Favorite Smiths songs

Discussion in 'Movies, TV and Music' started by BadReligion, Oct 28, 2003.

  1. BadReligion

    BadReligion New Member

    Dec 26, 2002
    Washington, DC
    Mine pretty much change all the time. At first I was really into Sheila Take A Bow, but right now I'm really digging What Difference Does it Make. What are your favorite Smiths songs?
     
  2. Father Ted

    Father Ted BigSoccer Supporter

    Manchester United, Galway United, New York Red Bulls
    Nov 2, 2001
    Connecticut
    Club:
    Manchester United FC
    Nat'l Team:
    Ireland Republic
  3. YanksFC

    YanksFC Member

    Feb 3, 2000
    Indianapolis
    Club:
    Liverpool FC
    Yeah, that's mine too. I think that hangthadj will also agree.
     
  4. 655321

    655321 New Member

    Jul 21, 2002
    The Mission, SF
    Suffer Little Children, The Hand That Rocks the Cradle, This Night Has Opened My Eyes, The Boy With The Thorn In His Side...all of them, really.
     
  5. MeridianFC

    MeridianFC Member

    Jul 26, 1999
    Washington, DC USA
    This Charming Man
    Oscillate Wildly
    There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
    Well I Wonder
    the Draize Train
     
  6. hangthadj

    hangthadj Member+

    A.S. Roma
    Mar 27, 2001
    Zone 14
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    It is definately a classic.

    I still love Reel around the fountain, unhappy birthday, and a rush and a push and this land is ours.

    really, i can't think of any i dislike.

    But, anything/everything off of strangeways stands out to me actually. A lot of people didn't dig it. But i thought it was their best moment.
     
  7. jamison

    jamison Member

    Sep 25, 2000
    NYC
    I could literally be in this thread all day, but anyway. Here are my top 18, in no particular order (numbered so that I'd stop at 18), sort of the CD I would make if I had a choice.

    1. Pretty Girls Make Graves
    2. Hand that rocks the cradle
    3. Suffer little children
    4. Reel around the fountain
    5. Heaven knows I'm miserable now
    6. Half a person
    7. Stretch out and wait
    8. Panic
    9. Please, please, please...
    10. This charming man
    11. The boy with a thorn in his side
    12. Girlfriend in a Coma
    13. Hand in Glove
    14. Nowhere fast
    15. Some Girls are bigger than others
    16. Well I wonder
    17. Rush and a Push and the land is ours
    18. There is a light that never goes out

    And of course I could make a B side to that with Still Ill, Stop me if you think you've heard this one before, Frankly Mr Shankly, Paint a vulgar picture, bigmouth strikes again, you've got everything now, I know it's over, this night has opened my eyes and others.

    I will say "How soon is now?" is my least favorite song. I've started to hate it less, but it is the one I always think of when asked which one's I don't like.

    Occassionally people ask me about them and say the typical "Do they sing any songs I would know?", to which I usually reply "No." A 50 something beatles fan once asked me that, and I just made her a CD (titled "smile for the machine guns") instead of getting into it. Other than the guitar riff from HSIN? proliferating Nissan commercials, they'd have to be an astute fan of Ferris Bueller's day off to catch a smiths song, and have an encyclopedic memory of the movie. Or they could steal my cd walkman, as I usually listen to them 4-5 days a week. As they aren't on the radio (aside from WLIR), I can't really explain their music to most people in a way that they'd understand. You can't sing lines like "In a river the colour of lead emerse a baby's head wrap her up in the News Of The World dump her on a doorstep, girl", "hand in glove, the sun shines out of our behinds" or "What she said: 'How come someone hasn't noticed that I'm dead and decided to bury me God knows, I'm ready' " and have people "get" it.

    I was watching I love the 80s and they brought up the Smiths and Morrissey and it got basically panned by Mo Rocca and Wayne from "The Wonder Years" with brilliant observations like "I could never understand what he was so upset about". I missed the memo where they'd taken over music reviews at Rolling Stone, but whatever.

    My basic deal with their music is that if you can't control feeling better, sometimes contolling how bad you feel feels good enough. Their music has picked me up, brought me down and saved me from myself and others in a literal sense too many times to count. I just wish they could have stayed around longer.
     
  8. carolinab

    carolinab Member+

    Aug 21, 2000
    D.C.
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    Bermuda
    Ask

    There Is a Light That Never Goes Out

    This Night Has Opened My Eyes

    Asleep

    Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
     
  9. Cascarino's Pizzeria

    Apr 29, 2001
    New Jersey, USA
    Tons of possibilities. Here's a few:

    "The Queen is Dead"
    "How Soon is Now?"
    "William, It Was Really Nothing"
    "Panic"
    "Cemetery Gates"
    "Hand in Glove"
    "I Know It's Over" - hide the knives!
    "London"
     
  10. Mad_Bishop

    Mad_Bishop Member

    Oct 11, 2000
    Columbia, MO
    How about:

    Headmaster Ritual
    What She Said
    Bigmouth Strikes Again
    Panic
    Rush and a push and the land is ours
    Unhappy Birthday
    Death at one's Elbow
    What Difference Does it Make?
    Death of a Disco Dancer
    Girlfirend in a Coma
    Stop Me if you've heard this one before
    Paint a Vulgar Picture
    Cemetry Gates
    Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
    How Soon Is Now?
    That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

    Morrissey Solo:
    Everyday is like sunday
    Billy Budd
    Spring Heeled Jim
    Hold on to your friends
    The Last of the Famous International Playboys
    Suedehead
    You're the One for Me, Fatty
    Jack the Ripper
    The More You Ignore Me, the Closer I Get
     
  11. cj herrera

    cj herrera New Member

    May 7, 1999
    Oakland, damn straig
    That's the song I couldn't think of.

