Kevin Cummins: "Morrissey: Alone and Palely Loitering" hardback due September 2018

As mentioned by 'anon' in the SER website thread - here are further details:
(book image is lousy on Amazon).

42184_cummins_2018.jpg


Initial Waterstones link from anon:
https://www.waterstones.com/book/morrissey/kevin-cummins/9781788400237
Blackwells:
https://blackwells.co.uk/bookshop/product/Morrissey-by-Kevin-Cummins/9781788400237
More detailed Amazon links:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1788400232/
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1788400232/
c36ebfd1929335e0f79cf411d1967cde--kevin-oleary-cummins.jpg

150+ photographs in a 'coffee table' book.
256 pages.
Regards,
FWD.
 
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I was one of the lucky winners of a copy of The Smiths And Beyond that David arranged from the publisher back in the Pleistocene. Even if there are some retreads/recastings, I will probably spring for this. For my money, Cummins was the photographer who best captured the many aspects of Morrissey's decidedly contradictory persona.
 
Glad to be of service, Joe :lbf: Some people seem a bit cross with my interpretations. I would like to point out that I didn't write this stuff, it's Morrissey who has the filthy mind :) But, you know, I think that's the beauty of Morrissey's lyrics, they are open to interpretation. And if some people want to believe a 'reel around the fountain' means chasing your loved one around an ornamental water feature, who am I to argue? ;)

And í still maintain that "Alabaster crashes down" is the most erotic line that Emily Dickinson never wrote :yum:

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And í still maintain that "Alabaster crashes down" is the most erotic line that Emily Dickinson never wrote :yum:

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Oooh, you've got one on me, there! I always thought that was about a person's (ie Morrissey's) unsullied, asexual image being destroyed by a public indiscretion with a 'shoplifter' (ie shirtlifter). Do tell!
 
Oooh, you've got one on me, there! I always thought that was about a person's (ie Morrissey's) unsullied, asexual image being destroyed by a public indiscretion with a 'shoplifter' (ie shirtlifter). Do tell!

Imagination trounces explanation, always ;)

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Imagination trounces explanation, always ;)

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You can't leave me there, not knowing! I might go through life in total ignorance! Do please share the fruits of your imagination. They can't be worse than anything I've already posted... can they??
 
Many thanks FWD. And in my trivial I must know. Did Morrissey have two pairs of Doc Martens? In one photo the boots are the Oxblood red ones. In the other photos the boots are black, but then those photos are in black and white. I'm sure I've seen him in black ones as well.
 
Many thanks FWD. And in my trivial I must know. Did Morrissey have two pairs of Doc Martens? In one photo the boots are the Oxblood red ones. In the other photos the boots are black, but then those photos are in black and white. I'm sure I've seen him in black ones as well.

I only ever remember him wearing ox blood.
 
Mr Cummins finally confirms, via twitter ~

https://twitter.com/KCMANC/status/964488619770765313



Still stoked; perhaps only slightly less than before..."many tattooed fan portraits"..."an essay on tattoos & permanence"... :straightface:

í think that í prefer the slight variant cover ~

38490653320_0d8e3867a8_o.jpg


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The Twitter link isn't embedded/viewable at my end - here's a picture of the tweet:
20180216_150128.jpg

Tattoos...hmmm...
Regards,
FWD.
 
tis not just my fruity imaginings; and so, as í have confession in the morning, í shall leave it to our very own Funny Unkle to state the obscure ~

https://www.morrissey-solo.com/threads/meaning-of-alabaster-crashes-down.22708/#post-136411

~ many, many moans ago ;)

Also please note the later lovely suggestions of a certain 'Worm', much much missed around these parts, by me, at least.

