Nobody Loves Us #18: Munich Air Disaster 1958

Hello everybody and welcome once again to the Nobody Loves Us countdown.

If you haven't checked it out yet, I'm counting down my Top 20 Morrissey Non-Singles each weekday until his concert at The Orpheum on October 29^th.

So far the list looks like this:

20. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

19. Driving Your Girlfriend Home

Which brings us to #18 on the list:

#18: Munich AirDisaster 1958 (Morrissey/White)

B-Side from the Irish Blood, English Heart single.

Key Line: “They can't hurt you. Their style will never desert you. Because they're all safely dead...”

Give this video a look to check out the song and it's (supposed) subject matter:

For those unfamiliar with the titular air disaster, Morrissey is referencing the 1958 airplane crash in Munich that killed members of the Manchester United Soccer team and injured many more. The plane contained the team, coaches, trainers, and journalists.

Before getting into the meat of the song, it's important to take a second and realize the significance of soccer teams to European communities. Based on the amount of history these teams have accumulated and the fact that, for much of the 20^th century, players were found and groomed locally, these clubs are woven into the fabric of their cities in a way that we North Americans cannot totally comprehend. They are institutions.

While the song is slight lengthwise (a brief 2:31), Morrissey, as you may imagine, is able to cram a lifetime worth of pathos into Whites musical backdrop.

White goes straight to the heart of the matter at the start of the song, leading with the sickening sound of a gurgling airplane engine. From their, rollig drums and a pseudo-string section that imply a celebration rather than a funeral march, with Mozzer takes the burden of Manchester on his shoulders, eulogizing them thusly:

“We love them. We mourn for them. Unlucky boys of red...”

(If you don't follow Premier League Soccer, Man U is akin to the Yankees of Major League Baseball. And they wear red.)

As if the grief of the incident is too much to bear, quickly turns the song autobiographical:

“I wish I'd gone down, gone down with them...”

Then, as if pulling back the tears and returning to his eulogizing duties, he laments again:

“We miss them. Every night we kiss them, their faces fixed in our heads...”

Breaking down again, Morrissey again wishes that he had been on that doomed flight. However, this time, he stays with the autobiographical theme (though he disguises it well).

“They can't hurt you, their style will never desert you, because they're all safely dead...”

If this line is read a reference to the deceased players, it's rather cryptic. When read as a commentary on Morrissey's own mortality and place in pop culture, though, it's eminently clear that he's referring to his own place in the hearts and minds of Manchester.

Really, that's the point of this song. By invoking the crash, Morrissey is setting himself up as a Mancunian icon to be discussed with the other signposts in the cities history. The “can't hurt/style” line is more a call for appreciation of himself than anything referencing the doomed soccer players (which explains the celebratory tone of White's tune all along). His line's of wishing he'd, “gone down with them,” are no wish at all, but rather a reminder that one day he'll meet the same fate.

On the album Live From Earls Court, in which this song is played to a rapturous crowd of fellow Mancunians, Morrissey expresses this sentiment in the most clear form yet, ending the album by saying, “Goodbye! Don't forget me!”

Of course, only Morrissey would liken his own existence to one of the great Machester tragedies.

Songs Of The Week #8: MinneSarah & TCDroogsma

Everybody! This post originally appears on the Newest Industry blog.  I contribute to Newest Industry relatively frequently.  Please check it out if you get the chance.

Patterson Hood, Azure Ray, The Helio Sequence, The David Wax Museum, & Meme

Hello, MP3 junkies and welcome to the eighth installment of Songs Of The Week.  For those of you who are new to the post, we've asked a couple of our regular contributors to review the 5 songs given away via The Current's free Song Of The Day Podcast.  As always, we recommend that you download the podcast for yourself here and play along at home.

Fortunately for both us here at the blog and you loyal readers, MinneSarah is back after a week-long absence.  To the chagrin of fans of thoughtful commentary and the English language in general, TCDroogsma proved yet again to very available.  Like every week, they have not read what the other has written about the tracks beforehand.

