I was recently scouring the web for information on Morrissey and The Smiths - as i sometimes do from time to time. There was a poll on morrissey-solo.com that had already been archived, so I couldn't add my 2 cents to the discussion. The poll was something like "what is the saddest Smiths/Morrissey song"? You could only pick from a select few. Much to my surprise "Suffer Little Children" was NOT on the list of songs to chose. The song is about the Moors Murders - which happened in the sixties, not too far from Manchester. Several children were murdered and buried out on the moors. The line that gets me is "You might sleep BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM!"
from The Smiths, available on CD
24 Nov 03 ·executiveslacks: Great song. The laughing girl towards the end of the song gets me everytime. 24 Nov 03 ·MickeyPeas: Very powerful song indeed that provokes equally powerful emotions. The laughing girl is Annalisa Jablonska who also provides the "Oh really?" on "Pretty Girls Make Graves". 04 Dec 03 ·FlyingDutchman1971: This one is definitely the saddest Smiths song. I would vote the song 'Asleep' as a close second. One of the murderers, Myra Handley, died just one year ago in November 2002 and the other one, Ian Brady, was in court this past September for a sanity hearing. He wants the mental health tribunal to move him to an ordinary prison, where the authorities would be powerless to prevent him deliberately starving to death. He has been force-fed since 1999. I say let him starve! 30 Dec 03 ·daveshaw5: Its nice to see the power of the Smiths still at work. As a child of Manchester growing up in the eighties they had a profound effect on me. I rarely listen to them now but occasionally I dust off a 7" inch single and remember them fondly. There is a lot of humour in their songs as well so dont get too dark. Joy division were also massively influential and their music has survived a lot better.
A really lovely version of this song, which was more famously recorded by The Left Banke. The introduction nicely recalls the melody of The Association's 'Never my love'.
The instrumentation has a folk flavour, with a nice strummed acoustic guitar. The production is superb, with great, slightly distant sounding vocal harmonies and occasional sparkly percussion sounds. Overall, it's a sound not millions of miles away from groups like Spanky and Our Gang, but it has a melancholic edge to it that makes it more listenable to my ears. Something has happened to me over the last couple of years, and some of the more lightheartedly happy music I used to like appeals to me much less.
from Ascending (MGM MGM 4569) available on CD - The Very Best Of Orpheus (Varese)
25 Nov 03 ·executiveslacks: I had just finished recommending Belle & Sebastian's "Piazza, New York Catcher" when I came across this recommendation. They namecheck "Walk Away Renee" in "Piazza..."
I haven't heard this song, but now I want to hear it! 10 Dec 04 ·WayCool: Orpheus' version of "Walk Away Renee" is a classic example of how this group effortlessly applied their distinctive sound to material by other bands. I enjoyed the original version by The Left Banke but always thought the wimpy vocals could have used some testosterone. The Orpheus version is without fault and I'm totally puzzled why it failed to eclipse the original. 13 Dec 04 ·jeanette: I hear the legendary Pink Lady have also recorded a version - what a treat! Anyone heard? 11 Oct 06 ·delicado: Having heard several versions of this song (most recently, The Blades of Grass), I'd just like to reiterate that this for me is THE rendition of the song - I'm with WayCool on this one! 19 Apr 07 ·artlongjr: I have a 45 of this by the Four Tops...I like their version, it sounds very mature the way Levi Stubbs sings it, compared to the youthful innocence of the original! I have the Orpheus version and it's great, but I will always like the Left Banke original best...I wonder if anybody ever covered "Pretty Ballerina"?
There's something about Devendra Banhart you can't put your finger on. Becuase your finger's turned into a talon or a claw or a hoof and the song you were trying to pin down has squirmed away under the table, or has turned into a gaseous dream vapour and floated out the window. He's got a scattered, witchy, completely original voice that whispers little kid secrets, then belts passionately with a heart been done-wronged, then tries to put on the withered seduction of a wrinkled hag lost on an island for years. Then comes the workaday little chorus. La dee da dee AH! How does this song still remain so allusive, so cooool, after so many listens? I got no clue. Do you?
available on CD - Oh Me Oh My How the Days Go By
14 Jan 04 ·executiveslacks: I know exactly what you're talking about. I have that album as well and there's something - although I don't know what - that makes me keep putting it back on. It must be that voice. For the longest time, I couldn't even tell if Devendra was a guy or girl.
It's manic. Snapped wires. Screaming at the boxcars as they go by. Kid listened to too many Joy Division records in high school and not only did he pick up an attraction to crazy, but he learned how to freak out to that crazy in melody as well. And freak out he does. But he'll tell you why he's freaking out, he'll make you feel it too. And turns out, he has good reason to freak out. Dude's in deep with a bad chick who's, well, she's pretty bad. He waits until the chorus before shrieking for help, "She can't read!" There are those intimate little details that make you realize he's caught in this relationship, he's in love, he loves crazy, he's not getting out any time soon. "It's in the way she pulls it." and the amazing line, "Her stories are boring and stuff /she's always calling my bluff." Sears my frickin' heart.
14 Jan 04 ·executiveslacks: I wanted to hate Interpol, but simply couldn't after hearing this song.
One beautifully-constructed, jazz-flavoured number.
Its jazzy chords and conga rhythm are complemented by a set of psychedelic lyrics about Tracy who "had a hard day Sunday" for "she had to be herself and no one else". Real ear-candy for me. One of the best (mildly) psychedelic tracks out there, ever.
from West Coast Pop Art Experimental Band, Vol. 2: Breaking Through (Reprise)
14 Jan 04 ·executiveslacks: I was going to recommend this one, but you beat me to it. Great song.
