Johnny Marr on Smiths influence, writing lyrics - interview in metro.co.uk

Johnny Marr: ‘I’ve always had a blind spot to the music of Queen’ - Metro

Smiths-related excerpts:

Did you enjoy writing the lyrics? Absolutely. It wasn’t something I hadn’t done before – I just set it aside a long time ago. I’d written lyrics in bands I was in before The Smiths and I’d written phrases here and there since. In Electronic I’d sometimes write with Bernard Sumner. I decided a long time ago to concentrate on being a guitarist and leave the lyrics to the singer – I’d done that in The Smiths and a lot of other bands – but I’ve always written stuff down. It wasn’t a matter of me looking out of a window, holding a pencil, thinking: ‘What will I write next?’ Most of these songs started with the lyrics.

Is it cathartic to sing Smiths songs on your tour? There’s nothing really for it to ‘cathart’, it’s just music a lot of people really love and there aren’t many better things in life than that.

Has anyone unexpected said you’ve been an influence on them? Placebo did a version of Bigmouth Strikes Again – when they did it I could see the connection but I was surprised at the time. The oddest one was that Russian girl duo Tatu who did a version of How Soon Is Now? That was puzzling. It was all right, trite pop, but there’s a place for that.

Has that been your most covered song? I’d say Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want is the most covered but I wouldn’t know – some clever clogs somewhere would know better than I would. There have been a couple of tribute albums I haven’t heard, which sounds incredibly blasé, but I live my life in pursuit of the next day so I don’t get around to a lot of things that concern the past. I don’t have an aversion to it, I’m just busy with the work I’m doing now.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I love Johnny and all, but has anybody else noticed how much his song "European Me" sounds like "Penelope Tree" by Felt? Even the titles are similar!
 
Placebo, their DVD 'live in Paris', some years ago was great, since than haven't heard or read anything about
them.

Nice Johnny mentions them

'and they say he's mentall'... taste in mourning
 
I love Johnny and all, but has anybody else noticed how much his song "European Me" sounds like "Penelope Tree" by Felt? Even the titles are similar!

I think Johnny Marr got a lot of his inspiration from Felt.
 
I think Johnny Marr got a lot of his inspiration from Felt.


Really? I've never heard that, but it would make sense. They were both in their heyday around the mid-80's. Johnny should've got Elizabeth Fraser to sing backing vocals as well!
 
Really? I've never heard that, but it would make sense. They were both in their heyday around the mid-80's. Johnny should've got Elizabeth Fraser to sing backing vocals as well!

I think Felt were about slightly before The Smiths, probably around 1981. So I suppose it makes sense that Marr was listening to them back in 1981 and thought he could make their sound better. Wow, I can't even imagine how a Marr/Fraser collaboration would sound! I thought a Kevin Sheilds and Liz Fraser collaboration would sound amazing since Shields nicked their sound. Liz isn't as good without Cocteau Twins though, she needs Robin's quirky layered guitar parts.
 
Last edited by a moderator:

Trending Threads

Back
Top Bottom