Morrissey A-Z: "I Wish You Lonely"

love it

i love his contempt for stupid people who squander their lives for stupid reasons
 
This is a tricky one for me. I love the lyrics and what Morrissey tries to do with the vocal melody here, but I find the music so ploddingly, lumpily awful (sorry Boz) that it just doesn't work - although I guess it does have a certain "energy" live.

I'd love to hear this song done in a totally different musical style, maybe even like a country song? There's a plaintiveness and a passion to it that just isn't well served by the way it's presented here.
 
Love, love, love this song. Another High School highlight. Pounding drums and synths, great slashes of guitar and a powerful delivery that aids the spiteful lyricism. Really gets the album going, and begins a stretch of great songs through Side 1.
10/10
 
not heard this in a while,love it,music is a bit screechy,some good lyrics.
romance gone wrong is a great line.all in all a solid track.
8humback whales/10humpback whales
 
I adore the words of the last verse with its animal rights reference:
I wish you lonely
Like the last trapped humpback whale
Chased by gunships from Bergen
But never giving in, never giving in

I always feel like this last humpback whale might be Morrissey himself and it is powerful imagery.

The high-pitched o-ho's in the middle are also great.

I like the music, but I could have lived without the electronic beeps .
 
I never much liked the 'sneering at war memorials' aspect of the 'Tombs are full of fools..." verses. That aside, the rather strident arrangement does suit the slightly histrionic vocals. Harmonically it could do with a bit more variety too but it's not a long song so it's not a big deal. Of the first half of LIHS, which I really like, I think this might be the weakest song.
 
One of the few songs off of LIHS that I like. His ice cold misanthropy and utter incomprehension of other people’s problems and life choices are of course very hard to swallow, but there are some other sentiments of the lyrics that I really like - the animal rights part, especially. Also love the powerful arrangement and his impassioned vocals, making it sound like a mini anthem. All in all, a song I really enjoy hearing.
 


I like this one. I wanted to hear a live version and see if it has changed much. I haven't listened to the record it's from for a while but I think it might be one of the better songs on it?
 
The first half of Low in High School is pretty strong, and this track is no exception.

The layered production helps a lot and, combined with Morrissey's impassioned vocals, makes it a fairly powerful listen.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 66th from 264 solo songs.
 
From the much maligned and maladjusted Low In High School, I Wish You Lonely is 3 enjoyable minutes of barbed, blustering spite and venom, peppered with miserabilism, contempt and bitterness. Really – what more could a diehard Morrissey fan ask for? Wonderful!
 
i also love his calling out of norway. i mean, he didnt have to, it added nothing to the coherency of the song, but he chose to.
An aside, and of course not Norway, but whenever I listen to The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils I always expect and will Morrissey to change the line ‘To be finished would be a relied’ to ‘To be Finnish would be a relief.’ And then I wish he would sing this song, and amended line, at all Scandinavian dates - if anything just to gauge the reaction of the audience.
 
I love it. The narrator pretends to curse someone else while really slagging off themselves & wondering what else could there be - if serving God & country, love & even drugs can't cheer you up, what can?

But - they'll keep going, like the last whale.

So - it's one of Morrissey's most positive songs.

Which is very Morrissey.
 
There is no reason to beat around the bush ... Number 5 at my personal Morrisseys TOP 10 ever ...
 
I think if this had come out when both he and I was younger, I would've loved it but...

As already observed, musically there's nothing there (AGAIN) and when I heard it I thought it was such a sixth-form soapbox protest lyric, as if written by a student who was just becoming aware of the injustices of the world after sitting through double history; except it was coming out of the mouth of an old man who was losing his hair.

It seemed sad, but not for the subject matter addressed in the lyric.
 
probably the best song on the album and it is still dog shit
 
An aside, and of course not Norway, but whenever I listen to The Teachers Are Afraid Of The Pupils I always expect and will Morrissey to change the line ‘To be finished would be a relied’ to ‘To be Finnish would be a relief.’ And then I wish he would sing this song, and amended line, at all Scandinavian dates - if anything just to gauge the reaction of the audience.

Or he could acknowledge his Popeye chin and sing "to eat spinach would be a relief”.
 
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