Polls Of Refusal

It’s been an odd week or so for me because we actually had loads of snow here – and that almost never happens! Many people are under the misconception that all of Canada is buried under snow 6 months of the year, but that just isn’t the case. If there’s approximately one inch of snow where I live, everyone either flips into a flutter of panic or views it as some kind of rare holiday. What I like about the snow is that, in spite of its inconvenience, it makes everything appear quite ethereal and gives a strange, sparkling beauty to normal things we don’t usually notice; it’s absolutely transformative. During all of this, the most important factor was that I visit my duck friends as it was harder for them to acquire food while blankets of snow fell over their pond; luckily, they took it all in stride, and seeing their little beaks dusted with snow was adorable.

In the midst of snowflakes and degrees below freezing, I was trying to figure out how I could manage to see Morrissey in Mexico, but then amazingly some US tour dates were announced! I wasn't expecting tour dates so soon and this news reminded me I can still feel joy (an ability we sometimes forget we have during a particularly rough spell in life). The day before the TTY announcement I tweeted a new (to me) circa 2009 cardigan photo I had come across, and as I think cardis are lucky – this combination of events gave me a thrill! It reminded me a bit of last year when I tweeted cardigan photos and then tour dates were announced. Yes, yes... I realize I do put up lots of cardigan photos, but I’ll just continue to think to myself they are magical anyway. I've since sent a cardi pic to a Twitter friend hoping for dates in Chicago for a bit of good luck too.

The magic of the cardigan

This past week I also made a small-yet-tremendously-important fashion poll (which is something I have done countless times), and this time 41% of voters appear to agree with me that Moz in a cardigan is dream-worthy.  Suit and tux came in a close second. I believe this poll was different in that I don't think I had previously included 'Priest Moz' as an option, and a few people confessed, with a touch of self-described Catholic guilt, that they had a weak spot for Father Moz.

I can resist anything except temptation

Now... let's get back to 2009, which was certainly an outstanding year for cardigans, and it was also the year that Morrissey’s 9^th studio album, Years Of Refusal, was released, on February 16^th. As I am lamentably clumsy when it comes to numbers, and sometimes can’t even remember what year it is (this could also be something to do with getting old-ish...sigh), I didn’t realize it was the 8^th anniversary of the album yesterday until I noticed some people talking about it. Years Of Refusal is one of my most loved records, full of pulsating tracks with driving rhythms and lyrics surrounding everything from psychotropic medications, to suicide, to coming to terms with romantic disappointments. I love listening to this album and singing along VERY loudly while I drive.

As a slight aside, I've been thinking about how, on the covers of his last 4 studio albums, Morrissey is holding something:

A gun on You Are The Quarry
A violin on Ringleader Of The Tormentors
A baby on Years Of Refusal
A pen on World Peace Is None Of Your Business

I'll be endlessly musing over whether there is continued symbolism or extended metaphor somehow woven through these images. In such moments I regret my English degree, which has rendered me completely unemployable, and I'm sure the fact I annoyingly wonder these things is related to having to draw a 2,000 word essay on 'symbolism' out of the air on a sharp deadline.  However, one idea I came up with is that the items could represent both change and stagnation.

Guns are used in wars that are 'supposed to' change something that is currently going on in a country - but lead to the perpetual state of violence, which essentially is history repeating itself.

Music is definitely capable of changing the world, as I believe art reaches people in a way few, if any other, mediums can. However, the current state of the music industry, to a great extent, is one of stagnation as talentless acts seem to get so much radio play and promotion.

Babies can represent the change of a new generation, but with each generation, it seems that humans simply destroy the planet they are on, and perpetuate their own unhappiness - and this begs the question is there any point? Round, round, the rhythm of life goes round.

Pens can also represent dramatic change - with words and writing we can reach people with ideas or new ways of thinking - and yet (at least in Canada, as we don't vote electronically yet) we use pens to mark votes in ballots. World Peace Is None Of Your Business. What will marking the ballot do? Politics are stagnant as the same personality type seems perpetually drawn to becoming leaders. Also, the mainstream media itself, newspapers, online articles, often are formulated to say nothing groundbreaking and suggestively echo set views.

Such ambiguity fascinates because there are at least two sides to every image, or symbol.  And I am sure I'm totally off the mark but sometimes it's intruiging, at least to me, to think of these things.

Moving on...

Since it was Years Of Refusal's 8^th birthday, I decided to make a poll enquiring people’s favourite song on the album.

I was SO pleased to see many people submitting write-in answers as sometimes the ‘other’ (please specify) option leads to people not being particularly eager to specify. The breakdown between 138 votes was...

As we can see All You Need Is Me was the winner with 36% of the votes - and there was a frustratingly inconclusive tie between I'm Throwing My Arms Around Paris and Something Is Squeezing My Skull.

The write in votes were for .....

