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From music websites and other journalists etc..
This from the NME - a bizarre mixture of insults and praise.
'The new song is a sort of mad gothic electro stomper that features Motown legend Thelma Houston. It sounds strange – and is, obviously – but makes a kind of sense: he and Johnny Marr bonded over their love of 1960s girls groups – the Smiths’ first recorded song was a cover of The Cookies ‘I Just Want A Boy For My Birthday. The new track is heavier than anything of that era, but does exude a camp sense of melodrama. It’s almost six minutes long and covers a lot of ground. ‘Bobby, Don’t You Think They Know?’ opens with promisingly enough, with a pounding groove and hysterical organ squeals. It’s like Herman Munster’s formed a band with Rick Wakeman.
Weirdly, for a man justifiably credited as one of the greatest lyricists of all time, Morrissey churns out some absolute nonsense here. “Scag a shack, Mexican mud, little Jo in the snow,” he coos, knowingly. To which the only response can be: eh? Houston sounds in fine fettle, belting out backing vocals with what can only be described as gusto – an “oh yeah!” here, an “uh-huh!” there. But ultimately this only highlights how weird the lyrics are. When she delivers the emotional line “you ain’t fooling nobody!” it’s as if she’s accidentally been handed the script to a hot and heavy daytime soap.
Things pick up again in the final couple of minutes, when the wheels really come off and a fabulously vampy sax solo blows through the track and Houston wails, “Lord, have mercy, Bobby!” You think: what could Bobby possibly have done to deserve this? Moz repeats the bizarr-o “scag a shack” line and Houston sagely nods “huh-huh”, before she insists “you can’t hide it” as the marching piano bounces on. OK then.
It’s all bonkers, to be honest, and certainly exists in a league of its own, but ultimately the take-home is: can Moz just stick to doing other people’s songs now? And ‘California Son’ wasn’t even any good!'
www.nme.com/reviews/morrissey-new-song-bobby-dont-you-think-they-know-review-2595421
This from the NME - a bizarre mixture of insults and praise.
'The new song is a sort of mad gothic electro stomper that features Motown legend Thelma Houston. It sounds strange – and is, obviously – but makes a kind of sense: he and Johnny Marr bonded over their love of 1960s girls groups – the Smiths’ first recorded song was a cover of The Cookies ‘I Just Want A Boy For My Birthday. The new track is heavier than anything of that era, but does exude a camp sense of melodrama. It’s almost six minutes long and covers a lot of ground. ‘Bobby, Don’t You Think They Know?’ opens with promisingly enough, with a pounding groove and hysterical organ squeals. It’s like Herman Munster’s formed a band with Rick Wakeman.
Weirdly, for a man justifiably credited as one of the greatest lyricists of all time, Morrissey churns out some absolute nonsense here. “Scag a shack, Mexican mud, little Jo in the snow,” he coos, knowingly. To which the only response can be: eh? Houston sounds in fine fettle, belting out backing vocals with what can only be described as gusto – an “oh yeah!” here, an “uh-huh!” there. But ultimately this only highlights how weird the lyrics are. When she delivers the emotional line “you ain’t fooling nobody!” it’s as if she’s accidentally been handed the script to a hot and heavy daytime soap.
Things pick up again in the final couple of minutes, when the wheels really come off and a fabulously vampy sax solo blows through the track and Houston wails, “Lord, have mercy, Bobby!” You think: what could Bobby possibly have done to deserve this? Moz repeats the bizarr-o “scag a shack” line and Houston sagely nods “huh-huh”, before she insists “you can’t hide it” as the marching piano bounces on. OK then.
It’s all bonkers, to be honest, and certainly exists in a league of its own, but ultimately the take-home is: can Moz just stick to doing other people’s songs now? And ‘California Son’ wasn’t even any good!'
www.nme.com/reviews/morrissey-new-song-bobby-dont-you-think-they-know-review-2595421