I’m never keen on metanarratives, so it’s quite hard for me to pick favourites. It’s not something I enjoy. But when it comes to Morrissey, I’m fairly sure that my favourite song is Speedway. And to paraphrase Mark Simpson, in his brilliant book Saint Morrissey, when he talks about The Smiths’ debut album being their greatest album and therefore The Greatest Album Of All Time, to me Speedway is the greatest Morrissey song and therefore one of the greatest songs of all time. See? I’m really not comfortable about absolutes and definitive answers. I think about it is very appropriate given my discussion of this particular song. I have told all of my friends but this is the song that I want played at my funeral and I don’t suppose it gets any more definitive than that.
MORRISSEY – SPEEDWAY
Speedway appears on Vauxhall and I, Morrissey’s fourth solo album, which was released in March 1994. Vauxhall and I is seen by many fans and critics as Morrissey’s strongest work. At the time there were rumours that Morrissey was planning on making Vauxhall and I his final album. In the years since the albums release Morrissey has said that during the sessions for Vauxhall he felt it would be his last Record and that he also felt it was an album that he would not be able to top. Obviously in the end this wasn’t the case, and Morrissey has continued to record and to tour – with his most recent album (the brilliant World Peace Is None Of Your Business) being released last year. However as it was created, it seems that Morrissey intended Speedway to be his final statement and swansong.
Viewing Speedway as a farewell adds a real power to the song. The air of finality, of ending, is palpable. And as sad is it feels it also feels glorious and impressive. In the space of a few minutes Morrissey manages to some up so much at his career and his persona and his body of work; everything is distilled perfectly, and captured precisely. The song seems to be closing and indeed compelling statement for Morrissey’s argument that pop music and rock’n’roll is the most powerful and strongest art form there ever was. In Speedway, Morrissey is triumphant, defeated, humorous, defiant, fading and immortal. If he had planned to go out this way, then he was going out in style, and in a style that only Morrissey could.
MORRISSEY – SPEEDWAY, LIVE 1995, LONDON
The words, as is common with Morrissey’s work when he is at his best, can be taken on several levels and could have any number of reasons and motives behind them. The opening lyrics, which repeat at various points throughout the song, talk about rumours, judgement, secrets, truths and untruths. The song also feels for whatever reason to me, like one of Morrissey’s most heartfelt and passionate.
Now, to pick apart a piece of art and try and force real life meanings to it and anchor it down with real-life people and real life events is not always the most helpful of activities. I know that when I write and create work, the work I make is often fuelled by compulsion to create rather than as a way of mapping out cognitive rational ideas – the work is there to articulate moods and emotions and is not literally about this thing or that thing; often I don’t know what the work is about only that I feel the need and the urge to do it and that the world just doesn’t feel right to me inside my head unless I do it. And every artist is different, I know, but to me it’s never the case that I sit down and think “today I will write about this thing in my life in this way”. I think the power of art: writing, music, whatever form it takes, is the mystery and the vagueness and that sacred thing at its core that makes an emotional sense but cannot be described with words: art is made when language and rational thought can’t get to where you need to get to (which I know is probably oxymoronic, considering that words are the thing that I create my chosen art form with – but trust me – the language I use is just a tool that I use to get to something else).
However, Having said that, Morrissey is an artist and writer who is too knowing, too skilled, two self aware and who possesses such a massive and acute understanding of pop music and the sense of drama and occasion, to not know what real life elements will be interpreted from this particular piece of music.
The lines about slamming down the hammer could refer too much publicised (and much talked about by Morrissey himself) court case where he and Johnny Marr were sued by their former Smiths band mates. They could relate to Morrissey’s long-time literary hero Oscar Wilde whose own court case, imprisonment and fate seem to bear strong emotional parallels with the tone and themes of the song. The talk of rumours could allude to the many that that have followed Morrisey from his time in The Smiths and through his solo career – rumours in the press about his sexuality (which for the record I feel he is always been completely clear about, rejecting the idea of binary sexuality and traditional understanding of gender very early in his career), about rumours of racism and other unfounded accusations that have been pointed towards, him especially from the British music media. In Speedway, as Morrissey bids farewell he has fun casting a knowing glance towards everything that he is saying goodbye to and that will remain as part of his myth and legacy.
