Worst possible Moz setlist

[Orson Swells]

People Are The Same Everywhere
Striptease With A Difference
Journalists Who Like
The Kid’s A Looker
Oh Phoney
Happy Lovers At Last United
Safe Warm Lancashire Home
(I’m) The End of the Family Line
Treat Me Like A Human Being

I Am Two People​

Ambitious Outsiders
The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye
Sorrow Will Come In The End
This Is Not Your Country
Kick The Bride Down The Aisle
You’ve Had Her

Satellite of Love​

Get Off The Stage

 

[Amy]

It seems like lots of people don't care for "All You Need Is Me" and "That's How People Grow Up" but I felt they were some of the best of what I'd consider recent work, though ten years old now.

I think that says more about the quality of his recent work than anything else. You hear a song and you think it's the worst he's done, only for him to come up with something even worse than that. People Are the Same Everywhere is absolutely the biggest pile of dreck I've ever heard, but it pales next to Kiss Me a Lot or Spent the Day in Bed. And then you look at songs which are merely poor, rather than awful, and they look like the best of the bunch.

 

[Anonymous]

I almost put that’s how people grow up but I find it better live than on record so that saved it along with a bunch of stuff on ringleader etc. I also tried to make my list absent a lot of the bsides and non album tracks as that was to easy

 

[Peppermint]

Thanks for rating me interesting, Peppermint. I am playing devil's advocate a tiny bit, as always with Morrissey.

Well, I thought your point about war heroes on the news was an interesting one even though I can't relate to it myself. And you're right, IBTL is mostly in the first person but he is viciously disparaging about 'our John' ('Honour-mad cannon fodder', etc). Some people have suggested this is an ironic or sympathetic position, but personally I don't hear it that way.

I do think Morrissey is the last person who should be pouring scorn on the armed forces because the threat we face from Isis, for instance, would put 'humasexuals' like him at the front of the queue to be thrown off buildings, so he might be glad we have armies at some point. That's what I really dislike about that song - it's the juvenile finger-pointing from the comfort of his 5* hotel, when you know that if he was really in that situation himself, he'd crap himself. It's disingenuous.

But, you know, that's what I like about this site - everybody's got an opinion and everybody's opinion is different from everybody else's.

 

[Peppermint]

People Are The Same Everywhere
Striptease With A Difference
Journalists Who Like
The Kid’s A Looker
Oh Phoney
Happy Lovers At Last United
Safe Warm Lancashire Home
(I’m) The End of the Family Line
Treat Me Like A Human Being

I Am Two People​

Ambitious Outsiders
The Harsh Truth of the Camera Eye
Sorrow Will Come In The End
This Is Not Your Country
Kick The Bride Down The Aisle
You’ve Had Her

Satellite of Love​

Get Off The Stage

Noooo! Not Striptease and End of the Family Line! Two of my favourites! With you on pretty much everything else, mind you.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

I will see you in far off places
Istanbul
The bullfighter dies
Sunny
Journalists who lie
That's how people grow up

At this point I would probably f*** off to the bar and miss the rest...

 

[Peppermint]

I will see you in far off places
Istanbul
The bullfighter dies
Sunny
Journalists who lie
That's how people grow up

At this point I would probably f*** off to the bar and miss the rest...

So funny how people hear different things in different songs. I love Sunny - it's one of a clutch of less well-known tracks that I consider little gems, although I think the live version on Jools is better than the recording. Have to say I'm with you on the others though, CC.

 

[URBANUS]

Any of the songs after 2006 and many many before then as well. Not into Suedehead at all unlike most of his fans.

 

[URBANUS]

These kinds of threads tells us all that he really doesn't have any fans deep down and that we all dislike more than we like. His solo songs didn't last the test of time much like those awful recordings with The Smiths never did. They are a reference for studio people on how not to record albums.

 

[Case]

People Are the Same Everywhere
I'm OK By Myself
Journalists Who Lie
World Peace is None of Your Business
America Is Not the World
Such Little Things Make a Big Difference
Don't Make Fun of Daddy's Voice
Ganglord
/Sorrow Will Come to an End

 

[Eldritch]

Well, I thought your point about war heroes on the news was an interesting one even though I can't relate to it myself. And you're right, IBTL is mostly in the first person but he is viciously disparaging about 'our John' ('Honour-mad cannon fodder', etc). Some people have suggested this is an ironic or sympathetic position, but personally I don't hear it that way.

I do think Morrissey is the last person who should be pouring scorn on the armed forces because the threat we face from Isis, for instance, would put 'humasexuals' like him at the front of the queue to be thrown off buildings, so he might be glad we have armies at some point. That's what I really dislike about that song - it's the juvenile finger-pointing from the comfort of his 5* hotel, when you know that if he was really in that situation himself, he'd crap himself. It's disingenuous.

But, you know, that's what I like about this site - everybody's got an opinion and everybody's opinion is different from everybody else's.

I totally agree. I'm not willing to let I Bury The Living because of the first person narrative, because there are clearly condescending and condemning tones and lines in the song. This "I'm just a sweet little soldier" is not something a soldier would really say or think -- it's clearly Morrissey's view of him, as well as the part "hatred of all humanity" and "honor-mad cannon-fodder". All in all, I find a very confused narrative, not well-constructed or consistent at all.

