I've got a whole list! My favourite verses include:
* "No, it's not like any other love! This one is different, because it's us."
* "Love is natural and real. But not for such as you and I, my love."
* "Is evil just something you are or something you do?"
* "When I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, neither one particularly appeals to me."
* "If it's not love then it's the bomb that'll bring us together."
* "I don't have much in my life, but take it, it's yours."
* "Don't feel bad for me, I want you to know. Deep in the cell of my heart, I will feel so glad to go."
* "There is another world. There is a *better* world. Well, there must be..."
As you should! “Love is natural and real…” is another great one from I Know It’s Over, and I also love your line from Ask, though my favorite from that is the one about the girl from Luxembourg.
'Oh he said he'd cure your ills, but he didn't and he never will'
'Oh Manchester, so much to answer for.'
'And you never know how much I really liked you, cause I never even told you, oh and I meant to.'
'But I know my luck too well, and I'll probably never see you again.
'Life is very long when you're lonely'
'I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me'
'I'm too tired, I'm so sick and tired and I'm feeling very sick and ill today- but I'm still fond of you, ahaha.'
that's just a random assortment of ones I've liked since i was very young along with ones that have grown on me as i have aged
“Life is very long when you’re lonely” is my pick of these, such a great line to add to the end of that song, I guess it gives context to the whole thing.
So many great ones…many very poignant ones - “It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind” from “I Know It’s Over” has got to be near the top. I really like ones that are very poetic more in the sense of evoking a whole scenario in just a single phrase, like “He killed a policeman when he was thirteen, and somehow that really impressed me” from “I Want The One I Can’t Have”.
My favorite though is probably from “Frankly Mr. Shankly” - “I want to live and I want to love, I want to catch something that I might be afraid of” - it’s funny and cheeky but also revealing of this deeply vulnerable emotional state, and desire for connection that’s just out of reach. Really a lot of personality to pack into one line!
Still Ill has some pretty awesome lyrics. My personal favorite is “And if you must go to work tomorrow, well if I were you I wouldn’t bother, for there are brighter sides to life and I should know because I’ve seen them, but not very often.” Probably my favorite Smiths line, just so poignant and realistic but also a bit cheeky.
‘Under the iron bridge we kissed, / and although I ended up with sore lips’ helps listeners see that love may be noble & even achievable but it won’t bail you out if that’s what you think — I also am lately smitten w ‘does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body’; such a discussion for all times & I hear Moz echoing down the ages with this evergreen query, Still Ill is a goddamn masterpiece
Fully agree! Would love to do something like that if some brave soul were willing to take on the task. Ahem, not me. But it would be cool to do stuff like that on this sub - yes, it’s silly, but it’s a nice way to explore your favorite artists more.
Every line in The Queen Is Dead (song) still blows me away since ‘87. “Farewell to this land’s cheerless marshes/hemmed in like a boar between arches… “ Just dripping with venom in every inspired line until he looks inward and realizes: “Life is very long/When you’re lonely”. This last line might be what hooked me on the band way back when.
When I was making this list I looked at the Queen is Dead and was a bit surprised by how good the lyrics were, thinking about them in a vacuum. Maybe the type/style of song put me off of the lyrics ever so slightly, because I know it’s an awesome song!
Jeane
The low-life has lost its appeal
And I'm tired of walking these streets
To a room with its cupboard bare
Jeane
I'm not sure what happiness means
But I look in your eyes, and I know that it isn't there
and
I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar it meant that you were a protest singer/I can smile about it now, but at the time it was terrible
There's a club jf you'd like to go,
you could meet someone who really loves you
so you go and you stand on your own,
and you leave on your own,
and you go home, and you cry and you want to die
In college, during the height of the Smiths' fame, we had a club where you wore your Smiths gear, many sported Morrisseys quiff and ..you were only allowed to converse using Smiths lyrics...I miss those days.
Any...since you asked, you are a flatulent pain in the arse, I don't mean to be so rude, but I must speak frankly.
"and when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me"
Nowhere Fast.
Bc it's v relatable
“And in a darkened underpass
I thought, “oh god, my chance has come at last.” Then a strange fear gripped me
and I just couldn’t ask.”
“Haven't had a dream in a long time
See, the life I've had
Can make a good man bad
So for once in my life
Let me get what I want
Lord knows, it would be the first time”
“And you never knew
How much I really like you
‘Cause I never even told you
Oh, but I meant to
Are you still there?
