In praise of...The World Won't Listen by The Smiths

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From my blog. My fave release of The Smiths. We need more Smiths threads nowadays:

ihhtp=http://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/smiths-the%20world%20wont%20listen.jpg

October 1986. I was on the Greek cyclade Naxos where I met a black English guy who was deejaying in a club in the main town. He was ranging his LPs as the season was over and he was about to go back to rainy England. Before he played a single for me. A song by a band from the whereabouts of Manchester I had never heard of. Called The Smiths, a name I instantly loved for its modest ubiquitousness. The song was called Panic but it took me at least seven or eight years before getting that title. From the beginning on I thought it was called after the chorus at the end, Hang the DJ. A two minutes and something pop song which didn't impress me much at first but which somehow stayed in memory. Which became a token song for nostalgia. I don't know how many times I asked deejays for this song. Usually because they only played music which didn't say anything to me about my life. Sometimes they played it (as they liked the song themselves but didn't realise why I asked for it), many times they didn't. This song starts the wonderful compilation of singles, b-sides and 12'' extra songs called The World Won't Listen (how could I not love that title) which came out in early 1987. Whatever Panic is about (e.g. riots in England and radio deejays who pass stupid songs on the public radio after Chernobyl has happened a couple of hours before), it has a feel of power which in the end becomes so totally overwhelming and irresistible (that kid's choir is angelic). As if changing the music could change the world. That's what I always liked most about Morrissey. He always incarnated the romantic side of revolution for me.

Three members of The Smiths were born in the same year I was born. I always thought of them as The Beatles of the 80s. My Beatles as that band was about the distant past. An in-between generation, not my parents who were into baroque music and thought that Beethoven was almost too modern for their taste. The Smiths were about feeling uncomfortable. About being unhappy with the world. You realise that the world is not ideal and you escape into music. They were a singles band. Preferring and excelling in the small format of seven and twelve inches. They were so prolific in their short life-time from 1984-87 that their genius could not be captured on albums. That's why I chose a compilation. Three of the best songs of The Queen Is Dead are featured. The autumnal flow heading towards calmer songs is perfect. Not like on these terrible singles compilations or the expanded American version Louder than Bombs which was released shortly after. Hatful of Hollow is almost as strong, probably more urgent in an adolescent universe. If you want the mature, grown-up Smiths The World Won't Listen is more like it though, I guess.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:15 (twenty years ago)

http://musik.antville.org/static/musik/images/smiths-the%20world%20wont%20listen.jpg

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:16 (twenty years ago)

I remember a whole bunch of people telling me that "Panic" was an indictment of disco/hip-hop/techno/r&b/dance music when I was younger. Oh, those stupid, stupid people; I think some of them were the same people who didn't realize that "Pride (In The Name Of Love)" was about Martin Luther King.

What's the actual tracklist for The World Won't Listen?

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:19 (twenty years ago)

I can't find a pic of it anywhere, but I remember someone remarking about how the ladies on the back cover (with the big, boufanty beehive hairdo's) kinda uncannily each looked like a member of the band. Check it out.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:24 (twenty years ago)

this isn't the back cover of TWWL but it is the same photo

http://foreverill.com/interviews/post87/bestcov2.jpg

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

i didn't notice the "wiggier".

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:27 (twenty years ago)

There are different tracklists. My lp has got the following:

panic
ask
london
bigmouth strikes again
shakespeare's sister
there's a light that never goes out
shoplifters of the world unite
the boy with the thorn in his side
asleep
unloveable
half a person
stretch out and wait
that joke isn't funny anymore
oscillate wildly
you just haven't earned it yet, baby
rubber ring

the cd has got the fucking golden lights at the end and the great instrumental money changes everything before unloveabe

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:28 (twenty years ago)

"It represents the band to me," says Marr. "On the front you've got four guys who look like, if not the band, then Smiths fans. On the back you've got the female side of it - individually they really look like the Smiths: Morrissey on the far right, me on the second right, Andy [Rourke, bass] on the second left and Mike [Joyce, drums] on the far left. To find a picture like that is really clever. We didn't discuss it, but I understood."

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:29 (twenty years ago)

sorry for my ignorance but what does wiggy mean?