 

[firstodie]

I totally agree. I'm not willing to let I Bury The Living because of the first person narrative, because there are clearly condescending and condemning tones and lines in the song. This "I'm just a sweet little soldier" is not something a soldier would really say or think -- it's clearly Morrissey's view of him, as well as the part "hatred of all humanity" and "honor-mad cannon-fodder". All in all, I find a very confused narrative, not well-constructed or consistent at all.

I'm not naive enough to believe that the armed forces are not needed - what rankles is the constant gorification. Let's be thankful they're there to keep us safe, let's treat them with decency and respect, but let's not forget what they're job entails.

 

[Eldritch]

I'm not naive enough to believe that the armed forces are not needed - what rankles is the constant gorification. Let's be thankful they're there to keep us safe, let's treat them with decency and respect, but let's not forget what they're job entails.

The difference of the perspective here is that I am a Finn and I have done my 11 months of army service. We're a small country, so we don't have a professional army -- every male has to serve and females are able to nowadays as well. I lost my grandfather in The Second World War fighting against the Russians. He certainly wasn't "honor-mad cannon-fodder" and he didn't want to be there. And I hated my time in the army too, but I understand it had to be done. This is something that a pampered millionaire like Morrissey who hasn't ever even had a proper job for more than a week can't possibly fathom. He just thinks that if everybody refuses to go to the war, there wouldn't be any. Oh well, let's return to that when the Russians attack your country.

 

[Flibberty]

The difference of the perspective here is that I am a Finn and I have done my 11 months of army service. We're a small country, so we don't have a professional army -- every male has to serve and females are able to nowadays as well. I lost my grandfather in The Second World War fighting against the Russians. He certainly wasn't "honor-mad cannon-fodder" and he didn't want to be there. And I hated my time in the army too, but I understand it had to be done. This is something that a pampered millionaire like Morrissey who hasn't ever even had a proper job for more than a week can't possibly fathom. He just thinks that if everybody refuses to go to the war, there wouldn't be any. Oh well, let's return to that when the Russians attack your country.

Well, to be fair to Morrissey, he clearly wasn't referring to either people who fought in the war or people who have to join up.

 

[Charlie Cheswick]

So funny how people hear different things in different songs. I love Sunny - it's one of a clutch of less well-known tracks that I consider little gems, although I think the live version on Jools is better than the recording. Have to say I'm with you on the others though, CC.

I think I'm the only person here who just doesn't get it. Another one is Late night maudlin street. Never liked it at all and most people seem to rate it as one of Morrissey's best.

 

[Anonymous]

I think I'm the only person here who just doesn't get it. Another one is Late night maudlin street. Never liked it at all and most people seem to rate it as one of Morrissey's best.

I love sunny but I’m with you on late night. I don’t hate it or anything but I don’t get the adoration for it and a lot of the time hit the next button about half way through. I always get crap from the older fans about it

 

[Peppermint]

I think I'm the only person here who just doesn't get it. Another one is Late night maudlin street. Never liked it at all and most people seem to rate it as one of Morrissey's best.

Yes, I don't get the masterpiece thing with Maudlin Street. I think it's okay and I love the lyrics, but for me musically it's a bit lacking and it goes on far too long.

It suddenly struck me that if he's reading this thread it might give him some great ideas for his next show (knowing how much he loves a perverse move just to get us all scratching our heads).

 

[Flibberty]

Late Night, Maudlin Street is deservedly a classic. The original doesn't go on too long in my eyes, but obviously Morrissey disagreed.

If we were to talk about songs going on too long, then most of the tracks on Southpaw Grammar are guilty of that.

 

[ExpectingToFly]

I'm one of those that think 'Late Night, Maudlin Street' is a classic. If I could pick Morrissey's setlist, it would definitely feature for me.

Am I the only person who actually quite likes Tony the Pony?

As with any artist, Morrissey has quite a fair few duds in his back catalogue. In particular, I hope we never have to suffer 'The Kid's A Looker' ever again. Or 'People Are The Same Everywhere' for that matter. Really disagree with the OP's inclusion of 'Istanbul' though, for me that's one of his strongest songs in recent years.

 

[Peppermint]

I'm one of those that think 'Late Night, Maudlin Street' is a classic. If I could pick Morrissey's setlist, it would definitely feature for me.

Am I the only person who actually quite likes Tony the Pony?

As with any artist, Morrissey has quite a fair few duds in his back catalogue. In particular, I hope we never have to suffer 'The Kid's A Looker' ever again. Or 'People Are The Same Everywhere' for that matter. Really disagree with the OP's inclusion of 'Istanbul' though, for me that's one of his strongest songs in recent years.

I certainly hate other songs much more than Tony the Pony - I think my main dislike of it would be that it screams 'Will this do?' to me. But maybe that's true of most of his duds (including People are the Same).
It's a curious thing about Istanbul, I hated pretty much every track on World Peace (God knows I tried to love it) but when he played Istanbul live on BBC6 in October I was blown away by how good it was.