Morrissey A-Z: "Glamorous Glue"

I like this one a lot. A rare instance of a Moz-solo song with a truly dynamic, energetic musical backing.
 
This my jam yo. The lyrics speak true almost 30 years on - to me at least. Don't forget : "OUR RAYMOND OUR DOUGLAS OUR BUNNY"

Now let's begin the discussion over who heard "job" versus "jars" the first couple a listens? And, what is being discussed in said jars - drug sniffing or pints?
I am certain that I heard "job" back in 1992 and the CD didn't contain a lyrics sheet, very unlike Morrissey! Of course I know better now, and I would say it is a jar of (light) drugs. Lines like "Where is the man you respect? Where is the woman you love?" are a stab at conventions. No surprise to hear then that "he won't vote conservative" because he never did.
 
A really great, solid album track. Was great on Saturday Night Live at the time, and on the YA-tour.
Always wondered why he never brought songs like this back to the live set, to spice things up a bit.

'Everything, of worth, on, earth, is there, to share' ;)

The spoken-word ending always reminded me of I Started Something somehow.

8,2
 
Perhaps, but in those days Moz had a lot of couch scraps worth digging into.

Yep, think most of us here would take those ‘couch scraps’ over what is being passed off as lyrics these days, or from any day.






@ 1:01 in ....

‘B-E-A-V-E-R O'-L-I-N-D-Y
Well, I'm the London that is dead, I'm the boy in your bed’

and again at 2:29 ...

‘The London that's dead, the London that's dead’

You nailed the musical reference: it is quite similar to Jean Genie. But it is more powerful and I thought it had a "Raw power" vine to it as well. Or more broadly a nod to the punk scene.

I wonder if the lyrics are about the London punk scene of the 70s too, which was really dead by the time of the early 90s but which still persisted as an underground scene in the US in various places, LA being one of them (and Morrissey had been spending time in LA by that time). I could be wrong of course. The only certain thing that comes out of the lyrics is a nostalgia for an era that has passed, everything else is vague.
I seem to recall Morrissey stating that the "London is dead" referred only to the Americanization of language at the time.

Yes, I think I remember reading that too.

mentioned this before, but once I gave him a videotape of things, and threw some live Ziggy Stardust (D.A. Pennebaker) on it,
talking to him later, he said he enjoyed it, then criticized or to his disappointment didn’t like that Bowie was singing with an American accent. He’s very sensitive
to peoples accents and the accent they use.



Below is his SNL appearance of Glue ...

 
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I def heard job for a while. I love this song for all it’s obvious charms. The pace and tension. The guitar sounds hot and searing and the words are amusing. Very nicely produced and I agree it’s very well produced. The vocal is also super catchy so that helps. A song about growing up and realizing it’s not full of the drama and passion of tv and is mostly just people who care about anything except the mindlessness that comes from sniffing glue. Could apply to the music industry or just outgrowing your local punk scene
 
A really great, solid album track. Was great on Saturday Night Live at the time, and on the YA-tour.
Always wondered why he never brought songs like this back to the live set, to spice things up a bit.

'Everything, of worth, on, earth, is there, to share' ;)

The spoken-word ending always reminded me of I Started Something somehow.

8,2
He did bring it back - 2017/2018

but you weren’t there so wouldn’t haven’t any really clue (as usual)
 
Below is his SNL appearance of Glue ...



God what an amazing performance. I remember watching that when it aired and I was absolutely stunned.

Unrelated: for as much as I love this song, I remember finding out recently that it is extremely similar musically to someone else's song but now for the life of me I cannot recall what song.
 
And then he himself moves to SoCal and seals the deal.

If you can't beat them, join them.

A real problem in theatre is that young writers send us American style scripts set in the UK or Limbo. And it doesn't really work.

But then you also get producers moaning that something is SO regional that it can't transfer to New York.

It's a pain.
 
Unrelated: for as much as I love this song, I remember finding out recently that it is extremely similar musically to someone else's song but now for the life of me I cannot recall what song.




though it’s only fair to add that Bowie ‘stole’ it from Bo Diddley or Muddy Waters...

 
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Don’t forget “Rock and Roll Part 2” which I honestly hear just as much as “Jean Genie.”

Such a wonderful song, the blazing sound of gold lamé and creative juices replenished. Should’ve been the lead single from Your Arsenal. Wish he didn’t shy away from playing these types of songs more liberally, when he brought this one back a few years ago it was the highlight of the show.
 
A really great, solid album track.

'Everything, of worth, on, earth, is there, to share' ;)

The spoken-word ending always reminded me of I Started Something somehow.

8,2

Ah yes! almost forgot .....


“To give is the reason I live
To give all I can give
In return, for the life that I earn

I was born as a part of the plan
With the heart of a man
With a will to survive

And I believe
Everything on this earth
Having meaning and worth
Made of concrete and air
Is to share
and to feel
Justify I exist
To describe on the list
Of someone
With a place in the sun

Here I stand, reaching out for the sky
Till the day that I die
I must give all I can
When I go
I'll go out empty hand
Leaving dust to the land

Just the soul I have found
Leaves the ground”

Songwriters: Bob Crewe / Bob Gaudio



And as we know, later covered by Morrissey.
 
Always liked this one a lot. It's driving and moody, yet at the same time good humored and flippant, with lots of quotable lines. And a perfect bridge between barn burner YGNSOYS and brooding WLYK.
 
@Dale Wharfe :unsure:

You don’t see the connection between Morrissey’s adaptation
of the Bob Crewe / Bob Gaudio
lyrics for his own used in Glamorous Glue?
 
I always had a particularly filthy notion of what glamorous glue may be.

Well, we all assumed you did, naughty boy!

But now you have to give us your own interpretation of the lyrics.


Btw, sorry to stick a pin in your balloon :blushing:
 
Thought it was 'jaw'... as in masculinity,
First day as a man, etc
Growing up to be disenchanted with the other men (ie politics).

I also thought it was a reference to Bowie's 1984
'Beware the savage jaw'
Which according to online lyrics are actually
'Savage lure'.

I guess I'm dumb and should read the lyrics more often.
 
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If you can't beat them, join them.

A real problem in theatre is that young writers send us American style scripts set in the UK or Limbo. And it doesn't really work.

But then you also get producers moaning that something is SO regional that it can't transfer to New York.

It's a pain.
I saw Taboo! years ago in the West End and recall that it didn't - as you say - transfer/translate well for the streets of Broadway...
 
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