My personal guess is that Morrissey would enjoy the confusion and the purposely-unanswered questions that the track leaves behind. Is it just coincidence but as David Bret points out in his book, Landscapes Of The Mind that Speedway is also a name given to an area when Morrissey’s beloved and iconic hero James Dean, and also Rock Hudson, used to cruise for gay sex? In Speedway, despite appearing to finally address the rumours, the listener is perversely left asking even more questions and they had to begin with. Morrissey enjoys the chase, continually dropping hints and clues to unanswerable queries. For example, on the vinyl edition of the 20th anniversary version of Vauxhall and I, carved into the plastic is the name Mrs Shufflewick – a reference to an obscure drag act from a gay bar in 1970s London – with no reason or need to explain why the reference has been made. The mystery and enigma is reason enough.
MORRISSEY – SPEEDWAY, LIVE 2013, LOS ANGELES
Now, to be specific – the thing that really makes me love Speedway and the thing that cements it as the song I want played at my funeral is the final section of the song. As the beautiful music, sculpted and defined magnificently by Morris’s long-time musical collaborator Boz Boorer, reaches it truly epic and lush crescendo and finale, Morrissey delivers verses of such straight forward and yet emotionally tangling words that match anything he has made any other point in his career. He addresses someone – and by this point forget it, fuck it, my heart is breaking, it could be anyone who you want it to be: the press, his fans, Johnny Marr, a secret lover – whatever – and he addresses this person in a plain, stark, utterly romantic and devoted way that I can’t recall being reached in any other pop or rock song …
All of the rumors keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said
That they were completely unfounded
And all those lies
Written lies, twisted lies
Well, they weren't lies
They weren't lies
They weren't lies
I never said, I never said
I could have mentioned your name
I could have dragged you in
Guilt by implication, by association
I've always been true to you
In my own strange way
I've always been true to you
In my own sick way
I'll always stay true to you
With the line “Well they weren’t lies,” Morrissey at once admits and obscures – you’ll never know what he is admitting and you don’t need to: it is a pristine moment of a piece of art making emotional sense. Even with the details and events hidden and undisclosed, I know exactly what lies at the heart and soul of the song. And the final lines completely slay me – “I could have mentioned you name/I could have dragged you in/Guilt by implication, by association/I’ve always been true to you/In my own strange way/I’ve always been true to you/In my own sick way/I’ll always stay true to you.” Morrissey realises that the truth isn’t a tangible thing – the only truth in life is confusion, the only truth of life is experiences – feelings, emotions, often things that hurt, don’t make sense – it’s all interesting, worthy, valuable, beautiful – it’s life, and that confusion is the truth, however twisted and sick it needs to be. It steers away from where other pop music always leads the listener – emotionally manipulating, telling them how to feel. With Speedway – as the final, climactic drums sound like the nails being banged into a coffin, the end of something, a farewell – the beginning of a legacy – the fact that the notion of truth is left dangling, unsaid – beautifully non-existent – is a massively important statement in a world of pop music that so often does exactly the opposite.
The words I try and attach to what this piece of music and poetry means to me will never reach where I want them to – which is kind of perfect, because they don’t need to. Morrisey has already done it for me.
MORRISSEY – SPEEDWAY, LIVE 2015, BIRIMINGHAM (AN AUDIENCE MEMBER’S RECORDING FROM THE MOST RECENT MORRISSEY GIG I ATTENDED, AS AN EARLY BIRTHDAY PRESENT FROM MY BOYFRIEND
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THE SPEEDWAY LYRICS IN THEIR ENTIRETY
And when you slam down the hammer
Can you see it in your heart?
All of the rumors keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said
That they were completely unfounded
So when you slam down the hammer
Can you see it in your heart?
Can you delve so low?
And when you're standing on my fingers
Can you see it in your heart?
And when you try to break my spirit
It won't work because there's nothing left to break
...Anymore
All of the rumors keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said
That they were completely unfounded
You won't sleep until the earth that wants me
Finally has me
Oh, you've done it now
You won't rest until the hearse that becomes me
Finally takes me
Oh, you've done it now
And you won't smile until my loving mouth
Is shut good and proper
FOREVER!
