"And If George Bush Doesn't Bomb You..."

[Vauxhall95]

From what I've seen and heard from the beginning of the Ringleader of the Tormentor's tour, whenever Morissey has played "I Will See You In Far Off Places" in the U.K and Europe he has sung the lyric, "And if the U.S.A. doesn't bomb you." The same lyric that appears on the album version of the song.

However, during the recent U.S. leg of the tour the lyric has been changed to, "And if George Bush doesn't bomb you." Morrissey seems to want to have it both ways. Bash the U.S. when out of the country, while selectively attacking the President when performing in the U.S.

The whole lyric change bothers me. I think he should be performing the song in the U.S. just as he wrote it in Rome. Am I alone in this?

-Vaux

 

[spmorrissey]

From what I've seen and heard from the beginning of the Ringleader of the Tormentor's tour, whenever Morissey has played "I Will See You In Far Off Places" in the U.K and Europe he has sung the lyric, "And if the U.S.A. doesn't bomb you." The same lyric that appears on the album version of the song.

However, during the recent U.S. leg of the tour the lyric has been changed to, "And if George Bush doesn't bomb you." Morrissey seems to want to have it both ways. Bash the U.S. when out of the country, while selectively attacking the President when performing in the U.S.

The whole lyric change bothers me. I think he should be performing the song in the U.S. just as he wrote it in Rome. Am I alone in this?

-Vaux

If he was over here and Tony Blair had made the same mistakes about Iraiq he'd be saying Tony Blair dosn't bomb you dont worry about it we all have our views and most people that live in America know that George Bush made I shit tip of the whole thing. He was put on the spot yea we all make mistakes but people died American and British no one wants that and Morrissey been the way he is about war and people dying he wasn't too happy. Look at when he was on tour in Manchester last year he had a dig at Jamie Oliver my boss heard that on a CD player at work when i was playing Panic at the Gmex and she went mental she said Morrissey shouldnt have said that cos he shouldnt put his views across but then again shes not a vegi and she didnt understand why he'd said it when i explained she said sorry.

 

[Thats How People Throw Up]

What does where he recorded it have anything to do with where he plays it? He is probably the only one who knows where he was when he wrote it. I don't know what to tell you about you not liking the lyric change or why he seems to do different things in different places. I think you're beeing hyper-critical over something that's basically irrelevent.

 

[Dave]

He's updated it to "If George W Bush doesn't kill you".

As for what it all means the discussion about "America Is Not The World" relates.

 

[dcn]

Even when singing it as "USA", it has always been my interpretation that he has meant the US Gov't. and George in particular. I think you are reading too much into it and believe that he feels the two are interchangeable as the song was written. I don't see it as anything more than a clarification I suppose.

 

[DAnn Coulter]

From what I've seen and heard from the beginning of the Ringleader of the Tormentor's tour, whenever Morissey has played "I Will See You In Far Off Places" in the U.K and Europe he has sung the lyric, "And if the U.S.A. doesn't bomb you." The same lyric that appears on the album version of the song.

However, during the recent U.S. leg of the tour the lyric has been changed to, "And if George Bush doesn't bomb you." Morrissey seems to want to have it both ways. Bash the U.S. when out of the country, while selectively attacking the President when performing in the U.S.

The whole lyric change bothers me. I think he should be performing the song in the U.S. just as he wrote it in Rome. Am I alone in this?

-Vaux

I think it's great that he changes the lyrics to fit the country he's in....... Here in America we all know that this is G.W.Bush's war, so the lyric change is very fitting.... over two thirds of the county disapprove of this war, so for him to say America is just not correct anymore..... When he wrote the song, the majority of the country was FOR the war which did make it right to say the country was in favor of Iraq war.

I also love the change of lyrics to "Irish Blood, English Heart" to "I dream of the day when Americans are sick of Republicans ..... and Democrats" it always gets a positive reaction from the crowd, and I totally agree with this because I hate both parties.

 

[Dave]

I also love the change of lyrics to "Irish Blood, English Heart" to "I dream of the day when Americans are sick of Republicans ..... and Democrats" it always gets a positive reaction from the crowd, and I totally agree with this because I hate both parties.

That got one of the biggest reactions of the night.

Lately he's been zigzagging all over Los Angeles, too.

And he asks if Charles craves appearing in his brother's bridal veil.

I hope I haven't just stopped two potential new threads.

I'm joking!

edit: sorry, didn't answer the question. I like lyrics changes. I wish it was spontaneous, but he seems to rewrite lines here and there and then perform them that way each night.

 

[Not Right in the Head]

The whole lyric change bothers me. I think he should be performing the song in the U.S. just as he wrote it in Rome. Am I alone in this?

Probably.

IMHO, lyric changes like these are the reason there's a thriving bootleg culture for The Smiths.

 

[JoyDiv007]

I like the change but of course I hate G. W.Bush

 

[barenstank]

I think he changed the lyric because it wouldn't make sense to say "If the USA doesn't bomb you" because we aren't going to bomb our own land, but if George W. Bush sends us to go die then the lyric "If George W. Bush doesn't kill you" would make sense and be relevant.

 

[DAnn Coulter]

I like the change but of course I hate G. W.Bush

Post of the day

 

[Coiffeur_En_Flame]

...Here in America we all know that this is G.W.Bush's war, so the lyric change is very fitting.... over two thirds of the county disapprove of this war, so for him to say America is just not correct anymore..... When he wrote the song, the majority of the country was FOR the war which did make it right to say the country was in favor of Iraq war.

