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The Smiths - There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

submitted by fozi999

1 decade 7 years 9 months 4 weeks ago

From Wikipedia:

"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" is a song by the British rock group The Smiths, written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead. It has subsequently been covered by a number of artists, including Anberlin, Eurythmics, Erin Ivey, Null Device, Neuroticfish, Oasis, The Magic Numbers, The Ocean Blue,Braid, Schneider TM with KPT.michi.gan (as The Light 3000), Norwegian Erlend Øye, Loquat, Spanish artist Mikel Erentxun, the The Divine Comedy (on the tribute album The Smiths Is Dead), Neil Finn and Walleye (on the tribute album The World Still Won't Listen), Pilot Scott Tracy and Ghost Mice. The song was originally planned to be a single from the album, but Rough Trade Records label boss Geoff Travis selected "Bigmouth Strikes Again" from the same album as the release instead.

The song lyrically utilises a first-person narrative concerning yearning, anxiety, and implied romance. Morrissey assumes the role of a person who has, one could infer from the lyrics, been kicked out of home, so seeks solace and company in the form of the person the song implores to - the car's driver. The chorus, often taken as tongue-in-cheek melodrama, pleads for an early, sudden death whilst in this person's company.

In Simon Goddard's book Songs That Saved Your Life, he argues that the basic narrative story is similar to that of the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, in which Dean - an idol of Morrissey's - leaves his torturous home life, being the passenger to a potential romantic partner. Given Morrissey's previous thematic and lyrical borrowings from literature and cinema, this is a viewpoint with some plausibility.

Musically, the song begins with a staccato bridge similar to that heard on "There She Goes Again" by The Velvet Underground and "Hitch Hike" by The Rolling Stones, which recurs as a musical motif throughout the song. With synthesized strings, a balladesque arrangement and yearning lyrics, many listeners have viewed "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" as a straightforward love song despite some ambiguity in the lyrics themselves.

Ex-BBC Radio 1 DJs Mark Radcliffe and Janice Long (both now on BBC Radio 2) list it among their all-time favourites. Recently asked in an interview with GQ magazine about rumours that this song was supposedly about Marr, Morrissey replied "It wasn't and it isn't."

According to Goddard, an earlier version lacked some of the finished version's ambiguity, culminating in the line "There is a light in your eyes and it never goes out". When Australian indie band The Lucksmiths covered the song, they used this version of the final line.