Stylishly, Stylistically Yours

When it comes to Morrissey news, things have been pretty quiet lately, with the only updates since early December being an interview with American Songwriter, and Sam’s release of the Santa Barbara Bowl concert from 2016 (well, there was the classically bizarre not-really-the-Smiths-at-all reunion, which had nothing to do with Morrissey, but the wheels fell off of that before it even began). The Santa Barbara Dia De Los Muertos concert features Moz looking smashing in a black suit, painted sugar skull faces on the band, and a set list including Ouija Board, Ouija Board, How Soon Is Now?, Jack The Ripper, and Don’t Make Fun Of Daddy’s Voice. I was there (I can actually see myself in the video, which takes some getting used to), and can attest it was a spectacular night.

Photo by maladjusteddoll82 on Instagram

The American Songwriter interview includes insight into Morrissey and the band’s songwriting process, studio time, and themes from Low In High School. Intelligence and thought-provoking lyrics are so rare in modern popular music, which makes one wonder if this is a direct reflection of a desire looming from above to control humans as anaesthetized masses, rather than risk us being inspired to think for ourselves, and question things.

“I think entertainment should explain reality and not escape it. We have no idea where we come from or where we go to when we die, so why not throw it out for debate? Likewise, loneliness is the world’s number one problem, so why not debate it? If you consider the great popularity and admiration for poetry and philosophy then we can see how both should work well within pop music because ... why not? Why become a part of idiot culture?”

- Morrissey

Photo by SER: http://sam-esty-rayner-photography.format.com/selection/music

Meanwhile, we await the upcoming UK and Ireland tour with racing pulses of excitement (major Moz-withdrawals here!) I am lucky enough to be attending 6 of the concerts and am especially excited at the thought of seeing Morrissey in Dublin. I fly in less than a week, and am of course behind in sorting out all the things I need to, including phone plans, train bookings, and constructing packing lists lengthy as Russian novels (I don’t travel light). While trip planning can be exciting, dealing with customer service is not, and after one of my hotel bookings got messed up, I ended up submerged in an arduous eye-roller chain of telephone calls, for which I was ‘rewarded’ with a special offer to stay at the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas if I agreed to attend a time share meeting. Time share and Trump seemed more like a double punishment than any sort of prize, and even the thought of staying in the NYC hotel I saw reviewed on Yelp last year, featuring mouldy sheets and a chattering chorus of mice in the closet, would be preferable to that. Hence my procrastination, and now I spend most of my time looking at pictures of cute sloths, one of my latest obsessions.

via sloth.day on Instagram

Of course, another way to prepare for an upcoming tour is to listen to Low In High School. I find myself captivated by the album, and am looking forward to getting another taste of its songs live. As my ears thirstily cling to the lyrics, I think of what a master wordsmith Morrissey is, and I’m constantly fascinated by his ability to say so many things, and convey so much emotion, in a 3 or 4 minute song. Sometimes his words are beautifully simple, and other times they guide you on a nimble, limber poetic journey, as his language holds such power in its rhythm, making it an instrument of its own. Word choice can make or break a song, and over the decades Morrissey has demonstrated his lyrical prowess, and it strikes me I actually learn new words from listening to his music! Yes, Morrissey rescues us from “idiot culture” once again, and I’m not ashamed to admit he has me reaching for the dictionary on occasion. An example from Low In High School is the word “potentate”– I had no idea what that meant (in fact the word was entirely new to me!) before I Wish You Lonely.
I decided to take to Twitter to see if others had learned any new words from Mozzer, and here are some of the answers I received...

“Have you ever learned a new word or expression because of a Morrissey song?”

Palare, including “bona to vada, oh you, your lovely eek and your lovely riah”

Gelignite

Sycophant

Potentate

Humdrum

“Reel around the fountain”

Neal Cassady

Stalwart

Oscillate

Retrousse nose

and, perhaps my favourite response:

“Basically everything... I learned English because of him, or thanks to him.”

I am also entranced by Morrissey’s lyrical usage of words that are rarely, or perhaps never, seen in rock or pop songs, such as temazepam and diazepam (Something Is Squeezing My Skull), "cancer of the prostate" (I’m Not A Man), the euphemistic "explosive kegs" in Dear God Please Help Me, the harrowing list of ailments in Neal Cassady Drops Dead (including gangrene and scurvy!) and countenance (The Girl From Tel-Aviv Who Wouldn’t Kneel) – possibly not as rare, but this one, to me, evokes 19^th century lit, very-Brontesque, as we know Morrissey is a fan of gothic romance. My favourite of all might be Beefaroni - spelled "Beef-a-ronie" in the liner notes (also I’m Not A Man, even more incredibly used to describe a person, not just the tinned woeful Walmart-cuisine!) which is a jab at the toxic masculinity of meat-munching macho good ol’ boys. Morrissey inserts exotic (yet paradoxically, familiar) language into lyrics so seamlessly that in moments it can almost shock, and it works brilliantly!  And before I move on... have you ever sat down and thought about the fact Moz rhymed “complexity” with “passenger seat”? Mind blown!

Before I write about this all day, because I probably could, let’s take a brief look at a little fashion poll I made on another social media platform, Instagram. The only thing better than an intelligent man, is an intelligent man with incredible style - and we can have both! As I had not offered one of my extremely important fashion polls on Instagram before, I decided to give it a go – we actually went three rounds... let’s take a look at our winners:

Round 1:

Cardigan vs Denim

Suit Jacket vs Shirt

Sparkly vs Checked

Sporty Jacket vs T-shirt

With a total of 49 votes per category, our first round winners from each pairing were:

Cardigan with 76% of the votes (oh my heart!)

Suit Jacket with 71% of the votes

Sparkly with 62% of the votes

and

T-shirt with 61% of the votes...

In the semi- finals,

T-shirt was up against Sparkly, and won with 53% of the votes

and Suit Jacket was up against cardigan, winning with 65% of the votes

(this time 58 people voted!)

FINAL ROUND:

For the Instagram Fashion Poll Finals, it was T-shirt vs Suit Jacket (and out of 49 votes... 78% went to Suit Jacket)

Suit-jacket was just too tough to beat!

We can’t wait for Morrissey to arrive with incredible style – so all eyes will be towards Scotland for the first two dates of the tour. It will be exciting to see what our Good-Looking Man About Town will sing and wear in 2018.