I hate to hijack a thread (just realised the double-entendre there) but let's face it, this is not just Bush's war - it's the war of every member of Congress who voted for it and every member of the public who supported it. They all have blood on their hands.

But yeah, I think the lyric change is relevant and also it makes the song more interesting. Nobody wants to hear an exact reproduction of the studio version.


Coiff.

 

[DAnn Coulter]

I hate to hijack a thread (just realised the double-entendre there) but let's face it, this is not just Bush's war - it's the war of every member of Congress who voted for it and every member of the public who supported it. They all have blood on their hands.

Does this mean that you don't agree with this? .............

 

[Coiffeur_En_Flame]

Does this mean that you don't agree with this? .............

I agreed with the Iraq war, in fact I still do, but from a British perspective. The Americans went into it for the wrong reasons. And yeah, I bet all the Muslims in the Middle East are begging to be converted and learn from such a peace-loving religion as Christianity!

 

[Vauxhall95]

What does where he recorded it have anything to do with where he plays it? He is probably the only one who knows where he was when he wrote it. I don't know what to tell you about you not liking the lyric change or why he seems to do different things in different places. I think you're beeing hyper-critical over something that's basically irrelevent.

Okay, yes where he wrote the song is largely irrelevant, but when you imply that words are unimportant I must disagree. I thought words were why Morrissey fans enjoyed his music: for his lyric insights.

It seems to me he wants to have his cake and eat it too. I think he should have the balls to sing the song as it was originally recorded. Choosing not to is simply bowing to pressure which might hurt album sales (IMO). Words DO matter!

I wonder what his U.K. fans would have thought if he changed the lyrics to National Front Disco or Margaret on a Guillotine ONLY when he played in the U.K.?

-Vaux

 

[Danny]

Some people will find anything to nitpick about.

I really don't think he's scared to sing the real lyrics seeing as he's sung "America is not the World" on US soil, and that was in a year when Bush bashing was much less popular than it is now.

 

[Kewpie]

Okay, yes where he wrote the song is largely irrelevant, but when you imply that words are unimportant I must disagree. I thought words were why Morrissey fans enjoyed his music: for his lyric insights.

It seems to me he wants to have his cake and eat it too. I think he should have the balls to sing the song as it was originally recorded. Choosing not to is simply bowing to pressure which might hurt album sales (IMO). Words DO matter!

I wonder what his U.K. fans would have thought if he changed the lyrics to National Front Disco or Margaret on a Guillotine ONLY when he played in the U.K.?

-Vaux

Interesting Drug, National Front Disco and Margaret on a Guillotine are criticism about the state of Britain in general.
I wouldn't surprise if Morrissey changed the title of the song "Tony(Blair)/Gordon(Brown) on a Guillotine".

One of the fascinating things about Morrissey is his quick wit is sponteniously reflected to the change of some of the lyrics.
I can't think of anyone does this apart from Morrissey.

 

[Please]

He sung Tony Blair on the Guillotine at the palladium, so i think we need to get over this whole defensive nature. He is expressing his politics, he has done this since day 1, why would he stop now?

 

[Dave]

He is not afraid to sing it the original way. He has done (that). However, the USA is quite unlikely to bomb the USA. I believe he sang "If George Bush doesn't bomb you" and then switched it to "If George Bush doesn't kill you".

You know the former USSR still has thousands of nuclear warheads ready to go at any minute. We are establishing a permanent presence in Iraq, which can't do anything to ease tensions. If we do go into Iran at some point as has been hinted at, it brings us closer to a "World War" and if that happens, it could be argued that George Bush brought it about. If that happens it probably won't occur only in "far off places". My grandfather had to go thousands of miles to fight in World War II, as we call it in the US, but the next one, if it happens, could easily happen here, as well as there.

I don't know anything about politics or history and these are just my thoughts. But as far as the song goes, he certainly has not changed the words to avoid offending US citizens. He probably wouldn't sing it at all if that were the case. The whole Middle Eastern(ish) sound of the song always has suggested a sympathy, not for the "insurgents" but for those people that find US bombs dropping on them one day, when nothing had changed, nothing led to it, on the surface, except "faulty information" which we later blamed on the CIA.

The song itself is offensive to anyone that is for the war in Iraq because it points out that innocent people "dancing around and pulling faces" are dying because of USA, because of George W Bush, however you want to slice it, it's the same thing, for practical purposes. The fact that he recognizes that his fans are largely anti-Bush has nothing to do with cowardice. Yes, there is a difference between the people, the government, and the current administration. You could argue that the government only exists on paper. But the people did not ask for the Iraq War. The government did not ask for the Iraq war. George W Bush and his puppetmasters asked for the Iraq war.

The fact that Morrissey has come out as being against the Republicans and the Democrats (at least as he states in the changed lyrics of another song) shows that he does see the people as separate from the state, for what it's worth. Again we are talking about pop songs, not some kind of manifesto.

 

[Coiffeur_En_Flame]

Interesting Drug, National Front Disco and Margaret on a Guillotine are criticism about the state of Britain in general.

You should also note that these are all criticisms of right-wing politics.

I'm not implying anything (as if!) just pointing that out


Coiff.