So, take it away, kids...

01. Patterson Hood - Disappear (from the album Heat Lightning Rumbles In The Distance)

MinneSarah:

     Everything about this sounds like a hipster Dave Matthews Band song.  The tempo, the strings, the piano, the lyrics.  I like the guy from Drive By Trucker's voice at times, but there is no saving it in this song.  The lyrics are either about fighting with your girl and withdrawing into yourself, or a literal metamorphosis about turning into a mouse.  I loved the 90's and am somewhat nostalgic for a DMB revival. However, honeys, this ain't the Clinton era.

TCDroogsma:

     I've never totally understood why singers or songwriters leave bands in which they are a lead singer and songwriter to record solo albums that sound exactly like the band they just left.  I didn't understand it when Jason Isbell left The Drive-By Truckers to go solo and I don't understand it now that Patterson Hood has, at least temporarily left The Drive-By Truckers.  Maybe this band is a bunch of assholes.

     Anyway, if you're familiar with The Drive-By Truckers version of Southern indie rock you can probably hear this song in your head before you even click play.  The lyrics are actually pretty touching, with the "disappear" of the title referencing his ability to go inside his own head during trouble (evidently with his parents?).  The songs clinching line, "sometimes I hear words spoken underneath the song and I
associate completely," is a killer.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 1/5
                  TCDroogsma - 3/5

02. Azure Ray - Red Balloon (from the EP As Above So Below)

 

MinneSarah:

     The stilted electronic backdrop and lulling vocal verses are intriguing.   However, the chorus is so boring and predictable.  I'm giving Azure Ray the benefit of being one of the few Saddle Creek bands that does not whine on all their songs.  However, this song is pleasant and not much else. 

TCDroogsma:

     It took me a half a dozen listens to figure out exactly why I like this song.  It's a semi-endearing love song, but the production is what really makes it.  The cavernous drums of the verses sound exactly like a pounding heart when someone's eyes take you, "by surprise like a summer rain."  When the those drums drop out for the first chorus, the synthesizers envelope's the song with the same warmth as the realization of the connection made.  The rest of the song, in which the drums and warm-blanket synths combine, paints a fully-realized picture of hipsters in love.  I'd bet even money that this song will be played as a first dance at the most tattooed-up wedding you've ever been to.

Final Score: MinneSarah -2/5
                  TCDroogsma - 3.5/5  

03. The Helio Sequence - October (from the album Negotiations)

 

MinneSarah:

     Helio Sequence are a good band for epic poppy ballads.  This song is not as epic as I would have hoped.  The guitar is nice, but the lyrics are hackeneyed relationship advice and have nothing to do with the month of October.  Still, expect the intricate guitar build ups which are always a treat. 

TCDroogsma:

     Is it weird that, even though I've never owned a Helio Sequence album, I knew exactly what this song would be like before I even heard it?  Kinda indie, kinda dynamic, lot's of echo-ey "whoa's."  I suppose this isn't a bad thing, just a predictable thing.  If you've liked previous Helio Sequence songs than you will like this one.

     The vague, "keep in mind" statements that start of each verse are kind of annoying.  That's the type of shit you say when you want to make a point to your girlfriend but don't want to seem petty by bluntly pointing out some trivial slight from a previous fight.  Or am I the only one that does that?  Wait, that actually explains a few things...

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3/5
                  TCDroogsma - 2.5/5

04. The David Wax Museum - Will You Be Sleeping (from the album Knock Knock Get Up)

MinneSarah:

     This is an uber-catchy song with a lot of distinct elements.  Usually this is a bad thing, but horns sort of speak to each other and it works.  The lyrics are realistic yet lighthearted about couples' insecurities yet are not that annoying.  There is a boy/girl chorus, which actually works together and mirrors the lyrics in a way that symbolizes the duality of the lyrics.  A little too hipster for my tastes, points off for the tambourine. 

