Independent.ie: Lloyd Cole Interview - with Morrissey anecdotes (July 2, 2023)

Lloyd Cole interview Sunday Independent (Ireland) 2nd July - Morrissey references

Morrissey became a fan. He said Cole was the sort of person who gets "erotic about blotting paper". To which Cole replied: "I do. I am a real stationery fetishist."
When Lloyd Cole and the Commotions played their first gig in London at the Dominion Theatre, they came offstage and went to their dressing room to find Morrissey "drinking a cup of tea. We were friends for a few years." Does he despair for his old friend's right-wing politics now? "Oh, I couldn't possibly be friends with Morrissey now. But that's the lovely thing about art, those Smiths records and those Morrissey records are yours now. You can remove the author. In fact, the author is necessarily removed when the record is released."
In 1985, he and Morrissey met up a few times. "We had tea at Fortnum & Mason. That was his idea. We would play each other songs that we were working on. I got to hear 'Meat is Murder' before it came out."
Was that a bit like Alan Bennett and Dennis Potter having lunch together?"It absolutely wasn't," he says with a laugh, "because we were both still young and immature and still finding our way, in terms of finding our voices.
"I think Morrissey probably found his voice on The Queen is Dead and I found mine on my first solo record. I think I was trying to be less worthy from Rattlesnakes onwards. I love Rattlesnakes to death but it is hard for me to listen to the singing now. I don't en- joy the sound of my voice on that record. It's overly mannered.

https://archive.is/pVhnY

 

[Tibby]

I think it`s sad that now you can`t be friends with people who have different opinions than you. I am left leaning tree hugging liberal, but I have family members than lean to the right but that doesn`t mean they are bad people or that I don`t love them because of their political views. It`s also sad because the press still calls Morrissey right wing when he has clearly stated that he is neither right nor left wing. I don`t think he believes in the whole political system. I know other people who also believe in this way of thinking.

 

[Hugh]

Exactly. It's simplistic to call Morrissey a right-winger because some of his political views overlap with some right-wingers. That is my point. Morrissey is clearly apolitical and has a variety of opinions all across the political spectrum. As someone recently said, if gender can be a spectrum, politics should be able to also.

Morrissey is a small-minded bigot. You are simple.

 

[Bodhi]

I’ve never really given Cole the time to listen to. What would be an accessible album to start with?

Listen to Rattlesnakes, superb.

 

[Hugh]

Probably because everything is more extreme in America.

A person on the right of the political spectrum in the UK is not some kind of gun toting, Ted Nugent type figure as if often the case with American right wingers.

Morrissey is British and has a quaint nostalgia for the Britain of his youth. He is not a white supremacist. He doesn't think people with his skin colour are better or worse than anyone else. He simply longs for a time when the UK had control of its own borders and didn't have suicide bombers killing teenagers at pop concerts.

I mean, his own parents were immigrants from Ireland to the UK. He himself has been an immigrant from Britain to the US, and to Italy, and to wherever it is that he lives these days. So he doesn't have an issue with immigration per se. What he does take issue with is unrestricted, out of control immigration, where the host nation's government has literally no idea who is coming in and in what numbers. And why wouldn't he have a problem with this? Why wouldn't any rational person?

His parents being immigrants makes his small-minded bigoted view all the more abhorrent. Being a rich white Immigrant himself makes him a tit.

 

[Hugh]

Probably because everything is more extreme in America.

A person on the right of the political spectrum in the UK is not some kind of gun toting, Ted Nugent type figure as if often the case with American right wingers.

Morrissey is British and has a quaint nostalgia for the Britain of his youth. He is not a white supremacist. He doesn't think people with his skin colour are better or worse than anyone else. He simply longs for a time when the UK had control of its own borders and didn't have suicide bombers killing teenagers at pop concerts.

I mean, his own parents were immigrants from Ireland to the UK. He himself has been an immigrant from Britain to the US, and to Italy, and to wherever it is that he lives these days. So he doesn't have an issue with immigration per se. What he does take issue with is unrestricted, out of control immigration, where the host nation's government has literally no idea who is coming in and in what numbers. And why wouldn't he have a problem with this? Why wouldn't any rational person?