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 25 August 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

I remember a whole bunch of people telling me that "Panic" was an indictment of disco/hip-hop/techno/r&b/dance music when I was younger.
for me it was, dan. there wasn't techno and r&b in the modern sense at the time, though. don't know about morrissey but i guess he wasn't the funky kind of guy. come to think of it discos were always kind of evil as the music was only bearable with lots of alcohol.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:08 (twenty years ago)

I see. Later then.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:10 (twenty years ago)

wiggy = look like they are wearing wigs?

― jed_ (jed), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:30 (twenty years ago)

and getting jiggy wit' it at the same time.

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:31 (twenty years ago)

some CD copies leave off Money Changes Everything.

― biz, Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:42 (twenty years ago)

this is the only Smiths album I've never owned and hence Money Changes Everything is the only Smiths song I've still not heard (well I must have heard it at some point, but I don't remember it).

― kyle (akmonday), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:44 (twenty years ago)

Louder Than Bombs is much better.

― Alfred Soto (Alfred Soto), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:48 (twenty years ago)

But you've heard "Gene" Or is it "Jean"?

― k/l (Ken L), Thursday, 25 August 2005 18:49 (twenty years ago)

Actually, it's "Jeane". Unless you're referring to the band Gene.

What's the story behind the lyric changes in "Stretch Out and Wait" (i.e., the first verse is different on "The World Won't Listen" v. "Louder Than Bombs"). I don't have my Smiths 12"s handy so I don't know which one they used for the B-side to whatever single it's a B-side for (I know, I'm not being a very proper Rock Snob, I'm just being lazy).

Also, has anyone noticed that the mix of "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" is different than the one on "The Queen is Dead"? Was it remixed for the single or for this compilation?

― Jonathan Merritt, Thursday, 25 August 2005 20:19 (twenty years ago)

The instrumental, "Money Changes Everything" was later used by Bryan Ferry (who Marr was playing for by the time of its release) as the backing track to "The Right Stuff" on Bete Noir.

― Alex in NYC (vassifer), Thursday, 25 August 2005 20:27 (twenty years ago)

As I've joked on several threads here, it used to be almost mandatory for Usenet trolls to bait kids on alt.rave & alt.music.techno by quoting "Panic"'s chorus.

― Tantrum The Cat (Tantrum The Cat), Thursday, 25 August 2005 21:06 (twenty years ago)

Not as good as Louder than Bombs, which is not as good as (in order)

Meat is Murder
Queen is Dead
Hatful of Hollow
The Smiths
Strangeways...

so yeah, their least significant album / compilation, but it has some crackers (london, there is a light, boy with the thorn, panic, that joke...) but also some of their most ordinary work (unloveable is boring, you just haven't...is like an early mozzer b side, asleep is sentimental, rubber / oscillate are surplus)...

― paulhw (paulhw), Thursday, 25 August 2005 21:29 (twenty years ago)

on a related note, has anyone ever read St Morrissey?

― JD from CDepot, Thursday, 25 August 2005 22:19 (twenty years ago)

"rubber ring" is moz's best lyric maybe ever!

― Banana Nutrament (ghostface), Thursday, 25 August 2005 22:50 (twenty years ago)

I love "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby". Definitely a nostalgia song for me.

This comp doesn't have "Back to the Old House", though, so I prefer the other ones first.

― kickitcricket (kickitcricket), Thursday, 25 August 2005 23:50 (twenty years ago)

Louder Than Bombs may be better but what a tracklist this has. Enjoyed your story Alex.

― Mark (MarkR), Thursday, 25 August 2005 23:53 (twenty years ago)

Also, has anyone noticed that the mix of "The Boy With The Thorn In His Side" is different than the one on "The Queen is Dead"? Was it remixed for the single or for this compilation?

I assume this is the single version - much more punchy than the QID version. The single was a demo, without the strings (imo completely unnecessary).

― Jez (Jez), Friday, 26 August 2005 06:09 (twenty years ago)

I have never noticed the difference (!)

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 August 2005 07:56 (twenty years ago)

another reason why the world won't listen rocks the house. the boy with the thorn in his side is one of my top three smiths songs. i never understood why the queen is dead is worshipped so much. i find it drags along slightly. that comment about the strings in the boy with the thorn in his side is spot-on. the queen is dead is missing in the punch and power department. the three essential songs are on the world won't listen anyways. i know it's over and some girls are bigger than others would have been nice too. the other 5 i don't care too much about.

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 26 August 2005 10:05 (twenty years ago)

This record honestly did change my life.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 26 August 2005 10:09 (twenty years ago)

Louder Than Bombs is much better.
-- Alfred Soto (sotoal...), August 25th, 2005.

i was just going to say that exact thing.