TCDroogsma:

     Wait a minute, dude's girlfriend sleeps all day while he's out doing stuff and wakes up just long enough to wrap herself in a sheet and wait by the window for him?  C'mon, girl.  At least get dressed.  Maybe fix up some toast and have some orange juice.

     I can't say I blame her though.  I mean, he's enabling this type of behavior.  Dude's careful not to wake her up when he kisses her as he leaves.  He even asks that she leave the bed unmade!  If my significant other spent their days writing reggae-tinged, cliche-ridden "love" songs I'd stay in bed all day too.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 3/5
                  TCDroogsma - 1/5

05. Meme - Young (from the album Young)

 

MinneSarah:

      This song is electronic-y and mellow, but with acoustic-y sounding guitar. It sounds surprisingly sophisticated.  The vocals really carry the song, and carries through the lulling background. The lyrics are about being young, but maybe because I'm old, they capture a nice mix of action and nostalgia.  I love the barking "oh, oh, oh's," Damon Albarn would be proud. 

TCDroogsma:

     I miss Digitata.

Final Score: MinneSarah - 4/5
                  TCDroogsma - 4/5

There you have it, everybody.  Another week of free music judged and discarded.  Please remember that this neither this blog nor its contributors or is any way affiliated with the artists, The Current, or Minnesota Public Radio.

Be sure to cast your vote in our poll for which song was your favorite of the past week.

For more MinneSarah be sure to give her a follow on Twitter and Instagram (@MinneSarah).  She's currently coming to grips with the difference between alarm clocks and cats.

For more TCDroogsma you can follow him on Twitter and Instagram (@TCDroogsma) or check out his personal blog Flatbasset where he's currently counting down Morrissey songs.  We've been searching for the right psychiatrist do deal with this development.

Of course this blog can be found on Twitter (@NewestIndustry1) and on Facebook here.  Be sure to stop by and give it a 'like' if you have a chance. 

Nobody Loves Us #19: Driving Your Girlfriend Home

Hello again, everybody. Welcome back to Nobody Loves Us. If you didn't catch the first post, basically, I'm making a list of my 20 favorite Morrissey Non-Singles from throughout his solo career. I'll be counting down the list each weekday until October 26^th, at which I point I will have to spend two days preparing myself both mentally and physically for Mozzer's show at The Orpheum on the 29^th.

Also, if you didn't catch the first post, this bit was initially titled Found Found Found.

So, that's what's happening here. So far the countdown looks like this.

20. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

On to number 19 then (click the title to check out the track):

19. Driving Your Girlfriend Home (Morrissey/Nevin) 

From the album Kill Uncle

Key Line: “I'm parking outside her home, as we're shaking hands goodnight so politely"

(Click that video to give the song a listen)

Anybody who has paid attention to my rantings about music over the years knows that, deep down, I love pop music. I've always, ALWAYS been a sucker for a good hook.

Even though almost all fans found their way to The Smiths & Morrissey via they lyrical content, it was his ability to wrap his voice around a good hook that really got me... er... hooked.

For example, as teenagers, MinneSarah and I disagreed on most music.  She was always listening to British stuff that I didn't care for while I was drowning myself in pop-punk.  For reasons that completely escape me now, I just couldn't get enough Lagwagon.  I know, I can't explain it either.

Anyway, The Smiths were one of those bands that MinneSarah loved that I just couldn't stand.  A few years later, when I was probably 20 or so, I was driving from Red Wing to Duluth to visit a girlfriend and found myself looking for something new to listen to on the drive.  I stopped at a Best Buy in the Twin Cities and started looking around.

For whatever reason, the "I really don't know and I really don't care..." line from "Hand In Glove" started kicking around in my head.  On a whim, I went and picked up a copy of Louder Than Bombs.  As you know now, this turned out to be a bizarrely important moment, as I've been borderline obsessed with Mozzer ever since

Why do I bring this story?  Well, thanks for asking.