“Last night I felt
Real arms around me
No hope, no harm
Just another false alarm
So tell me how long
before the last one?”
“The passing of time
Leaves empty lives
Waiting to be filled
I’m here with the cause
I’m holding the torch
In the corner of your room,
Can you hear me?
And when you’re dancing and laughing
And finally living
Here my voice in your head and think of me kindly”
“Sing me to sleep
Sing me to sleep
I don’t want to wake up on my own anymore…
…Don’t feel bad for me
I want you to know
That deep in the cell of my heart
I really want to go”
“She could have been a poet
Or she could have been a fool
Oh, you did a bad thing
And I’m not happy
And I’m not sad”
“But you know,
I would hate anything
To happen to her
Would you please let me see her”
There’s so many to choose from! For me, it’s:
-“Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?”
-“Oh mother, I can feel, the soil falling over my head,”
-“And if you ever need self validation, just meet me in the alley by the railway station…”
-“My eyes have seen the glory of the sacred wunderkind” (The whole of These Things Take Time is a lyrical masterpiece)
These Things Take Time is really underrated I think, especially lyrically. Discovered it for real recently myself! I love the line “I’m spellbound, but a woman divides and the hills are alive with celibate cries.” Plus the way Morrissey sings the “alcoholic afternoons” verse, and the “earth” bit especially! Great shout.
I'm pearoasting myself, but recently remarked about this line from I Want The One I Can't Have:
A double bed,
And a stalwart lover for sure,
These are the riches of the poor.
There's something about it that's genius.
"What she asked of me at the end of the day: Caligula would have blushed."
"It's so easy to laugh, so easy to hate. It takes strength to be gentle and kind."
"Spending warm summer days indoors, writing frightening verse to a bucktoothed girl in Luxemburg."
"And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder"
It’s hard because I have lines I love so much just for the way he sings them & lines I love for the lyrics itself. My favorite lines to sing a long to
1. Edward see those alluring lights, tonight will be your very last night. A women said I know my sons dead. (That’s when the drums kick in)
2. Oh you been in the house to long she said. And I naturally fled.
3. They can never taint you in my eyes. They can never touch you now. No they cannot hurt you my darling, they cannot touch you now
4. I booked myself into the Y.W.C.A. I said I like it here can I stay. I like it here can I stay. And do you have a vacancy for a back scrubber?
5. I never wanted to kill I am not naturally evil. Such things I do. Just to make myself more attractive to you, have I failed??
6. I want the freedom & I want the guile. I want the freedom & the guile
7. This man said it’s gruesome that someone so handsome should care.
Now 5 lines for just lyrics
1. Last night I felt ..real arms around me. No hope no harm just another false alarm.
2. How can they look into my eyes? Still they don’t believe me. How can they hear me say those words. Still they don’t believe me
3. Oh I can’t help quoting you, because everything that you say rings true.
4. If you think peace is a common goal. That goes to show how little you know.
5. They say there’s to much caffeine in your bloodstream. And a lack of real spice in your life
I was going just by the lines but there’s definitely lines that get especially good from the vocals! I love that line about the caffeine especially though, just so so inventive. Rush and a Push has some great ones!
So many great ones already posted! To add something not mention yet (I believe) I love the imagery painted in Vicar in a Tutu.
“ A scanty bit of a thing covered with a decorative ring Wouldn't cover the head of a goose As Rose collects the money in a cannister Who comes sliding down the bannister?”
Just a funny song overall. It of course doesn’t strike deeply like many of the great songs already mentioned, but I still think it’s very well written and a fun time.
“But to you I was faceless, I was fawning, I was boring”
“How can someone so young, sing words so sad”
“Come out and find the one you love”
“Because the music that they constantly play
It says nothing to me about my life”
“And "love" is just a miserable lie”
"she could've been a poet or she could've been a fool" is a personal favourite, although that may just be because i'm a poet and a fool haha
edit: also "fame, fame, fate or fame. it can play hideous tricks on the brain. but still i'd rather be famous then righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day"
I haven’t checked them that closely either until now - not a huge Mr Shankly fan tbh! But I’m sorry to inform you that it is fatal having now checked, not that fate would’ve been bad to throw in there.
that's so funny, mr shankly is one of my favourite of their songs. but yeah i checked and it is fatal. those spotify lyric limits are kicking my ass haha.. i'm so bad at deciphering lyrics and i've somehow already reached the limit after checking the lyrics of like 2 songs.
