Which Song and Why?

[mspendl828]

I find it lyrically awkward, not very poetic, and it seems to me we've been there before better with: ...people who break their necks and can't afford to get them fixed.

Hey, just one person's opinion, and I certainly understand how spoiled we all get by the lyrics Moz generates album after album. This one just makes me cringe.

I totally fail to see how one can make any connection between Certain People I Know and That's How People Grow Up, other than the word 'People' in both titles.

Can you explain how you feel That's How People Grow Up is a rehash of CPIK?

 

[Jamie]

I totally fail to see how one can make any connection between Certain People I Know and That's How People Grow Up, other than the word 'People' in both titles.

Can you explain how you feel That's How People Grow Up is a rehash of CPIK?

mspendl828, I think if you read Vauxhall's last post again it will be clearer. He/she is comparing the broken spine of THPU to the people who "break their necks and can't afford to get them fixed" in CPIK.

For what it's worth, Vauxhall, I agree--it's an example of how Morrissey would have turned a line with more wit back then. That "broken spine" / "sweetie" verse always reeked of "first draft" to me--alarmingly, it has not been changed.

I find signs of lyrical life in I'm Playing Easy to Get that got drastically overlooked. I find the line "do I have to drop anchor like a sailor..." to be very funny in the old Carry On style. The title itself seems like it could have been pulled from the Viva Hate or Bona Drag eras.

Musically, the tune is a little humdrum--the break seems to want more than the rolling guitar figure. I think perhaps that is why it was abandoned--good lyrics, decent tune, but no direction as to how to complete it. I find it to be worlds beyond Noise is the Best Revenge and ardently wished that it had been the Janice Long session song released on a B-side. Considering It's Hard to Walk Tall When You're Small had just been a single B-side a year before, he could have at least tucked I'm Playing Easy to Get on the DVD single. Then again, I suspect he was holding it out for the next album and dropped it when RotT developed its own sound.

Cheers,
Jamie

 

[Vauxhall95]

I totally fail to see how one can make any connection between Certain People I Know and That's How People Grow Up, other than the word 'People' in both titles.

Can you explain how you feel That's How People Grow Up is a rehash of CPIK?

Sorry. I didn't mean to imply the songs were similar, merely the lyric about breaking one's own neck. I just think he's already written a far more clever lyric than the one in THPGU.

 

[Vauxhall95]

mspendl828, I think if you read Vauxhall's last post again it will be clearer. He/she is comparing the broken spine of THPU to the people who "break their necks and can't afford to get them fixed" in CPIK.

For what it's worth, Vauxhall, I agree--it's an example of how Morrissey would have turned a line with more wit back then. That "broken spine" / "sweetie" verse always reeked of "first draft" to me--alarmingly, it has not been changed.

I find signs of lyrical life in I'm Playing Easy to Get that got drastically overlooked. I find the line "do I have to drop anchor like a sailor..." to be very funny in the old Carry On style. The title itself seems like it could have been pulled from the Viva Hate or Bona Drag eras.

Musically, the tune is a little humdrum--the break seems to want more than the rolling guitar figure. I think perhaps that is why it was abandoned--good lyrics, decent tune, but no direction as to how to complete it. I find it to be worlds beyond Noise is the Best Revenge and ardently wished that it had been the Janice Long session song released on a B-side. Considering It's Hard to Walk Tall When You're Small had just been a single B-side a year before, he could have at least tucked I'm Playing Easy to Get on the DVD single. Then again, I suspect he was holding it out for the next album and dropped it when RotT developed its own sound.

Cheers,
Jamie

Jamie, from now own can you simply proofread my posts? You write my own ideas better than I do.

 

[Ethan Poe]

Lets be real though is this debate a bit redundant when we have gotten to hear a sample of the recorded version....on that thought what did you all think?

 

[Vauxhall95]

Lets be real though is this debate a bit redundant when we have gotten to hear a sample of the recorded version....on that thought what did you all think?

I actually haven't listened to it yet. I will be listening to how I remember it sounding on "Late Night w/ Letterman" versus a Jerry Finn produced version of the song.

 

[Ethan Poe]

you're really missing out the production especially for Finn was really pretty good

 

[Jamie]

you're really missing out the production especially for Finn was really pretty good

The more Jerry Finn productions I hear, the more I'm convinced he's a "like or loathe" kind of producer. The vocals sound pushed forward from the music by about a mile. The bass has that splurgey prominence common in his work with Alkaline Trio and the rhythm guitars are far louder than the lead. Great for a power-punk trio, dire for Morrissey--in my opinion, at least. It sounds similar to the latest Tiger Army, the production of which is similarly cackhanded to my ear.

I was not entirely satisfied with Tony Visconti's effort, but I thought the sound on YATQ was brittle to the point of being petrified. I shall continue to long for the Lillywhite connection to get Brian Eno on Morrissey's radar. Even if the efforts would be a failure, I think they would be interesting to say the least.

Cheers,

Jamie

 

[Ethan Poe]

see I like the sort of grainy quality to the guitar riff and the vaguely synthesized quality to the vocals. I think it all gels together quite nicely