3 votes for It's Not Your Birthday Anymore 
3 votes for Black Cloud
2 votes for I'm OK By Myself
2 votes for Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed
and 1 write-in each for:
That's How People Grow Up

You Were Good In Your Time
One Day Goodbye Will Be Farewell

It can be monumentally difficult to choose a favourite track on an album, particularly one as stunning as Years Of Refusal. Throughout my 20’s, with the dawn of the ipod, I often lost touch with the feeling of listening to a recording from beginning to end – albums as entire works became lost in the shuffle. While some artists may write an album with a few singles and the rest merely filler, Morrissey is not one of those artists, and his albums stand as cohesive works of art – each song building as part of an entire masterpiece. That’s why lately I do find myself returning to the indulgence of listening to albums top to bottom – as I feel this gives the listener a unique experience of the themes, nuances, and timelessness of the album total.

In asking such a task as choosing a favourite song on the album, I must attempt to do so myself. I have a difficult time selecting just one, but feel a draw towards Something Is Squeezing My Skull, because of my own struggles with mental health, the mental health system, and dealing with the views of others who may be less than understanding. Musically, the song is a powerful opening track, boasting forceful drums, and grinding guitars – and lyrically, well, the line “I know by now you think I should have straightened myself out, thank you – drop dead” says it all about the internal thoughts churning when one is confronted with the judgement of another – whether it be a family member, acquaintance, or mental health professional. And wouldn’t expressing these words aloud actually be pretty damn freeing? No wonder I love singing this one in the car at full volume. The climax of the song roars into pharmaceutically-driven poetics where the promised-land ‘cure’ of diazepam, lithium, ECT, et al., actually derails into further confusion as Moz pleads, “Don’t give me anymore.” Sometimes treatment for the mind can be zombifying, lead to greater mood swings or side effects, and ultimately seem entirely hopeless. I think in a sense this song actually empowers the ‘sufferer’ - as he or she is finally able to lash out these thoughts and frustration in a world that often demands we keep quiet when we suffer or openly question the many dark aspects of life.

Years Of Refusal is full of highlights for me, as we move into Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed, with its military-precision drumbeat and that resonating line – “life is nothing much to lose” - sung over a sudden switch into swaying instrumental. Then, post verse and chorus, the instrumental switches into a solo section that seems, at least to me, to musically evoke the sensations of a furious strife in a fight with life. I’ve been lucky enough to see this song live a few time and it’s tremendous every time (Watch for Boz on the drums!).

I’m tempted to now write about each song but I think I’ll drone on too long (and I’m writing late at night!) – so I’ll just add a few other highlights of mine...

“There’s so much destruction, all over the world. And all you can do is, complain about me.”

Like Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed, I believe When Last I Spoke To Carol also deals with suicide, although the exact cause of death is left unsaid. Carol slaps a smile across her face mechanically, but continually feels as if she is hanging on to an unenjoyable existence, an existence she is thrown into, by a thread. She dies young, presumably because “to the rescue, nobody ever comes.” So many of us feel we don’t fit into this world, and while we live in hope it will somehow get easier – does it? Will it? For Carol it didn’t seem to, yet rather than the music be funerary or desolate, it's lush with hip-swaying Spanish guitars and blazing brass. It’s somehow dark and jubilant all at once – astonishing – but isn’t this why we love Moz so?

Do we find greater acceptance of romantic disappointment after romantic disappointment if we throw our arms around stone and steel – or realize that’s how people grow up? Perhaps it hurts more to constantly whip ourselves with the lacerating pain of feeling ‘left out’ from others who appear to enjoy greater romantic success. Disappointment at times carries sourness and resignation but sometimes acceptance of one’s current situation can offer some degree of solace. What-ifs or what-could-have-beens bite hard and thrust into our consciousness relentlessly. These lyrics, to me, speak to that overwhelming feeling of not really knowing if we are missing out on what others experience in life and relationships, which can be quite isolating... “Let me live before I die. Not me! Not I!”

“You made me feel less alone. You made me feel not quite so deformed, uninformed, and hunchbacked.”

The message of I’m OK by Myself might disturb you, but it makes a great deal of sense as experience in life can make it very hard to trust others. When others try to meddle, with their own views – it can be aggravating. I often wondered if this song is rejecting the notion of a society fixated on coupledom, but it also could involve friendships or business relationships, or possibly religious philosophies. I find the song empowering, but also etched with veins of sadness about how hard it is to truly trust anyone in this world. Moz really showcases his vocal range in this and the distortion at the end is, for lack of more eloquence as I type at 1 a.m. - very cool!

In essence, I love a ton of aspects of Years Of Refusal, and find myself reaching for it often. It offers a deluxe organza of instrumentals, at times bestowing a collage of sound on the listener, with lyrics that reach into the depths of human emotional experience, then blending this with dashes of punk, and Sinatraesque crooning.

I’ll leave you with this interview that was included on the special edition DVD version of the album. Rustle, dressed in what Morrissey himself describes as a "fetching cardigan" (I've only just noticed this - HOW?!) invites Moz over to his abode for an interview.

Rustle describes the grand atmosphere of Years Of Refusal as "whoooaoaoa...." or something to that extent:

Part 1:

Part 2: