Morrissey A-Z: "Now I Am A Was"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member



Our song today is this Morrissey/Cobrin composition, a B-side on the "Satan Rejected My Soul" single and then included on the Maladjusted reissue in 2009.

What do we think?
 
A pretty little tune not much distinguishing it from the rest of the album except that it’s one of the better tracks: placing this along with the fantastic “Lost” and perhaps “...Edges...” and removing the three worst tracks would definitely make it more loveable in my book. The chord sequence is pretty standard by this point, but Moz seems to try and put in the right amount of emotion into the song to suit the dejected lyrics. I also like the modulation at the end: a classic pop move, but skilfully executed. Not one I’ve payed attention to much before, but might give it a few more spins in the near future.
7/10
 
I like this song,while it might be bit a bit lightweight compared to other tracks it is another song I really want to hear live.
 
good song,not much lyrically,two short verses.2.35 means nobody can say it drags.
8 now/10 was.
 
Nice little track which plods along nicely; not one I actively search out, but I do find myself singing along with it when it arrives. I like the bubbling-bass intro. It's 'waffeur thin' in comparison to the monstrously wonderful NSAM we had yesterday, but of course it's from a different era.
Typical Moz song; self-deprecating, self-pitying, misery.
Lovely.
 
Always enjoyed this one immensely. It’s breezy Moz guitar pop at its best, with wonderful lyrics about rejection and heartbreak. However! Despite being no more than two and a half minutes long, it still manages to drag on a bit at the end. He should’ve written a third verse. A short one would have been enough.
 
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This song drags on to long.....

Only joking gordy😜
I really couldn’t tell you the last time I heard this song but what a great song to go with Satan...
 
I love this piece. It got quite a lot of attention, which is what the "remix" indicates. Maybe it was even planned as a one-off single after Maladjusted for 1998 but the record company threw it out and there was no more interest from either side (who knows). A short, extremely catchy song that presents Morrissey's status in the first person as a bittersweet farewell. "I started at the top and I worked my way down." Classic!
 
ANOTHER MOZ MASTERPIECE

👆🙄

All seriousness, it’s a healthy n-side that is representative of that time - 1997
 
I love this one. It was easy to overlook it next to some of those other fantastic B-sides of this period, but it really repays repeat listening. There's some nice subtle bits in the guitar work that are really buried deep in the mix. The vocals and lyrics are great, and really represent what for a long time looked like Morrissey's farewell song: I know 'This is Not Your Country' technically follows, but otherwise this was the final song before the great record label-less 'wilderness years'. It's got a similar kind of vibe as 'Rubber Ring' in that whole 'fans who have grown out of me' thing, but this really did see like Morrissey saying goodbye. It would have been a fantastic song to bow out his career on. [9 out of 10]
 
With close memories of the distant winter of 1997/1998, Now I Am A Was, coupled with This Is Not Your Country felt, as 1998 turned to 99 and onto 2000 and beyond, as if it was a faint farewell swansong – was Morrissey now ‘a was’? The song seemed to imply, like the wonderful closer to You Are The Quarry, You Know I Couldn’t Last, that Morrissey may be shuffling off the musical mortal coil, to never return. In such, my fondness and connection for this lightweight song grew over the years - it started near the bottom and worked its way up….
 
The bonus tracks on Roy's Keen were superb, but the standard understandably couldn't be maintained for this single.

This is the better of the 2 Satan b-sides, but it is very slight both lyrically and musically. Simon Goddard described this as the, "wispiest of Cobrin's Morrissey tunes" and there is very little to get excited about. Even with its short length, it still feels a little stretched.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 213th from 264 solo songs.
 
Great song, from a period when greatness seemed easy for Morrissey.
 
It's jangly Moz-by-numbers but honestly I'd rather listen to jangly Moz-by-numbers than most other stuff just because of his voice. And the remorseless self-deprecating, self-pitying melancholy of it all.
 
The Maladjusted B-Sides work great when you play them in order. I've always thought it must have been deliberate how 'The Edges are No Longer Parallel' ends with that rumbling bass guitar, which is the first thing we hear at the start of this track. It almost sounds like they were designed to run into each other at one point.
 
o_O

in all seriousness?> rosie odonnell is mocking this Moz Masterpiece with beautiful
lyrics and music?:mad:
peeps dont read troll commentary, most of it is Jr wearing a 5os dress, under various fake log ins.:blushing:
one show and Rosie would have been on the :banned:list. FOR SURE;)

🇭🇷>:hammer:
 
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