Being a person who's always been a fan of Morrissey (the singer) first and Morrissey (the lyricist) second, "Driving Your Girlfriend Home" was, for me, the standout track on Kill Uncle.

"Driving Your Girlfriend Home" is, initially, a pretty languid pop tune.  The acoustic strums and swaying bass provide a lovely foundation, but they are far from attention-grabbers.  Morrissey's initial verse does little to grab the listener.

Listening to it now, it's obvious that it grabbed me with the chorus.  Moz builds to the chorus by vocally imitating the aforementioned swaying bass line.  "'Turn left,' she says/I turn left/And she says..." are straight from the Lou Reed school of hyper-literal lyrics.  However, with Linder Sterling providing some lovely backing harmonies, Mozzer delivers the chorus beautifully.

"So how did I end up so deeply involved in the very existence I planned on avoiding?"  The lament of his friend's girlfriend is given both the weight & humour it deserves by Morrissey's lightness.  The broadness of such a complaint is certainly laughable, but the underlying emotions that would lead to such a complaint are very real.  The fact that he's able to toe the line between the two is one of the more underrated aspects of Morrissey's vocal ability.

Morrissey himself alludes to this delicate line in the second verse by observing that the woman is, "laughing to stop herself crying..."

In the second verse, the woman's narrows her complaint from the entirety of her existence to her dissatisfaction with her boyfriend.

"How did I end up attached to this person, when his sense of humour gets gradually worser?"

Two things come to mind here:

First, given Morrissey's notorious preference for solitude, it's no surprise that he would write a song in which a person's all-encompassing misery & confusion would later be boiled down to said person's companion.

Second, given Morrissey's equally-notorious inability to deal with conflict on a face-to-face level, it should come as no surprise that, after both questions, "I can't answer"

The song ends echoing this same sentiment:

"I'm parking outside her home/and we're shaking hands goodnight so politely"

Of course, the only way Morrissey could handle this woman's personal crisis would be with sterotypical English reservation and politeness.  With just two and a half verses and two choruses, Morrissey has painted a brilliant vignette about himself.

Nobody Loves Us #20: One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

Well, hello everybody. If you've paid any attention to the blog over the last 4 years you know it's no secret that I am a total, nerding-out, devoted fanboy when it comes to all things Morrissey. I'm not ashamed to say that I own no less than three books about him. He's appeared on my mixes numerous times. Shit, I own duplicate versions of singles of singles. Just process that last sentence for a second.

Anyway, unless you live in a cave (or have dismissed all music released prior to last week), you've probably noticed that Morrissey is playing right here in the great city of Minneapolis this coming October 29^th. I think it goes without saying that I will be attending this show. If you've been following this blog (or Newest Industry), it should be obvious that I'll be attending the show with with my best friend there ever was ever (and fellow Morrissey disciple) MinneSarah.

Now, events like this only happen so often. Not to build it up too much (hyperbole warning), but just how often do you get to see your favorite singer ever, still, roughly in his prime? Now, I don't mean favorite in the sense that, “Oh, yeah... Jack Johnson is my favorite singer” type shit. I mean something like 30 years of records, numerous books, fucking icon status. People dress up as Morrissey for Halloween for fuck's sake. If someone dressed up as Jack Johnson for Halloween they'd lose friends (and spend the night masturbating to college porn, not unlike the real Jack Johnson). This is, arguably, a signpost in my life. I fully expect MinneSarah to speak at my funeral, telling the story of the time we went and saw Morrissey together in Minneapolis.

So, to commemorate the occasion of one Steven Patrick Morrissey playing in my city, I thought the only reasonable thing to do was a countdown. But what kind of countdown? Everybody knows the hits and the singles, right?

