Fiona Dodwell: In Conversation With Morrissey - full interview (April 3, 2023)

Morrissey Talks to Fiona Dodwell for Gabfest, April 2023

Excerpt:

"After his recent concert at London’s Hammersmith Apollo, I met with Morrissey backstage, and we acknowledged the difficulties he has faced by not “playing the game” of appeasing the media, or aligning himself with whatever the fashionable movement of the day is. “But you’re not a pop puppet, and you never could be,” I said, and he readily agreed. The truth is, perhaps, that to be the direct and authentic artist he is was never actually a choice. Morrissey is simply himself, fully and wholly, and it is that which likely resonates with his audience, who cling to him in their droves and travel the world for a glimpse of their idol. Truth is not always easy to come by in this world, and when people see it and feel it, they are drawn to it. They want to feel it, up close and personal."

Gabfest Exclusive: In Conversation With Morrissey

Morrissey Talks to Fiona Dodwell for Gabfest, April 2023 Morrissey has always been an artist with something to say, yet very often his truth is shrouded by the fabrications of the media, who have l…

gabfest.co.uk

 

[scifilull]

Morrissey. Unlike the song, the more I ignore him the further he gets, from my mind!

considering you're making this gleeful announcement on a Morrissey forum, on a post of his latest interview, it isn't terribly convincing. i think he was onto something with the whole "sexual obsession" thing

 

[Redacted]

considering you're making this gleeful announcement on a Morrissey forum, on a post of his latest interview, it isn't terribly convincing. i think he was onto something with the whole "sexual obsession" thing

So who do you think M was talking about, who is sexually obsessed with him?

 

[scifilull]

So who do you think M was talking about, who is sexually obsessed with him?

i don't presume to know all the names in his head but he makes it clear enough that Billy Bragg is one such suspect. in general though, the all-consuming, almost perverse obsession with him, the hanging onto his every word and onto every mention of him that i've seen from the camp of people who continue to denounce him every time he breathes should be studied

 

[Redacted]

i don't presume to know all the names in his head but he makes it clear enough that Billy Bragg is one such suspect. in general though, the all-consuming, almost perverse obsession with him, the hanging onto his every word and onto every mention of him that i've seen from the camp of people who continue to denounce him every time he breathes should be studied

I think it's Billy Brag too. Bragg has now included Morrissey in his Sexuality song
1:27

 

[Anonymous]

Much of the interview is ultimately the same tired narrative Morrissey has been pushing for the past several years ('I'm the only intelligent pop star on the planet, everyone is out to get me,' etc), and I could have done without Dodwell's constant brown-nosing and failure to even mildly challenge her interviewee. That said, he sounds less maudlin than he has in the past, and manages to get some great comedy zingers in to remind us of the glory days of old.

It's also refreshing to hear him bring up The Smiths - without prodding - and actually talking positively about them, and with some pride. It seems like an age since he's done this.

 

[Thewlis]

Has UncleSkinny now finally left these shores?
Or banned? Haven’t seen him in a while and if anything usually triggers him it’s Fiona

 

[JJKelsall]

I think it's Billy Brag too. Bragg has now included Morrissey in his Sexuality song
1:27

The irony of changing the lyrics to a song originally about being gay to remove the original subject matter and replace it with insulting a gay (or at least, non-straight) man.

 

[Redacted]

The irony of changing the lyrics to a song originally about being gay to remove the original subject matter and replace it with insulting a gay (or at least, non-straight) man.

I completely agree, Bragg's hate for Morrissey is completely irrational

 

[NealCassidy]

So who do you think M was talking about, who is sexually obsessed with him?

Skinny

 

[Thewlis]

And Haslam

 

[Redacted]

Skinny

aw, poor Skinny, I have never had a problem with him, I suppose we can ask him tho

 

[Billy A]

I would have asked about details of the Capitol situation: Has he tried to buy the album back? What exactly happened after signing the contract? Why did they put Rebels out?

Plus I would have asked questions about the recent and unreleased albums. How they differ from his previous works? To which direction he thinks his music is evolving? How come he used synths in Dog, despite looking down on them for the most of his career? What happened with Boz? What has Alain brought back to the songwriting?

And so on. It's pretty easy to think of good questions. And not let him blather on about the state of current pop music, because he has obviously lost all interest in it. All his reference points are at least a decade old. And no, Smiths definitely doesn't get as many streams as Beyonce.

Re: Boz
Boz recently did an interview for Earnest Prattle, which is available on Youtube (see below). Boz says he's semi-retired now, focusing on his record shops and living in Portugal. He does mention that he was supposed to do two London dates with Morrissey, but they got cancelled. I can't remember which ones those were, mind.

For those that would like to watch the interview, Morrissey is mentioned from 04:40:

 

[marred]

F: It appears to me that there are certain figures (who I won’t bother to name here) who like to publicly criticise you again and again….and again. They can’t keep your name out of their mouths/articles/tweets. Do you find this as utterly confusing as the rest of us, that they claim to dislike you, yet can’t quite manage to leave you alone?

M: It comes across mostly as sexual obsession. They also strongly allude to an imaginary time when I was somehow their actual flesh-and-blood friend, and this claim allows them full rights to enlightened bitterness.

One could apply the above to a lot of fans on this very forum. All they seem to do is criticise Morrissey while claiming some sort of ownership where if he's not walking the path they want him to he is somehow unworthy of their fandom. They never leave and always come back for more and more and more.

All they need is Morrissey. I'm not 100% sure which version of him they need though.

 

[Young And Alive]

At the same time, he had a record deal as recently as 2020 with BMG. Which means they signed him around the age of 57/58. And evidently, Capitol signed him for BOT - although we still don't know exactly what happened. So I don't think age is the main barrier to a record deal.

There's less demand for him now, and that is at least partially age related.

 

[Anonymous moz junky]

Ugh... so we will be waiting indefinitely to hear these two albums...

 

[Southport Grandma]

Yes. In Autobiography, Travis was wickedness and stupidity personified. Now he's like an old friend. Expect the next Morrissey interview to focus on his favourite meat pies.

Half expecting him to re-sign with Rough Trade or EMI after such flattery.

 

[Thewlis]

There's less demand for him now, and that is at least partially age related.

Not true and not true.

 

[DreamingofStew]

I notice he references Carson McCullers. Many years back, reading one of her books (I think, The Member of the Wedding), I read a line that I thought was echoed in some lines of 'Papa Jack':

"Papa Jack
All alone
Sings slow
Grieving and low."

Assuming I'm right, I wonder how many such literary references still remain unspotted in his lyrics. (I know many have been spotted, of course.)

 

[robertw93]

Ugh... so we will be waiting indefinitely to hear these two albums...

Along with a couple of others he's likely to record over the next few years.

 

[robertw93]

Re: Boz
Boz recently did an interview for Earnest Prattle, which is available on Youtube (see below). Boz says he's semi-retired now, focusing on his record shops and living in Portugal. He does mention that he was supposed to do two London dates with Morrissey, but they got cancelled. I can't remember which ones those were, mind.

For those that would like to watch the interview, Morrissey is mentioned from 04:40:

Would the cancelled dates have been in 2020 possibly? When everything got cancelled due to COVID, the last date they did was in march wasn't it, Boz's last show. I miss Boz.