He lives in Switzerland for tax purposes.

 

[Young And Alive]

I think it`s sad that now you can`t be friends with people who have different opinions than you. I am left leaning tree hugging liberal, but I have family members than lean to the right but that doesn`t mean they are bad people or that I don`t love them because of their political views. It`s also sad because the press still calls Morrissey right wing when he has clearly stated that he is neither right nor left wing. I don`t think he believes in the whole political system. I know other people who also believe in this way of thinking.

As I have previously mentioned, there is nothing inherently wrong with being either right or left wing. For me, being described as either of those things is neither a compliment nor an insult. It is simply a statement of fact.

Yet the media uses the term "right wing" as a way of demonising someone and warning others to keep away from them, lest they too be labelled "right wing".

I think it's great that you are intelligent and tolerant enough to love and be friends with people who have different views. We need more of that.

As young people we are taught to respect other people's religious beliefs and not to shun those who are different from ourselves. Yet shunning people for their political beliefs seems, sadly, to be the exception to this.

 

[Young And Alive]

His parents being immigrants makes his small-minded bigoted view all the more abhorrent. Being a rich white Immigrant himself makes him a tit.

Or maybe you're the tit who is doing a fine job of completely missing the point.

Have a f.ucking medal. Well done.

 

[Hugh]

As I have previously mentioned, there is nothing inherently wrong with being either right or left wing. For me, being described as either of those things is neither a compliment nor an insult. It is simply a statement of fact.

Yet the media uses the term "right wing" as a way of demonising someone and warning others to keep away from them, lest they too be labelled "right wing".

I think it's great that you are intelligent and tolerant enough to love and be friends with people who have different views. We need more of that.

As young people we are taught to respect other people's religious beliefs and not to shun those who are different from ourselves. Yet shunning people for their political beliefs seems, sadly, to be the exception to this.

I remain against apartheid, racist and those who apologise for evil.

 

[Les Tameside]

His parents being immigrants makes his small-minded bigoted view all the more abhorrent. Being a rich white Immigrant himself makes him a tit.

Are we perhaps small minded when we suppose what it would be ‘right’ for the children of immigrants to think?

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Probably because everything is more extreme in America.

A person on the right of the political spectrum in the UK is not some kind of gun toting, Ted Nugent type figure as if often the case with American right wingers.

Morrissey is British and has a quaint nostalgia for the Britain of his youth. He is not a white supremacist. He doesn't think people with his skin colour are better or worse than anyone else. He simply longs for a time when the UK had control of its own borders and didn't have suicide bombers killing teenagers at pop concerts.

I mean, his own parents were immigrants from Ireland to the UK. He himself has been an immigrant from Britain to the US, and to Italy, and to wherever it is that he lives these days. So he doesn't have an issue with immigration per se. What he does take issue with is unrestricted, out of control immigration, where the host nation's government has literally no idea who is coming in and in what numbers. And why wouldn't he have a problem with this? Why wouldn't any rational person?

It is a complex issue but I do agree that your right wingers are not as idiotic, hateful, and loathsome as our gun lubbing jackasses here in the US of A. You would be shocked if you had to spend a month here, providing of course, you don't get randomly mowed down while shopping. I blame my ancestors for coming here on the Mayflower.

 

[marred]

Because I'm a college graduate and you are uneducated and bitter?

And this is typical of the response one might get, as if a "college education" is some sort of mark of intelligence or critical thinking. Pure unadulterated superiority and smugness on show.

 

[Young And Alive]

It is a complex issue but I do agree that your right wingers are not as idiotic, hateful, and loathsome as our gun lubbing jackasses here in the US of A. You would be shocked if you had to spend a month here, providing of course, you don't get randomly mowed down while shopping. I blame my ancestors for coming here on the Mayflower.

The GOP is absolutely mental now.

There has to be voices of sanity on both the left and the right. And there used to be a time when people could respect those on the opposite side of the fence, even if they disagreed with them.

I saw footage of the 1992 election debates recently, Bush v Clinton, and it struck me how civilised it was compared to US politics today.

Then you had the note of support Bush left for Clinton in the Oval Office, which was pure class.