I thought about doing a countdown of the best Smiths & Morrissey songs that weren't issued as singles. However, I realized that even the least celebrated Smiths tracks (cough... cough... “Golden Lights”... cough...) are still very well known. Plus, when I started making this list, I found that it was all Smiths everything (“Well I Wonder” “Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others” “Paint A Vulgar Picure” “I Know It's Over”). I mean, look at that list. Even though those songs weren't proper singles they are still iconic to Smiths fans.

So, I decided to stick strictly to Morrissey's solo career and to make a list of his Top 20 songs that weren't released as singles. Now, obviously, some of these songs are still pillars of Morrissey's solo career: that's not my fault. For whatever reason, various record labels decided that they weren't fit to be released as singles. That's on them, not me.

Today is Monday, October 1^st. According to my calendar that leaves 20 weekdays until Monday, October 29^th. Well, any good countdown goes to at least 20, so here we are. Over the next 20 weekdays I will be counting down my list of Top 20 Morrissey Non-Singles. Songs that weren't quite good enough to be released as commercial singles, but songs that desperately deserved to be saved from slipping through the cracks. I've decided to title the countdown Nobody Loves Us after the Dagenham Dave b-side.  Though some of these songs are loved, it seemed like an appropriate title.

So, long story short, let's get on with the list. Be sure to check this blog each weekday for my next entry, counting down the Top 20 until the October 29^th concert date.

(Be sure give the song a listen with the provided link. Click the “download” button to have the song for your very own.)

Here we go!

20. One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell (Morrissey/Boorer)

From the album Years Of Refusal

Key Line: “One day goodbye will be farewell, so grab me while we still have the time...”

Morrissey was well past the age of 50 when Years Of Refusal came out in 2009. In fact, this album was his follow up to his death-obsessed album Ringleader Of The Tormentors. However, it's obvious on tracks like “When Last I Spoke To Carol,” “You Were Good In Your Time” and this track that Mozzer's mortality was still well on his mind.

Though the bass plucks and rolling drums of Boz Boorer's stereotypical pub-rock soundtrack fits the rest of the album (and a good chunk of Mozzer's post-Quarry output) well, the “One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell” takes on a special kind of weight thanks to Morrissey's lyrics and stellar delivery.

It should come as no surprise to any Mozzer fan that the singer starts off this song with a swift, snide reproach of a friend. “Always be careful when you abuse the one you love...” will go down as one of the more cold & blunt statements of Morrissey's career. Leading into the line, “The hour, or the day, no one can tell...” the opening line is lent a certain amount of gravitas by the implication that Mozzer just might not answer the next time a phone call is placed.

To be honest, Boorer's aggressive tone matches the lyrics quite well. Morrissey is not so much lamenting the fact that you never know which conversation may be the last as much as he's threatening this unrequited companion with the crushing guilt of not taking his conversation with the weight it deserves. The horn interjection during the bridge even gives the threat a celebratory air. An ego-maniacal move, to be sure, but calling Morrissey “ego-maniacal” is like calling air “breathable.”

And yet, his threat does not ring hollow. Morrissey, with hints of both sadness and self-deprecating humour, knows that, while in his own strange way, he will revel in the regret suffered by this “friend,” ultimately, he will be the one who is crushed under the weight of this unrequited attempt at connection.

All things considered, this song does lend itself to the “miserable-ist” cliché that is often lobbed at Mozzer. Still, for those of us who own a tacky badge or two, it stands as a grave warning, reminding us not to take Morrissey, or anybody we feel love towards, for granted, as those days can end abruptly with things left unsaid and feelings unexplained.

Most Played Albums Of September 2012

Courtesy of Last.fm:

He Knows So Much About These Things...

Just wanted to share this clip of my brother reminding everybody that, despite my incredible talents, I'm like, the sixth most talented member of my family.



All Smiths everything.

Flatbasset-June '11

Look at this! A playlist on time! This is gonna be the best summer on record, and, to paraphrase Los Campesinos!, it starts with a mixx...

Flatbasset-June '11

Download it or I'm unfriending you (and I ain't talkin' 'bout no Facebook!).