― piscesboy, Friday, 26 August 2005 10:31 (twenty years ago)

Not caring about "The Queen Is Dead" (the song) is like not caring about life itself. I don't see how you can say that an album that starts with that song lacks power and punch.

Also, owning Louder Than Bombs makes this entire album irrelevant; Hatful of Hollow at least has the better-recorded versions of some of the crucial songs from the first album (was that from a Peel session?) on it to justifiy its existence.

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 26 August 2005 12:29 (twenty years ago)

I was just listening to Louder than Bombs last night as I was falling asleep - for the first time in at least a year. More than any other single CD, I think that one has the power to take me back to my adolescence.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 26 August 2005 13:00 (twenty years ago)

I wish Louder than Bombs had "There's a Light that Never Goes Out" on it. Then it would be perfect.

― o. nate (onate), Friday, 26 August 2005 13:01 (twenty years ago)

Kid Jensen too, as well as Peel.

Bombs not as nice.

― PJ Miller (PJ Miller 68), Friday, 26 August 2005 13:02 (twenty years ago)

the version of 'these things take time' on louder makes it worth the price of admission. u forget just looking at the tracklist without hearing it, that it's not the poxy bbc sesh.

what's bonkers is that there has still not been a proper reissue/ repackage/ remaster job for the smiths after all these years.
you STILL can't get the (superior) bbc versions of
'william...' or 'london' or 'half a person'. why???!

― piscesboy, Friday, 26 August 2005 14:09 (twenty years ago)

I've got "William" on a CD single.

― mark grout (mark grout), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:16 (twenty years ago)

How does he maintain his balance?

― The Ghost of WAHEY (Dan Perry), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:17 (twenty years ago)

Oh you clever swine. Oh wait.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:20 (twenty years ago)

I've got "William" on a CD single.
-- mark grout (mark.grou...), August 26th, 2005.

really?! which single? is it one of the '92 reissue jobs.

― piscesboy, Friday, 26 August 2005 14:24 (twenty years ago)

I think there is some kind of box-set/remastering project of all the albums due next year.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:28 (twenty years ago)

"rubber ring" is moz's best lyric maybe ever!

agreed, but only if you take out the qualifier.

― my name is john. i reside in chicago. (frankE), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:29 (twenty years ago)

"Rubber Ring" is flat-out brilliant. However, I still have an abiding fondness for the lyrics to "This Night Has Opened My Eyes".

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:37 (twenty years ago)

shoplifters of the world was the song that got me into the smiths....

but yeah isn't louder than bombs the same thing with a few more songs??

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:41 (twenty years ago)

Louder Than Bombs = Hatful of Hollow + The World Won't Listen - The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

― The Ghost of Black Elegance (Dan Perry), Friday, 26 August 2005 14:44 (twenty years ago)

Box set, Nipper?

Simon Goddard declared 4 months ago that tons of rereleased stuff was due out within 2 years.

Perhaps this was mere pantomimic seduction.

I played the LP yesterday; naturally I adore it. In fact I can echo Ewing's comment, truly.

― the bellefox, Friday, 26 August 2005 15:56 (twenty years ago)

Not caring about "The Queen Is Dead" (the song) is like not caring about life itself.
you got me thinking there, dan. i really like the drumming in the beginning but after that it feels rather lifeless. morrissey sounds like he is in lamento mode. and the song is dragging along. it's too long. i stand by my verdict that they were a singles band. their shorter songs are often the ones i come back to.

some precision concerning the different songs on the two comps:

the world won't listen cd has got the following extra tracks:
- bigmouth strikes again
- there is a light that nver goes out
- the boy with the thorn in his side
- money changes everything
- that joke isn't funny anymore

louder than bombs has got the following extra tracks:
- is it really so strange
- sheila take a bow
- sweet and tender hooligan
- girl afraid
- william, it was really nothing
- heaven knows i'm miserable now
- these things take time
- back to the old house
- hand in glove
- please please please let me get what i want
- this night has opened my eyes

the equation isn't as simple!

― alex in mainhattan (alex63), Friday, 26 August 2005 17:32 (twenty years ago)

smiths math is hard.

anyway, all three are fucking great and the smiths are great and they wrote all these songs i love and moz is cool even though he's kind of a chooch sometimes but i still love him.

― M@tt He1geson (Matt Helgeson), Friday, 26 August 2005 17:36 (twenty years ago)

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