 

[SqueezingMySkull]

Thankfully, there are no right wingers in my family. I have 5 siblings and 2 parents and we are all college educated Democrats. As far as my friends, we are united against the right because our petty little differences don't even merit a mention when we are confronted with this assault on reproductive rights, book banning, LGBTQ hate, threats of violence with guns on a daily basis, out in the open racism...Dude, the Republican party, which used to be a viable political party, has gone completely bonkers. And to see far right Morrissey fans here has got to be one of the strangest things I've seen in my lifetime.

It's funny you say that. As someone on the left, I think the democrat party and leftwingers have gone completely bonkers and polling seems to support this. Talk about book banning. Jesus christ. Have you even dipped a toe into the world of publishing? Countless stories of books being banned and canceled due to lefty outrage. Threats of violence? Have you seen how lefties even talk about their opponents these days? Nonstop death threats. Don't even get me started on "LGBTQ", even tons of gay activists are saying they've had enough of the nonsense happening on the left.

I agree that the Right keeps going lower and lower, but surely you must see both sides have gone insane.

 

[Young And Alive]

I remain against apartheid, racist and those who apologise for evil.

As is Morrissey.

Get off your high horse and calm down.

 

[Young And Alive]

It's funny you say that. As someone on the left, I think the democrat party and leftwingers have gone completely bonkers and polling seems to support this. Talk about book banning. Jesus christ. Have you even dipped a toe into the world of publishing? Countless stories of books being banned and canceled due to lefty outrage. Threats of violence? Have you seen how lefties even talk about their opponents these days? Nonstop death threats. Don't even get me started on "LGBTQ", even tons of gay activists are saying they've had enough of the nonsense happening on the left.

I agree that the Right keeps going lower and lower, but surely you must see both sides have gone insane.

The right is too far right and the left is too far left.

There's no middle ground in US politics now. There's no sanity, no voice of reason.

People on both sides of the political spectrum have completely and utterly lost their minds.

 

[SqueezingMySkull]

It is a complex issue but I do agree that your right wingers are not as idiotic, hateful, and loathsome as our gun lubbing jackasses here in the US of A. You would be shocked if you had to spend a month here, providing of course, you don't get randomly mowed down while shopping.

Again, one can say the exact same thing about the leftwingers in America. I know because I am friends with some of them. I interact with them every day. I am a leftie in a leftie city. I see the insane bubble these people are in. Logic and sanity have gone out the window. Also a disturbing trend of authoritarianism and violence, science denial as bad as anything a Republican has ever done, and worse. The little lefty kids these days think 1984 is a How-To manual for creating a Utopia. And the anxiety, depression and suicide for kids is going through the roof due to the insane ideologies happening on that end of the spectrum.

It's bad here on both sides. Very, very bad. But these days sometimes I feel like someone on the right could have a more sane conversation with me than on the left. Unfortunate, but true. And my god, the behavior of the left is going to get us a dozen more Trumps elected unless they stop the nonsense immediately.

 

[ACTON]

Well done, you sound just as delusional as Morrissey!

And you sound exactly like the vacuous vagina that you are.

 

[SqueezingMySkull]

Morrissey is a small-minded bigot. You are simple.

This was in no way a response to anything I said.

 

[marred]

This was in no way a response to anything I said.

That's the idea.

 

[Johnnie Ray]

Again, one can say the exact same thing about the leftwingers in America. I know because I am friends with some of them. I interact with them every day. I am a leftie in a leftie city. I see the insane bubble these people are in. Logic and sanity have gone out the window. Also a disturbing trend of authoritarianism and violence, science denial as bad as anything a Republican has ever done, and worse. The little lefty kids these days think 1984 is a How-To manual for creating a Utopia. And the anxiety, depression and suicide for kids is going through the roof due to the insane ideologies happening on that end of the spectrum.

It's bad here on both sides. Very, very bad. But these days sometimes I feel like someone on the right could have a more sane conversation with me than on the left. Unfortunate, but true. And my god, the behavior of the left is going to get us a dozen more Trumps elected unless they stop the nonsense immediately.

Nope. Not buying it. You are definitely not a lefty. False equivalencies is the pastime of the right. Everything you described is right wing ideology. Quit pussyfooting around it and just own it!