Morrissey A-Z: "Driving Your Girlfriend Home"

He sings both "What do you see in him?" And "What do you see in her?".

The lifeblood line sounds nice, but I think it would change the meaning of the song slightly.
I think it fits in with "what do you see in him?" - as in, the narrator is longing for a woman who is taken. But then he changes the genders and... :LOL:
 
I think it fits in with "what do you see in him?" - as in, the narrator is longing for a woman who is taken. But then he changes the genders and... :LOL:

I don't think he longs for her. I've never really looked at this in detail before and the fact that the lyrics are transcribed incorrectly makes it confusing but I can't see him being interested in her in the actual lyric at all.

"I try
But i will never understand
What do you see in her?"

He sings "What do you see in her?" the first three times and then "I ask myself: What do you see in him?"

It's not the girl he's after. He doesn't understand what the other guy sees in her and when seeing them walk hand in hand he wonders what he himself sees in the other guy.

"But she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad"

She's not a nice person apparently which begs the question how this song evolved into Wonderful Woman and what the connection is.
 
I don't think he longs for her. I've never really looked at this in detail before and the fact that the lyrics are transcribed incorrectly makes it confusing but I can't see him being interested in her in the actual lyric at all.

"I try
But i will never understand
What do you see in her?"

He sings "What do you see in her?" the first three times and then "I ask myself: What do you see in him?"

It's not the girl he's after. He doesn't understand what the other guy sees in her and when seeing them walk hand in hand he wonders what he himself sees in the other guy.

"But she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad"
:thumb:
She's not a nice person apparently which begs the question how this song evolved into Wonderful Woman and what the connection is.

James thinks the title was changed for the reasons below....

Morrissey friend James Maker states in his "Autofellatio" book: "Initially, [Mike Joyce and Andy Rourke¸] were not particularly comfortable with the connotations of Morrissey’s prescient homoeroticism. The title of What Do You See In Her? [sic] was changed to Wonderful Woman for this very reason because of a concern that the group might be construed as gay. However, it was evident from the beginning that the songwriting, the conceptualisation of the group’s identity and the public voice of The Smiths lay exclusively in the hands of Morrissey and Marr. Consultation with Rourke and Joyce in this regard was superfluous.".


So maybe Morrissey changed it because he didn’t want The Smiths pigeonholed exclusively as a ‘gay band’. Or also was simply never satisfied with the lyric that bares little resemblance to what became Wonderful Woman.


Now reading the lyrics to Wonderful Woman, they could be read as from
the point of view of Morrissey’s love interest in WDYSIH?
That it’s sung from the point of view of the man that is in the relationship (that Morrissey was observing and criticizing in WDYSIH?) doubting and having second thoughts about being with this woman that treats him and others cruelly and he wonders why he continues to stay with her and run to her when she calls.

 
:thumb:


James thinks the title was changed for the reasons below....

I know, but that sounds like bollocks to me 😆 Look at other early Smiths lyrics, many of those are much more blatantly homoerotic than this one.

So maybe Morrissey changed it because he didn’t want The Smiths pigeonholed exclusively as a ‘gay band’. Or also was simply never satisfied with the lyric that bares little resemblance to what became Wonderful Woman.

That seems much more likely to me - Wonderful Woman is vastly superior to What Do You See In Him?. And, as you said, it's a completely different lyric altogether. If he'd just felt unsure about the gender of the subject of the song he could have easily swapped the pronouns to make it more ambiguous.

Now reading the lyrics to Wonderful Woman, they could be read as from
the point of view of Morrissey’s love interest in WDYSIH?
That it’s sung from the point of view of the man that is in the relationship (that Morrissey was observing and criticizing in WDYSIH?) doubting and having second thoughts about being with this woman that treats him and others cruelly and he wonders why he continues to stay with her and run to her when she calls.

I've been thinking the same! I always thought it was about some kind of doomed, unequal friendship or relationship he'd been in himself but this take is much more interesting.
I love the lyric a lot. Some truly great phrases ("I'm starved of mirth/Let's go and trip a dwarf").
It's exciting to look at it from a different perspective again.
 
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I know, but that sounds like bollocks to me 😆 Look at other early Smiths lyrics, many of those are much more blatantly homoerotic than this one.

Yes, I wonder how much self-censoring if any at all Morrissey did or even took into consideration what the other band members might think of the lyrics when he was in his room writing these words at that time?

