Could be about Johnny. (some words) It's someone else.
also, when I typed in "Speedway lyrics" I was shocked and ashamed to discover that the fricken Counting Crows have a song with that title.
anyway, the "Slam down the hammer" part could be about a judge but I think it's just someone who is judge-mental. Sort of like the person that he is thinking of when he sings
"On the day that your mentality
Catches up with your biology"
or
"But no more apologies
No more, no more apologies
Oh, I'm too tired
I'm so sick and tired
And I'm feeling very sick and ill today
But I'm still fond of you, oh-ho-oh "
but then I think I understand every song and 98% of them are about wanting the one that doesn't want him back, at least in The Smiths.
And when you slam
Down the hammer
Can you see it in your heart ?
All of the rumours
Keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said that they were
Completely unfounded
So when you slam
Down the hammer
Can you see it in your heart ?
Can you delve so low ?
And when youre standing
On my fingers
Can you see it in your heart ? ... ah ...
And when you try
To break my spirit
It wont work
Because theres nothing left to break
Anymore
All of the rumours
Keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said that they were
Completely unfounded
You wont sleep
Until the earth that wants me
Finally has me
Oh youve done it now
You wont rest
Until the hearse that becomes me
Finally takes me
Oh youve done it now
And you wont smile
Until my loving mouth
Is shut good and proper
Forever
All of the rumours
Keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said that they were
Completely unfounded
And all those lies
Written lies, twisted lies
Well, they werent lies
They werent lies
They werent lies
I never said
I never said
I could have mentioned your name
I could have dragged you in
Guilt by implication
By association
Ive always been true to you
In my own strange way
Ive always been true to you
In my own sick way
Ill always stay true to you
To me this song is about an affair that may have actually gotten somewhere until the object of his affection had a change of heart, or actually more like a change of mind.
The rumours are those same old rumours and he never said, he never said...etc,
and he's telling this person "I don't owe you anything, but you owe me something" because he kept this person from being scandalized or made the subject of the same rumours that Morrissey is the subject of.
So my weaknesses in interpreting Morrissey's lyrics are that, to me there are no characters, maybe one or two songs, but all the rest is him singing as himself, and it's all true and directly from his life, and it's all about being in love or lusting after someone that either doesn't feel the same or hides that they do for some reason.