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Ah, thanks for that, Joe. Very interesting thread. I have to admit this is one occasion where I don't see the sex! :eek: I know, hard to believe! I tend to agree with Tingle, that semen cannot 'crash' anywhere - it just doesn't seem like the verb you'd choose if you were trying to convey that, however covertly. I also agree with Ann Coates who says 'Alabaster being pure, white and spotless, only to come crashing down and become tarnished and broken' - ie a loss of reputation. But I definitely agree that the song is about 'shirtlifters' and I do agree the alabaster line is a good one - it's just not pushing any particularly erotic buttons for me. But, hey, if it does it for you, who am I to say? :brows:
 
Ah, thanks for that, Joe. Very interesting thread. I have to admit this is one occasion where I don't see the sex! :eek: I know, hard to believe! I tend to agree with Tingle, that semen cannot 'crash' anywhere - it just doesn't seem like the verb you'd choose if you were trying to convey that, however covertly. I also agree with Ann Coates who says 'Alabaster being pure, white and spotless, only to come crashing down and become tarnished and broken' - ie a loss of reputation. But I definitely agree that the song is about 'shirtlifters' and I do agree the alabaster line is a good one - it's just not pushing any particularly erotic buttons for me. But, hey, if it does it for you, who am I to say? :brows:
OT, but in the spirit of conversation:
I seem to recall a site asserting that there's a movie reference to a gay icon in the first few lines - can't find it for the life of me. Clause 28 seems feasible - there were pop stars making protest songs at the time. I think the alabaster bit is to cement (chuckle) the prison aspect rather than anything 'bulbous' and related :)
Moz interview extract Record Mirror '87 offers an explanation as to why he won't explain it and a clue to the nuclear reference:
'Lyrically, 'Shoplifters' is an obscure affair, and the author is typically unhappy about expanding on the song's meaning.
"Well, I never really like to say, I never really like to pin it down. Do you understand that? I mean, there's someone in Huddersfield who might have a fascinating, fiery explanation, and then I go and shatter it by saying it's about greyhound racing. Their life collapses."
That's putting it a bit strongly, isn't it?
"Well, you never know, it happens. I mean, I could talk about nuclear weapons, but it gets quite tiresome, doesn't it? Everyone gets quite bored with it. I often wonder why shoplifting can be such a serious crime when making nuclear weapons isn't. That should really be a crime, I think, but it isn't. We live in a very twisted world, with a very twisted morality."
Regards,
FWD.
 
OT, but in the spirit of conversation:
I seem to recall a site asserting that there's a movie reference to a gay icon in the first few lines - can't find it for the life of me. Clause 28 seems feasible - there were pop stars making protest songs at the time. I think the alabaster bit is to cement (chuckle) the prison aspect rather than anything 'bulbous' and related :)
Moz interview extract Record Mirror '87 offers an explanation as to why he won't explain it and a clue to the nuclear reference:
'Lyrically, 'Shoplifters' is an obscure affair, and the author is typically unhappy about expanding on the song's meaning.
"Well, I never really like to say, I never really like to pin it down. Do you understand that? I mean, there's someone in Huddersfield who might have a fascinating, fiery explanation, and then I go and shatter it by saying it's about greyhound racing. Their life collapses."
That's putting it a bit strongly, isn't it?
"Well, you never know, it happens. I mean, I could talk about nuclear weapons, but it gets quite tiresome, doesn't it? Everyone gets quite bored with it. I often wonder why shoplifting can be such a serious crime when making nuclear weapons isn't. That should really be a crime, I think, but it isn't. We live in a very twisted world, with a very twisted morality."
Regards,
FWD.
Ah, I always loved that quote about the greyhound racing. Oh, for the days when he was spontaneously witty in print! What on earth happened? It's all got so dreary and predictable. And for once, he actually gives a cogent explanation for the nuclear/shoplifters theme (even if we all know the shoplifters thing is a euphemism). Yes, I'm not getting anything 'bulbous' with the alabaster either (although I agree with OPs that 'a push and it's over' is pretty self-explanatory).

I do wonder if he ever thought his cryptic lyrics would be pored over 30 years later? I expect he has a good laugh at us, all scrabbling around trying to make sense of it all (and probably getting much of it hopelessly wrong).
 
KC tweeted this ~



DXigPbCW0AAIpN5.jpg:large


Meanwhile, í am hoping for a little colour amid the pallid loitering...

38843528530_53f0441f5a_o.jpg



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Wow, that second one, though. Think I might need to go and lie down with a wet flannel.

...My Love Life ;)

He appears to have set his own shrubbery afire; í don't blame it.

í have always maintained that Moz is a right good tucker...
he knows just how & where to tuck things; be that bits of garden bushery, ladies knitwear or...anything.

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