Would of been a good question to ask him, if he was asked back then.
I've been thinking the same! I always thought it was about some kind of doomed, unequal friendship or relationship he'd been in himself but this take is much more interesting.
I love the lyric a lot. Some truly great phrases ("I'm starved of mirth/Let's go and trip a dwarf").
It's exciting to look at it from a different perspective again.
:thumb:

Guess we’ll need to repeat all this when we start doing the A-Z of Smiths songs ! :lbf: :rock:
 
Yes, I wonder how much self-censoring if any at all Morrissey did or even took into consideration what the other band members might think of the lyrics when he was in his room writing these words at that time?

Would of been a good question to ask him, if he was asked back then.

Ironically, Dale Hibbert said their intention in the beginning was to construct the image of a 'gay band', which is just as questionable and was dismissed by Johnny, but it's interesting to see this kind of contradiction.

"Steven said, 'We’re going to be a gay band, but not in a Tom Robinson, effeminate kind of way but more in an underlying kind of macho type way.' It was a very strongly manufactured image that was being prepared."
 
Yes, I wonder how much self-censoring if any at all Morrissey did or even took into consideration what the other band members might think of the lyrics when he was in his room writing these words at that time?

Would of been a good question to ask him, if he was asked back then.

:thumb:

Guess we’ll need to repeat all this when we start doing the A-Z of Smiths songs ! :lbf: :rock:

Reading his autobiography more carefully, his teenage years did involve an awful lot of him being berated or dumped for being gay, while desperately searching for evidence that other gay men existed... I should imagine he just got used to things having to be obscured & knew people would take from a song what they wanted or needed to take from it.
 
Ironically, Dale Hibbert said their intention in the beginning was to construct the image of a 'gay band', which is just as questionable and was dismissed by Johnny, but it's interesting to see this kind of contradiction.

"Steven said, 'We’re going to be a gay band, but not in a Tom Robinson, effeminate kind of way but more in an underlying kind of macho type way.' It was a very strongly manufactured image that was being prepared."

Or maybe Morrissey said that privately to Dale because he thought it might scare Dale into deciding for himself to leave the band. :lbf:
 
Ironically, Dale Hibbert said their intention in the beginning was to construct the image of a 'gay band', which is just as questionable and was dismissed by Johnny, but it's interesting to see this kind of contradiction.

"Steven said, 'We’re going to be a gay band, but not in a Tom Robinson, effeminate kind of way but more in an underlying kind of macho type way.' It was a very strongly manufactured image that was being prepared."

Using gay culture is different to being it.

All of the high concept 80s action films borrowed heavily from gay club culture but very few gay people were involved & it wasn't their target market.
 
Using gay culture is different to being it.

All of the high concept 80s action films borrowed heavily from gay club culture but very few gay people were involved & it wasn't their target market.

Err, yeah, a fact that becomes extremely obvious every year during pride month when all the big companies discover for a limited time that putting rainbows on your product makes you lots of $$$. 🤑
 
Ironically, Dale Hibbert said their intention in the beginning was to construct the image of a 'gay band', which is just as questionable and was dismissed by Johnny, but it's interesting to see this kind of contradiction. "Steven said, 'We’re going to be a gay band, but not in a Tom Robinson, effeminate kind of way but more in an underlying kind of macho type way.' It was a very strongly manufactured image that was being prepared."
Like James Maker says about Andy & Mike, I like feel Dale only had half the story - Johnny said they did briefly considered that kind of image but changed their minds because they wanted mainstream support.
 
Yes, I wonder how much self-censoring if any at all Morrissey did or even took into consideration what the other band members might think of the lyrics when he was in his room writing these words at that time? Would of been a good question to ask him, if he was asked back then.
Absolutely none, I would bet :LOL:
 
I don't think he longs for her. I've never really looked at this in detail before and the fact that the lyrics are transcribed incorrectly makes it confusing but I can't see him being interested in her in the actual lyric at all.

"I try
But i will never understand
What do you see in her?"

He sings "What do you see in her?" the first three times and then "I ask myself: What do you see in him?"

It's not the girl he's after. He doesn't understand what the other guy sees in her and when seeing them walk hand in hand he wonders what he himself sees in the other guy.

"But she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad"

She's not a nice person apparently which begs the question how this song evolved into Wonderful Woman and what the connection is.
Yeah, I see.
 
Absolutely none, I would bet :LOL:
:thumb:

It seems not.


But it’s so seductive the desire or need to be liked, that we may even go against our better judgment or not even be aware of what we’re doing in order to be accepted and belong with those that we want to form some bond with.
 
The girl is the character of "there Is a light..." The guy Is the driver in "driving your girlfriend"...

Take me out tonight, wherever, turn left or whatever
 
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