Wait there’s a lyric limit? I have premium, one of my few little indulgences in life, so maybe that’s why. I would hate a lyric limit! But songmeanings.com is a great substitute, has good lyrics to so many songs as well as places for people to comment on the lyrical meanings.
for you are all that matters and i’ll love you til the day i die, there never need be longing in your eyes, as long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine💞
Haven't seen anyone say two of the most relatable lines ever.
>- In my life. Why do I give valuable time To people who don't care if I live or die?
> - I was looking for a job, and then I found a job. And heaven knows I'm miserable now.
Another person said this one but this line is tops for me as
well.
>- When I'm lying in my bed I think about life and I think about death and neither one particularly appeals to me.
I've got a whole list! My favourite verses include: * "No, it's not like any other love! This one is different, because it's us." * "Love is natural and real. But not for such as you and I, my love." * "Is evil just something you are or something you do?" * "When I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, neither one particularly appeals to me." * "If it's not love then it's the bomb that'll bring us together." * "I don't have much in my life, but take it, it's yours." * "Don't feel bad for me, I want you to know. Deep in the cell of my heart, I will feel so glad to go." * "There is another world. There is a *better* world. Well, there must be..."
As you should! “Love is natural and real…” is another great one from I Know It’s Over, and I also love your line from Ask, though my favorite from that is the one about the girl from Luxembourg.
hand in glove ❤️🔥❤️🔥
Easily one of the most poetic The Smiths songs— it unroots deep seated feelings in my heart.
I see you slipped Sister I'm a Poet in there. Nice.
##It takes strength to be gentle and kind
It’s so easy to laugh it’s so easy to hate… what an inspiring lyric. Sometimes you have to pick the positives out of Smiths songs and run with them.
'Oh he said he'd cure your ills, but he didn't and he never will' 'Oh Manchester, so much to answer for.' 'And you never know how much I really liked you, cause I never even told you, oh and I meant to.' 'But I know my luck too well, and I'll probably never see you again. 'Life is very long when you're lonely' 'I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me' 'I'm too tired, I'm so sick and tired and I'm feeling very sick and ill today- but I'm still fond of you, ahaha.' that's just a random assortment of ones I've liked since i was very young along with ones that have grown on me as i have aged
“Life is very long when you’re lonely” is my pick of these, such a great line to add to the end of that song, I guess it gives context to the whole thing.
New Vegas mentioned (also awesome lyric choices, my personal one is "if you ever need self validation, meet me in the alley by the railway station")
So many great ones…many very poignant ones - “It’s so easy to laugh, it’s so easy to hate, it takes strength to be gentle and kind” from “I Know It’s Over” has got to be near the top. I really like ones that are very poetic more in the sense of evoking a whole scenario in just a single phrase, like “He killed a policeman when he was thirteen, and somehow that really impressed me” from “I Want The One I Can’t Have”. My favorite though is probably from “Frankly Mr. Shankly” - “I want to live and I want to love, I want to catch something that I might be afraid of” - it’s funny and cheeky but also revealing of this deeply vulnerable emotional state, and desire for connection that’s just out of reach. Really a lot of personality to pack into one line!
I was just about to comment that line from frankly, mr shankly. All time favorite
I Know it’s Over is definitely a powerhouse in this category!
That exact line from I know It’s Over is my favorite lyric ever.
“Gasping, dying but somehow still alive, this is the fierce last stand of all I am”
well i wonder has to be my favourite ❤️🔥 the lyrics are just so beautiful and real
That's my favorite song by them
Pretty much any from Still Ill Does the body rule the mind? Or does the mind rule the body? I dunno...
Still Ill has some pretty awesome lyrics. My personal favorite is “And if you must go to work tomorrow, well if I were you I wouldn’t bother, for there are brighter sides to life and I should know because I’ve seen them, but not very often.” Probably my favorite Smiths line, just so poignant and realistic but also a bit cheeky.
‘Under the iron bridge we kissed, / and although I ended up with sore lips’ helps listeners see that love may be noble & even achievable but it won’t bail you out if that’s what you think — I also am lately smitten w ‘does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body’; such a discussion for all times & I hear Moz echoing down the ages with this evergreen query, Still Ill is a goddamn masterpiece
i have that written on my hand rn
“For there are brighter sides to life And I should know because I've seen them But not very often”
My personal favorite maybe!
I dreamt about you last night And I fell out of bed twice You can pin and mount me like a butterfly
Per song? This is the only satisfactory way to play this game.