    Panic is also kind of perfect.

    I was just listening to the album "If You're Feeling Sinister" the other day. It's an album I've wanted for a while, but only recently bought. And I was thinking how B+S really picked up the lyrical reins from Morrissey -- both content and phrasing wise.
     
  12. hangthadj

    hangthadj Member+

    A.S. Roma
    Mar 27, 2001
    Zone 14
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    When I got that album in college I thought the exact same thing. And then they sorta fell apart. I really disliked the stuff post - boy with arab strap. But I do like the new one, so go figure.

    Also, gotta hand it to jamison for having one of the best posts of the year up above.

    Has any read "Severed Alliance" the biography on Morrissey and Marr?
     
  13. sonicdream

    sonicdream Member

    Sep 27, 2002
    West of Suez canal
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    I dunno - I'm still *trying* to let Dear Catastrophe Waitress sick in, but so far to no avail. Which means I just don't like it very much, as compared to their other gems. (BTW I thought Fold Your Hands Child was their best album...)

    But to get back on the Smiths agenda, I'd nominate just about every song from Hatful of Hollow.
     
  14. 655321

    655321 New Member

    Jul 21, 2002
    The Mission, SF
    It's fantastic, a must for any fan. It's not as hard to find as you'd think, either.
     
  15. cj herrera

    cj herrera New Member

    May 7, 1999
    Oakland, damn straig
    Continuum Books has launched "33 1/3"
    "...a new series of short books about critically acclaimed and much-loved albums of the last 40 years. "

    Among the first titles is a book on "Meat is Murder" by Joe Pernice of The Pernice Brothers / Scud Mountain Boys (yes, I'm obsessive about these guys).

    Haven't seen it in the stores yet, but I'm on the lookout.

    Much shortened list of other current titles in the series:
    >Zanes, Warren -- Dusty Springfield's Dusty in Memphis
    >Hultkrans, Andrew -- Love's Forever Changes
    >Matos, Michaelangelo -- Prince's Sign O' the Times
    >Keenan, David -- My Bloody Valentine's Loveless

    Full list at Continuum Books:
    http://www.continuumbooks.com/series_details.cgi?sid=311

    A longer article on the Pernice book and the project in general:
    http://www.townonline.com/arts_lifestyle/tv_music_radio/art_artabooksjwas10152003.htm
     
  16. yossarian

    yossarian Moderator
    Staff Member

    Jun 16, 1999
    Big City Blinking
    Club:
    Arsenal FC
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    That joke isn't funny anymore
     
  17. Ghost

    Ghost Member+

    Sep 5, 2001
    "THe Queen Is Dead" -- She said I know you and you cannot sing/I said that's nothing/ You should hear me play piano.

    COunt me as a fan of HOw Soon Is Now. Anyone who hates it has never been on a dance floor when it was played.
     
  18. hangthadj

    hangthadj Member+

    A.S. Roma
    Mar 27, 2001
    Zone 14
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    Yeah I read it a few years back. I think its safe to say I enjoyed it more than Morrissey.
     
  19. Cascarino's Pizzeria

    Apr 29, 2001
    New Jersey, USA
    Agreed. I remember it as an underground club hit for years. Something along the lines of "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order. Maybe not the best Smith's song, but one of the most danceable.
     
  20. afgrijselijkheid

    Dec 29, 2002
    mokum
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    sheila take a bow
    please,please,please...
    work is a four letter word
    how soon is now
    is it really so strange
    girlfriend in a coma
     
  21. yellowbismark

    yellowbismark Member+

    Nov 7, 2000
    San Diego, CA
    Club:
    Club Tijuana
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    stop me if you think you've heard this one before
     
  22. PSU92

    PSU92 Member

    Feb 27, 1999
    Annandale VA
    Club:
    DC United
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Girlfriend in a Coma.
     
  23. Malaga CF fan

    Malaga CF fan Member

    Apr 19, 2000
    Fairfax, VA
    Club:
    Colorado Rapids
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Pretty much the whole Louder than Bombs album.

    I really like to sing along to Hang the DJ. I was in my car driving somewhere, hadn't listened to the Smiths for a while, and totally just belted out that song, the chorus has like 30 people singing anyway.

    By the way, there was that remake of How Soon as Now that came out with some crap movie (they played the song during the ads, it might have been for a TV show) a while back. I just wanted to shoot whatever band butchered that one. Anyone know?
     
  24. ToddP25

    ToddP25 Member

    Apr 19, 1999
    Richmond, VA
    I think it was in 'the craft'.......

    yep, Just looked it up on IMDB......love spit love did the remake.
     
  25. hangthadj

    hangthadj Member+

    A.S. Roma
    Mar 27, 2001
    Zone 14
    Club:
    Columbus Crew
    There are worst bands that could cover how soon is now than love spit love....they do have ex-furs frontman richard butler leading the way ya know.
     

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