There Is A Light That Never Goes Out - BBC Radio 4 Soul Music

This was on Radio 4 this week - I have only heard a little bit so far but it sounded brilliant. Written by Mark Gatiss (The legendary Glen Bulb from Nighty Night). It's an excellent series and worth looking out for other episodes.

There Is a Light That Never Goes Out (27:41) - BBC Radio 4. Podcast / download, (mirror file 12.6 MB mp3).
Soul Music, Series 19 Episode 4 of 5

Soul Music - The stories behind pieces of music with a powerful emotional impact.

The Smiths' 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' is explored through personal stories. Released in 1986 on 'The Queen Is Dead' album, it has become an anthem of hope, loss and love. As a teenager, Andy listened to it with his father, as he drove him to work. They had a moment of connection, and when his father died suddenly a few weeks later, the song took on huge significance. When her young son was ill, Sharon Woolley drew strength from this music as she sat by his bedside in the small hours of the morning. For comic artist Lucy Knisley, the song got her through a bad break-up with her long-term boyfriend - and it's meaning changed for her when unexpected events unfolded.

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Lucy Knisley and her husband John

Related link in sidebar: Lucy Knisley's comic strip for 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' (www.lucyknisley.com)
 
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This was our first dance song at hubby's and my wedding and the title is engraved in our rings!!
 
My eyes were quite watery while listening to this piece...Listening to this song in my 40's is having a far-more-profound affect on me than when I was 14....

I think many could argue that TIALTNGO is (quite possibly) the greatest song ever written...I am one of them...
 
I found this programme quite moving. As a teenager I had always been aware of the Smiths but 'The Queen Is Dead' was the first album I actually listened to. I vividly remember the first time I heard this song. There is something about it that reaches out to 'touch' the listener - just as the singer wants to reach out and touch the driver of the car he is sitting beside. I love the way that the listener becomes complicit in the song, becoming the 'us' that the singer addresses.
 
What is amazing about the song is that can nurse you through your lowest lows,but canheighten your highest highs.
It truly is a "musical crutch" that can alleviate some of the pain you may feel in all sorts of occasions.
It is also a record that non smiths/morrisey fans actually listen to,and i'm sure that it strikes a cord with the majority of them.
 
What is amazing about the song is that can nurse you through your lowest lows,but canheighten your highest highs.
It truly is a "musical crutch" that can alleviate some of the pain you may feel in all sorts of occasions.
It is also a record that non smiths/morrisey fans actually listen to,and i'm sure that it strikes a cord with the majority of them.

Smiths/Morrissey fans are a strange lot...Most people can remember where they were when a president was shot, a space shuttle exploded, or a man walked on the moon...We, however, can remember where we were (and how we felt, mind you) when we first heard a particular Smiths or Morrissey tune....

The affects of these songs will always be with us..."There is a Light" just has no equal....
 
Yeah, quite a good programme.

Not the best thing to listen to though, immobile in your 7-day-sick-bed, the morning after a triumphant Dublin concert that you had the good ticket, but not the good health, to get to :straightface:

Ever since I have been oddly addicted to this early version ("take 1"?! Seriously?) I think I prefer it to the LP version, which now sounds ludicrously overproduced!

There's something about Morrissey's vocal inflections in this version that are so natural, effortless and beautiful.

Kind of like he is singing it through for the first time.

And then that last little change to the titular refrain is just sublime, and takes the breath away no matter how many times you here it. (Probably because you've had the original refrain in your life for decades.)

A reveried mumble bringing it back from the abstract and universal to the present and personal; and yet still eternal. And heartbreaking.



* and is that Joyce at the end? "Morrrisssaaaaaay!" Cute.
 
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Yeah, quite a good programme.

Not the best thing to listen to though, immobile in your 7-day-sick-bed, the morning after a triumphant Dublin concert that you had the good ticket, but not the good health, to get to :straightface:

Ever since I have been oddly addicted to this early version ("take 1"?! Seriously?) I think I prefer it to the LP version, which now sounds ludicrously overproduced!

There's something about Morrissey's vocal inflections in this version that are so natural, effortless and beautiful.

Kind of like he is singing it through for the first time.

And then that last little change to the titular refrain is just sublime, and takes the breath away no matter how many times you here it. (Probably because you've had the original refrain in your life for decades.)

A reveried mumble bringing it back from the abstract and universal to the present and personal; and yet still eternal. And heartbreaking.



* and is that Joyce at the end? "Morrrisssaaaaaay!" Cute.


I like the album version better..."There is a Light" just isn't the same without the "bouncy" flute....This isn't bad either...I like how Morrissey sings, "There's a light in your eyes...." Too cool...
 
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"There's a light in your eyes...."

yeah that would make a great deal of difference to me. very awesome
 

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