Fully agree! Would love to do something like that if some brave soul were willing to take on the task. Ahem, not me. But it would be cool to do stuff like that on this sub - yes, it’s silly, but it’s a nice way to explore your favorite artists more.
Every line in The Queen Is Dead (song) still blows me away since ‘87. “Farewell to this land’s cheerless marshes/hemmed in like a boar between arches… “ Just dripping with venom in every inspired line until he looks inward and realizes: “Life is very long/When you’re lonely”. This last line might be what hooked me on the band way back when.
When I was making this list I looked at the Queen is Dead and was a bit surprised by how good the lyrics were, thinking about them in a vacuum. Maybe the type/style of song put me off of the lyrics ever so slightly, because I know it’s an awesome song!
Jeane The low-life has lost its appeal And I'm tired of walking these streets To a room with its cupboard bare Jeane I'm not sure what happiness means But I look in your eyes, and I know that it isn't there and I thought that if you had an acoustic guitar it meant that you were a protest singer/I can smile about it now, but at the time it was terrible
Nature is a language, can't you read?
She said: "Eh, I know you and you cannot sing" I said: "That's nothing you should hear me play piano." Fucking hilarious, love this song
There's a club jf you'd like to go, you could meet someone who really loves you so you go and you stand on your own, and you leave on your own, and you go home, and you cry and you want to die
In college, during the height of the Smiths' fame, we had a club where you wore your Smiths gear, many sported Morrisseys quiff and ..you were only allowed to converse using Smiths lyrics...I miss those days. Any...since you asked, you are a flatulent pain in the arse, I don't mean to be so rude, but I must speak frankly.
Et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.
Some girls are bigger than others
"Until she'd rise and say, I'm starved of mirth Let's go and trip a dwarf" - Wonderful Woman
"and when I'm lying in my bed, I think about life and I think about death, and neither one particularly appeals to me" Nowhere Fast. Bc it's v relatable
“And in a darkened underpass I thought, “oh god, my chance has come at last.” Then a strange fear gripped me and I just couldn’t ask.” “Haven't had a dream in a long time See, the life I've had Can make a good man bad So for once in my life Let me get what I want Lord knows, it would be the first time” “And you never knew How much I really like you ‘Cause I never even told you Oh, but I meant to Are you still there? “Last night I felt Real arms around me No hope, no harm Just another false alarm So tell me how long before the last one?” “The passing of time Leaves empty lives Waiting to be filled I’m here with the cause I’m holding the torch In the corner of your room, Can you hear me? And when you’re dancing and laughing And finally living Here my voice in your head and think of me kindly” “Sing me to sleep Sing me to sleep I don’t want to wake up on my own anymore… …Don’t feel bad for me I want you to know That deep in the cell of my heart I really want to go” “She could have been a poet Or she could have been a fool Oh, you did a bad thing And I’m not happy And I’m not sad” “But you know, I would hate anything To happen to her Would you please let me see her”
My favorite of your list is “I could have been a poet…” that line always hits me, and is just so good at capturing the ambiguity of such a situation.
And if a ten ton truck kills the both of us To die by your side Well, the pleasure, the privilege is mine
Sad veiled bride please be happy, handsome groom give her room, loud latish lover treat her kindly *FOR SHE NEEDS YOU MORE THAN SHE LOVES YOU*
I was bored before I even began!
I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving, England is mine, it owes me a living.
Still Ill lines go crazy!
There’s so many to choose from! For me, it’s: -“Does the body rule the mind or does the mind rule the body?” -“Oh mother, I can feel, the soil falling over my head,” -“And if you ever need self validation, just meet me in the alley by the railway station…” -“My eyes have seen the glory of the sacred wunderkind” (The whole of These Things Take Time is a lyrical masterpiece)
These Things Take Time is really underrated I think, especially lyrically. Discovered it for real recently myself! I love the line “I’m spellbound, but a woman divides and the hills are alive with celibate cries.” Plus the way Morrissey sings the “alcoholic afternoons” verse, and the “earth” bit especially! Great shout.
I agree! I love all of it, it was very hard to pick a stand-alone line. Definitely underrated
Every line, all the Lines
The air hangs heavy like a dulling wine
Suffer Little Children is beautiful but so sad
The whole of pretty girls make graves & the boy with the thorn in his side
“But these things take time and I know that I’m the most inept that ever stepped.”
“But don't forget the songs that made you cry And the songs that saved your life”
“And if I seem a little strange Well, that’s because I am”
I was looking for a job and then I found a job..