All of the rumors keeping me grounded
I never said, I never said
That they were completely unfounded
And all those lies
Written lies, twisted lies
Well, they weren't lies
They weren't lies
They weren't lies
I never said, I never said
I could have mentioned your name
I could have dragged you in
Guilt by implication, by association
I've always been true to you
In my own strange way
I've always been true to you
In my own sick way
I'll always stay true to you
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If you ever want to ramble about Morrissey with me, feel free:
twitter.com/thomasmoronic
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p.s. Hey. The generous and oh so astute Thomas 'Moronic' Moore has cast his full self upon a song by Morrissey, and I thought I would give you a weekend to unfurl it and let your brain react accordingly, hopefully to at least some degree in Thomas's presence, meaning in commentary form, obviously. Enjoy, and thank you ever so much, Thomas! Also, the blog will be having another interruption starting on Monday because I go to Halle, Germany tomorrow to work on the new Gisele Vienne-plus-me theater piece. I'll be there through next Thursday, the 7th. You'll get four rerun posts plus extremely minimal, pre-set p.s.es starting on Monday, and then new posts and full p.s.es will return on Friday. After that, I think things should run normally around here for a while. ** Keaton, Easy said, easy done, no? Wow, good luck with your move. High sympathy five. I like the Atari graveyard. I think I do a post on it here or something. Intensely private sounds promising. 'Purple Rain'? Huh, what the hell? Everyone, Keaton has gifted you guys and me too with a new prose thing over on his notorious blog, and it's called 'Purple Rain' of all things, you will enjoy reading it, I am virtually absolutely sure, so please do.** Chilly Jay Chill, Thanks, Jeff. Yeah, great about 'Out 1', etc. Finally. Jane Unrue ... maybe I don't know her stuff. No, I don't think I do. You like her work or have heard good things? I'll investigate her ND book. Thanks a bunch! ** David Ehrenstein, Naturally looking very forward to your thoughts on 'Out 1'. ** Steevee, Thank you for the report on the Techine film. ** James, Hi. I only moved two pieces of furniture. I only have two: a bookshelf and a CD/DVD shelf. This place is furnished (with thrift store-level crap furniture, but, hey, I'm casual.) So sorry about the car, but I'm glad you're already hooked up with 'new' wheels. I tsill buy cassettes when necessary, even though I don't have a cassette player anymore. You didn't ask me, but I can't remember the first CD I bought, weirdly. I remember the first vinyl LP I ever bought. Actually, it was two at the same time: 'More of the Monkees' and 'Freak Out' by the Mothers of Invention. ** Sypha, I still love cassettes. I think mix-tapes have never quite been the same again. I guess I mean making them. The cassette was somehow the idea form for the mix-tape maybe. For ,aking them. Maybe not for listening to them. ** Thomas Moore, Hi, T. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Such a beautiful piece! I'm still unboxing and so on here. Probably until tomorrow. It's kind of fun, though. Have a really great weekend! ** Misanthrope, I used to make mix-tapes all the time for people both special and not so special. They were kind of like my blog posts before I had a blog or something. You should mix that field recording of your parents with some harsh electronic noise and put it out. That kind of thing is very du jour. Bon weekend, etc., buddy! ** Cal Graves, I do, Cal, I do! Thanks. Yeah, I do like finding new places for my stuff. It's not bad. That part of it. Of course I don't think it's weird that it turns you on at all, ha ha. I'm so weird. I know it. A balcony, nice! There a kind of balcony here at my new place, but the window/door leading out to it is locked, and the landlord is being really, really vague and weird about giving me the key. Strange. You smoke too? High five! Thanks about the gif thing. Coffee at midnight? You can do that? I'd be a goner. I think, like, 8 pm is the latest I can do coffee. Blah blah. Have a really fine weekend and early week, sir. Sir-ly, Dennis. ** Okay. Back you go into the mind and taste of Mr. Moore. As previously stated, you'll get a rerun post on Monday and said habit will continue through Thursday, but leave comments for the duration because I'll catch up with them on Friday, and, uh, take care and be good, etc.