Morrissey on Desert Island Discs - 29 Nov 2009

[Vauxhall Vixen]

Really quite charming interview. Reminds you why you like the guy in the first place..

This from Stephen Fry's twitter:

@stephenfry hope we’re all sitting at the feet of the divinity that is Morrissey on Desert Island Discs...

@stephenfry Oh, when Morrissey is teasy and funny and silly and sweet I just want to DIE of pleasure...

Oh me too Stephen, it is wonderful isn't it. The things he said may seem depressing when you read them in black and white but to hear them said in his own sweet voice is something else. Plus, there's always a hefty dollop of black humour in there too which makes it for me

 

[Vauxhall Vixen]

That was a great interview- he gave some very enlightening answers and made a few nice quips. The "parcel" joke about Johnny Marr was a highlight for me.

Yeah, that parcel joke was great, wasn't it! Quite apt too.

 

[saw76]

An altogether fun programme with Moz in delightfully obfuscatory mood, contradicting himself from one sentence to the next. Not particularly illuminating for seasoned Moz followers but he seemed to be having fun. Fairly pedestrian choice of tunes too as there are much better New York Dolls tracks and I think he should have chosen Wayward Sisters by Klaus Nomi. I wish Kirsty Young had been able to ask him 'Why Oscar Wilde?' for his book. However, I agree with him 100% on the subject of going to bed.

 

[Barking]

"Embarrassing that somebody would know you that well and get bored with you?"

Sigh.
Oh so, it's that.
Ok. Fair enough.

I can't imagine why anyone would have a picture of him in a frame on a tv set they don't even currently have when they've been subjected to 896755550099 photographs of him already, but that's just me.

Of course you don't have to do that bit, and everybody knows that there are different ways. Just say you're scared and afraid to be one day abandoned. Saves time. (The BBC have loads of interesting programmes waiting and you're using valuable broadcasting time for no good reason at all.)

(PS: Nico can say what she likes, I don't give a toss.)

 

[WhalleyRange]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/podcasts/series/did


Available as a podcast.

 

[ianwylie]

Thanks for the Transcript.

Were you honour bound (or contractually bound) not to release it until after the broadcast?

Dave

Hi Dave - the embargo on preview stories, to include some but not all of his choices, expired at 0001 today (though one Irish outlet broke the embargo yesterday afternoon), and then everything can be used after the broadcast, as it's obviously in the public domain post-TX. Guess it's a balance for the BBC between making sure people know / are reminded about the prog in advance, especially on a Sunday morning, and not, of course, spoiling the entire contents of the broadcast before it goes out.

 

[Pokey]

I find it interesting that he says he is baffled that everyone is still locked in the past and only want to talk about The Smiths as if they're better than his solo stuff .. yet look at his selection of songs .. they're all from yesteryear .. nothing from more recent times. Can he really blame people for being still smiths obsessed over solo work when he himself is seemingly locked in the past for music?

 

[Girl-with-the-Thorn]

Oh me too Stephen, it is wonderful isn't it. The things he said may seem depressing when you read them in black and white but to hear them said in his own sweet voice is something else. Plus, there's always a hefty dollop of black humour in there too which makes it for me

I agree, it was so nice to listen to his voice, and he seemed in quite good spirits- open and warm. I think this is only the second time I've listened to or watched an interview at the time of broadcast, after The One Show in February (although I wasn't as big a fan then, so I wasn't quite so disproportionately excited ).

 

[Danny_]

These programmes are always a cue for a whinge about how Morrissey doesn't reveal anything new.

He's been in the public eye for nearly 30 years, what bombshell do people want him to drop exactly?

 

[kyleleonard]

nice for my ipod

 

[Barking]

what bombshell do people want him to drop exactly?

Uh?

Well if I were him I'd drop Pam the past-her-prime Environmental Mental disaster, the other two are allright (or very allright )

 

[Johan de Witt]

Great selection of songs, especially this (never mentioned anywhere before):

 

[billybu69]

Kirsty: “Do you want the Bible?”

Morrissey: “For what?”

Kirsty: “You can use it for any purpose.”

Morrissey: “Well, it’s a best-seller…”

I think I may have found a new signature

Dave

I liked "everybody dies screaming"

Great sig

 

[the judge]

Nothing comforts him? I can't even read this bullshit anymore, Morrissey must've been high as a kite during this. Tricked.

i think you can have a lot of reasons to be happy but still be basically unhappy.

 

[maynardmorrissey]

brillant interview, absolutely brillant!

 

[I am a Ghost]

A fine slice of radio.

 

[joe frady]

Excellent broadcast. Better than I hoped for. Kirrsty tip-toeing into Professor Anthony Clare territory at times.
I liked the way he kept asking 'why am I laughing ?' after he said specific things, about his childhood or Catholicism. Clare would have made more of that. Not that it would have got him anywhere.
Also notable for his description of Johnny as sharing his "drive and ambition". Now where have I heard that before?
Other gems ~ "I never wanted to be a lovely couple"
"Sleep is the brother of death"
"Kirsty. Do you know that you're pretty face is going to hell?"
"I'm homosexual"

 

[CrystalGeezer]

i think you can have a lot of reasons to be happy but still be basically unhappy.

Yes, especially when the desert island your stranded on is floating in the middle of the cialis.

 

[Scarlet1987]

Excellent broadcast. Better than I hoped for. Kirrsty tip-toeing into Professor Anthony Clare territory at times.
I liked the way he kept asking 'why am I laughing ?' after he said specific things, about his childhood or Catholicism. Clare would have made more of that. Not that it would have got him anywhere.
Also notable for his description of Johnny as sharing his "drive and ambition". Now where have I heard that before?
Other gems ~ "I never wanted to be a lovely couple"
"Sleep is the brother of death"
"Kirsty. Do you know that you're pretty face is going to hell?"
"I'm homosexual"

I'm homosexual?

 

[Barking]

"I'm homosexual"

"and zoophilous". Oh no wait, he just said homosexual.

(He also said "hummusexual", but I'd rather forget that one. Thinking about it is more embarrassing than having to meet Great Great Aunt Aoife, who is deaf, smells an awful lot, and only speaks Gaelic although she owns half of Cashel and has a crow perched on her right shoulder even when she goes to the loo blahdeblah... -'think you're the only one that'd be embarrassed?-)