
It's always a bit vague asking for under-rated songs. Under-rated by who exactly?
To make the whole exercise slightly less vague, here's a list of the 60 worst Morrissey/Smiths songs of all time (as voted in the biggest ever Moz/Smith poll).
So which of these do you think are actually quite good?
(169) 201 Oh Well I’ll Never Learn (1988), average score: 7,17
(178) 202 A Song From Under The Floorboards (2006) 7,16
(186) 203 I Am Two People (2004) 7,15
(188) 204 Don’t Make Fun Of Daddy’s Voice (2004) 7,15
(184) 205 That’s Entertainment (1991) 7,14
(187) 206 I Just Want To See The Boy Happy (2006) 7,10
(---) 207 Born To Hang (unreleased) 7,07
(191) 208 Now I Am A Was (1997) 7,06
(194) 209 Heir Apparent (1997) 7,03
(193) 210 Pashernate Love (1991) 7,01
(192) 211 On The Streets I Ran (2006) 6,99
(201) 212 The Public Image (2004) 6,89
(190) 213 This Is Not Your Country (1997) 6,88
(197) 214 Christian Dior (2006) 6,87
(196) 215 Dial-A-Cliché (1988) 6,85
(195) 216 Redondo Beach (2005) 6,85
(198) 217 Roy’s Keen (1997) 6,84
(---) 218 Fantastic Bird (2009) 6,83
(199) 219 At Amber (1990) 6,81
(---) 220 Children In Pieces (2008) 6,80
(200) 221 Dagenham Dave (1995) 6,80
(205) 222 At Last I Am Born (2006) 6,71
(204) 223 Moonriver (1994) 6,70
(202) 224 Ammunition (1997) 6,69
(206) 225 Margaret On The Guillotine (1988) 6,69
(---) 226 Drive-In Saturday (2008) 6,66
(---) 227 You Were Good In Your Time (2009) 6,66
(203) 228 The Draize Train (1986) 6,65
(207) 229 Mexico (2004) 6,64
(212) 230 East West (1989) 6,62
(211) 231 The Father Who Must Be Killed (2006) 6,61
(209) 232 Best Friend On The Payroll (1995) 6,60
(---) 233 Because Of My Poor Education (2009) 6,56
(208) 234 Cosmic Dancer (1991) 6,54
(215) 235 Death At One’s Elbow (1987) 6,53
(210) 236 Black Eyed Susan (1995) 6,52
(214) 237 America Is Not The World (2004) 6,50
(216) 238 Money Changes Everything (1986) 6,49
(---) 239 Oh Phoney (unreleased) 6,46
(213) 240 Work Is A Four Letter Word (1987) 6,41
(220) 241 He Cried (1997) 6,38
(219) 242 Asian Rut (1991) 6,33
(217) 243 Ambitious Outsiders (1997) 6,30
(218) 244 There Speaks A True Friend (1992) 6,26
(---) 245 Sorry Doesn't Help (2009) 6,22
(223) 246 All The Lazy Dykes (2004) 6,15
(221) 247 You’ve Had Her (1992) 6,11
(224) 248 Slum Mums (2004) 6,10
(227) 249 Noise Is The Best Revenge (2005) 6,09
(225) 250 Tony The Pony (1991) 6,08
(222) 251 What’s The World (1987) 6,07
(226) 252 Get Off The Stage (1990) 5,96
(228) 253 Found Found Found (1991) 5,82
(229) 254 The Harsh Truth Of The Camera Eye (1991) 5,77
(230) 255 Sweetie Pie (2006) 5,53
(231) 256 Sorrow Will Come In The End (1997) 5,51
(232) 257 Papa Jack (1997) 5,11
(233) 258 Golden Lights (1986) 4,93
(234) 259 Journalists Who Lie (1991) 4,78
...and "Come Back to Camden," though much appreciated by the fan base, is strangely overlooked by Morrissey himself. I dimly remember something about Morrissey finding it too personal to sing, but it would be a live highlight, no doubt about it.
It was. Dublin, 29th of July 2011. Here's how it went down, as posted on 'The Cissy Site' at the time ~
It was a truly beautiful moment. You had a hunch something special was about to happen because Jesse strapped on that pretty red guitar that he uses for 'There Is A Light..', then Morrissey and his band all crowded together in a loose huddle around Matt's drumkit, there was a bit of discussion, Matt looked at Moz with a 'Right?' look, Moz took a swig of water, then gave a firm nod; and off we bloody well went. Clearly there must have been some doubt as to whether they would play it.
Despite the clueless dolts about me in the balcony, I yelped with glee when I heard the opening line, as did many others down below who realised the momentousness of the...moment. Well actually they roared. I yelped. Each to their own, etc.
I was literally biting my knuckles whlist grinning, if that's physically possible, in the manner of a sweet-stuffed chubby child, for the entirety of the rendition.
The band nursed it gently, like an 'unpriapic fawn' being born into this world, and Morrissey was clearly nervous, which was incredibly charming. Mere minutes before he'd delivered 'Scandinavia' in a version that was so perfect in it's dark and twisted potency, so breathtaking in it's phrasing, control and precision, so pure in intent and intent on purity, that to see him switch to another skewed ode to the joys and misery of love, memory {and geography}, and address it so differently was...sublime. There was a devoted fragility to the performance that could have been debut nerves, or it could have been Moz channeling the emotion that first inspired the lyric. Who can say? Not even the man himself I'd wager. I prefer to pick the latter option.
He made some self-deprecating comments after it, over the wild yawps and screams, along the lines of 'You can't mean that' etc, etc. but that's just Morrissey. What does he know?
I hope he does it again. And I hope he doesn't. Weird.
To see him tightly closehis eyes, open his loving mouth and sing "and here is the very last plea from my heart, my heart / forevermore " is one of those heghtened memories I'll have forever...more
...we knew, we just knew...
He played it the next night in Dublin, and on the final night of the tour at the London Palladium, when it was arguably even more sublime.
Off that list, I'm a big fan of:
America Is Not The World
Sweetie Pie
and, a decent-size fan of:
Margaret On The Guillotine
Christian Dior
Mexico
Surprised to see them listed so low. I also have always liked Sorrow Will Come In The End, but I can see why others might not.
As for Redondo Beach, it's a cover so it really shouldn't even be considered, but besides that, it's a damn fine song and I really like his rendition.
(If you want to make your voices be heard regarding some of Morrissey's better and underrated songs, you can vote for the best song in the Best Morrissey Song bracket I've created! )
"Ammunition," "Heir Apparent" and "Christian Dior" all ranked so poorly on Maurice's list? Morrissey is golden.
I've always been surprised that "Nobody Loves Us" isn't a mainstream classic; it's Sinatra-worthy. "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name" and "Lost" should be featured on every movie soundtrack, "Hold Onto Your Friends" is seldom discussed yet I think of it quite often in my day-to-day life, and "Come Back to Camden," though much appreciated by the fan base, is strangely overlooked by Morrissey himself. I dimly remember something about Morrissey finding it too personal to sing, but it would be a live highlight, no doubt about it.
MEBY is a fantastic compilation that goes under the radar... i'd put it up there with bona drag.