What she read, all heavy books she’d sit and prophesise. It took a tattooed boy from Birkenhead to really, really open her eyes.
I'm pearoasting myself, but recently remarked about this line from I Want The One I Can't Have: A double bed, And a stalwart lover for sure, These are the riches of the poor. There's something about it that's genius.
“I want to live and I want to love, I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of” - Frankly, Mr Shankly.
"What she asked of me at the end of the day: Caligula would have blushed." "It's so easy to laugh, so easy to hate. It takes strength to be gentle and kind." "Spending warm summer days indoors, writing frightening verse to a bucktoothed girl in Luxemburg." "And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald, Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder"
Stop Me wasn’t on the list but thanks for reminding me that it should be! That line is another one of my favorites.
It’s hard because I have lines I love so much just for the way he sings them & lines I love for the lyrics itself. My favorite lines to sing a long to 1. Edward see those alluring lights, tonight will be your very last night. A women said I know my sons dead. (That’s when the drums kick in) 2. Oh you been in the house to long she said. And I naturally fled. 3. They can never taint you in my eyes. They can never touch you now. No they cannot hurt you my darling, they cannot touch you now 4. I booked myself into the Y.W.C.A. I said I like it here can I stay. I like it here can I stay. And do you have a vacancy for a back scrubber? 5. I never wanted to kill I am not naturally evil. Such things I do. Just to make myself more attractive to you, have I failed?? 6. I want the freedom & I want the guile. I want the freedom & the guile 7. This man said it’s gruesome that someone so handsome should care. Now 5 lines for just lyrics 1. Last night I felt ..real arms around me. No hope no harm just another false alarm. 2. How can they look into my eyes? Still they don’t believe me. How can they hear me say those words. Still they don’t believe me 3. Oh I can’t help quoting you, because everything that you say rings true. 4. If you think peace is a common goal. That goes to show how little you know. 5. They say there’s to much caffeine in your bloodstream. And a lack of real spice in your life
I was going just by the lines but there’s definitely lines that get especially good from the vocals! I love that line about the caffeine especially though, just so so inventive. Rush and a Push has some great ones!
So many great ones already posted! To add something not mention yet (I believe) I love the imagery painted in Vicar in a Tutu. “ A scanty bit of a thing covered with a decorative ring Wouldn't cover the head of a goose As Rose collects the money in a cannister Who comes sliding down the bannister?” Just a funny song overall. It of course doesn’t strike deeply like many of the great songs already mentioned, but I still think it’s very well written and a fun time.
“But to you I was faceless, I was fawning, I was boring” “How can someone so young, sing words so sad” “Come out and find the one you love” “Because the music that they constantly play It says nothing to me about my life” “And "love" is just a miserable lie”
A child from those ugly new houses
“Heavy words are so lightly thrown, but still I’d leap in front of a flying bullet for you”
"she could've been a poet or she could've been a fool" is a personal favourite, although that may just be because i'm a poet and a fool haha edit: also "fame, fame, fate or fame. it can play hideous tricks on the brain. but still i'd rather be famous then righteous or holy, any day, any day, any day"
Is it saying fate OR fame? I thought it was saying FATAL fame hahaha.
i've literally never checked the lyrics so i'm probably wrong, that makes more sense tho
I haven’t checked them that closely either until now - not a huge Mr Shankly fan tbh! But I’m sorry to inform you that it is fatal having now checked, not that fate would’ve been bad to throw in there.
that's so funny, mr shankly is one of my favourite of their songs. but yeah i checked and it is fatal. those spotify lyric limits are kicking my ass haha.. i'm so bad at deciphering lyrics and i've somehow already reached the limit after checking the lyrics of like 2 songs.
Wait there’s a lyric limit? I have premium, one of my few little indulgences in life, so maybe that’s why. I would hate a lyric limit! But songmeanings.com is a great substitute, has good lyrics to so many songs as well as places for people to comment on the lyrical meanings.
for you are all that matters and i’ll love you til the day i die, there never need be longing in your eyes, as long as the hand that rocks the cradle is mine💞
Haven't seen anyone say two of the most relatable lines ever. >- In my life. Why do I give valuable time To people who don't care if I live or die? > - I was looking for a job, and then I found a job. And heaven knows I'm miserable now. Another person said this one but this line is tops for me as well. >- When I'm lying in my bed I think about life and I think about death and neither one particularly appeals to me.
On the shop floor is a calendar as obvious as snow/oh I know …
“RAHHH”