The Morrissey Collection - Smash Hits (June 21 - July 4, 1984): Difference between revisions

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==Transcript==
==Transcript==
HIS [[Mention::Oscar Wilde|OSCAR WILDE]] BOOKS. HIS [[Mention::Billy Fury|BILLY FURY]] LP. HIS PHOTO OF [[Mention::James Dean|JAMES DEAN]]. THESE, MORRISSEY SAYS, ARE HIS MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS. IAN BIRCH FINDS OUT WHY THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO HIM.
HIS [[Mention::Oscar Wilde|OSCAR WILDE]] BOOKS. HIS [[Mention::Billy Fury|BILLY FURY]] LP. HIS PHOTO OF [[Mention::James Dean|JAMES DEAN]]. THESE, MORRISSEY SAYS, ARE HIS MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS. IAN BIRCH FINDS OUT WHY THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO HIM.
===OSCAR WILDE 1854-1900===
<small>Victorian wit, novelist, playwright and poet.</small>
"My mother, who's an assistant librarian, introduced me to his writing when I was 8. She insisted I read him and I immediately
became obsessed. Every single line affected me in some way. I liked the simplicity of the way he wrote. There was a piece called ''The Nightingale And The Rose'' that appealed to me immensely then. It was about a nightingale who sacrificed herself for these two star-crossed lovers. It ends when the nightingale presses her heart against this rose because in a strange, mystical way it means that if she dies, then the two lovers can be together. This sense of truly high drama zipped through everything he wrote. He had a life that was really tragic and it's curious that he was so witty. Here we have a creature persistently creased in pain whose life was a total travesty. He married, rashly had two children and almost immediately embarked on a love affair with a man. He was sent to prison for this. It's a total disadvantage to care about Oscar Wilde, certainly when you come from a working
class background. It's total self-destruction almost. My personal saving grace at school was that I was something of a model athlete. I'm sure if I hadn't been, I'd have been sacrificed in the first year. I got streams and streams of medals for running. As I blundered through my late teens, I was quite isolated and Oscar Wilde meant much more to me. In a way he became a companion. If that sounds pitiful, that was the way it was. I rarely left the house. I had no social life. Then, as I became a Smith, I used flowers because Oscar Wilde always used flowers. He once went to the Colorado salt mines and addressed a mass of miners there. He started the speech with, 'Let me tell you why we worship the daffodil'. Of course, he was stoned to death. But I really admired his bravery and the idea of being constantly attached to some form of plant. As I get older, the adoration increases. I'm never without him. It's almost biblical. It's like carrying your rosary around with you."

Revision as of 09:50, 31 January 2023

Information

By Ian Birch

Transcript

HIS OSCAR WILDE BOOKS. HIS BILLY FURY LP. HIS PHOTO OF JAMES DEAN. THESE, MORRISSEY SAYS, ARE HIS MOST TREASURED POSSESSIONS. IAN BIRCH FINDS OUT WHY THEY MEAN SO MUCH TO HIM.

OSCAR WILDE 1854-1900

Victorian wit, novelist, playwright and poet.

"My mother, who's an assistant librarian, introduced me to his writing when I was 8. She insisted I read him and I immediately became obsessed. Every single line affected me in some way. I liked the simplicity of the way he wrote. There was a piece called The Nightingale And The Rose that appealed to me immensely then. It was about a nightingale who sacrificed herself for these two star-crossed lovers. It ends when the nightingale presses her heart against this rose because in a strange, mystical way it means that if she dies, then the two lovers can be together. This sense of truly high drama zipped through everything he wrote. He had a life that was really tragic and it's curious that he was so witty. Here we have a creature persistently creased in pain whose life was a total travesty. He married, rashly had two children and almost immediately embarked on a love affair with a man. He was sent to prison for this. It's a total disadvantage to care about Oscar Wilde, certainly when you come from a working class background. It's total self-destruction almost. My personal saving grace at school was that I was something of a model athlete. I'm sure if I hadn't been, I'd have been sacrificed in the first year. I got streams and streams of medals for running. As I blundered through my late teens, I was quite isolated and Oscar Wilde meant much more to me. In a way he became a companion. If that sounds pitiful, that was the way it was. I rarely left the house. I had no social life. Then, as I became a Smith, I used flowers because Oscar Wilde always used flowers. He once went to the Colorado salt mines and addressed a mass of miners there. He started the speech with, 'Let me tell you why we worship the daffodil'. Of course, he was stoned to death. But I really admired his bravery and the idea of being constantly attached to some form of plant. As I get older, the adoration increases. I'm never without him. It's almost biblical. It's like carrying your rosary around with you."