Moz songs about stalking people/contemplating rape

[Theo]

Rape??? I'm not sure any song is about rape. I must say I've changed my thoughts on I Can Have Both, though. I used to think it was about ambisexuality. Now I realise it's about the choice to have sex or not. The choice between being sexually active and not.

Peter

Maybe I'm just a naive Ohio boy, but I've never taken "I Can Have Both" to be about anything sexual at all. Of course I could be wrong. To me, the song is about how someone who grew up as a have-not will still feel like a have-not inside even after he's "made it" and can afford whatever he wants. The "voice inside" means that however much money he may have now, he still feels like the person who could never imagine affording such things. But the reality is, he can now afford whatever he wants. I think it's about how you will always feel, inside, like what you were when you were young.

Again, I could just be very naive and it really is about bisexuality.

As for "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore", I don't get how this could be about rape. I think it's about someone treating you special to bed you, then going cold after they get what they want. But I could be wrong. Haven't really spent much time analyzing the lyrics yet.

 

[*R*]

Coincidentally, before I even noticed this thread, it suddenly struck me tonight that "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" - a truly astonishing and quite brilliantly performed song, which I've been listening to with some awe since Sunday - is in fact articulating the thoughts of a rapist in flagrante. Not a comfortable or very palatable realisation, but one that is I think undeniably borne out by the lyrics, and indeed the vocal inflections.

 

[gothicarchie]

'Lost'

"If I see you and I tell you how I've watched you..."

My favoured form of stalking, unthreatening, unwanted, affectionate in a strange way and usually unnoticed.

 

[snowfallsoon]

whatever this song is..

All the streets are crammed with things
Eager to be held
I know what hands are for
And I'd like to help myself
You ask me the time
But I sense something more
And I would like to give
What I think you're asking for
You handsome devil
Oh, you handsome devil

Let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say


I crack the whip
And you skip
But you deserve it
You deserve it, deserve it, deserve it

A boy in the bush
Is worth two in the hand
I think I can help you get through your exams
Oh, you handsome devil

Oh, let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say

I crack the whip
And you skip
But you deserve it
You deserve it, deserve it, deserve it

And when we're in your scholarly room
Who will swallow whom ?
When we're in your scholarly room
Who will swallow whom ?
You handsome devil

 

[CrystalGeezer]

One time many, many, many years ago while I was working at a Barnes & Noble at the cash register, a man came up to me in a Smiths t-shirt. It could've been a Morrissey t-shirt. It was in the afternoon and the cashwrap was quiet. He looked at me and I looked at him and I said, "I LOVE MORRISSEY." He said, "You do?" very, very cautiously, kind as if to say "Are you sure?" and at the time it made me sort of concerned. I said, "More than you know." and I think he nodded approval, but he seemed surprised. It was the closest I ever felt to being stalked by "Morrissey." At least stalked by a Morrissey t-shirt is something, right?

 

[Comtesse]

Rape??? I'm not sure any song is about rape. I must say I've changed my thoughts on I Can Have Both, though. I used to think it was about ambisexuality. Now I realise it's about the choice to have sex or not. The choice between being sexually active and not.

Peter

See, I think "It's Not Your Birthday Anymore" is completely about rape. I think it's probably one of the most evil songs he's ever written, along with "Ambitious Outsiders". I'm still not a huge fan of the song, but I do appreciate the fact that Morrissey can even make a song about rape sound romantic.

 

[Not Right in the Head]

Nobody got the lettuce joke?

 

[Ben Chill]

1. It's not your birthday anymore
2. Jack the Ripper
3. I Can Have Both
4. Handsome Devil
5. Hand That Rocks The Cradle (molestation?)
6. The More You Ignore me, The Closer I get
7. Is It Really So Strange?

I'm sure there are more, help me out.

I'll help you out. Try listening to the songs again. Your first seven are wrong.

 

[Not Right in the Head]

I'll help you out. Try listening to the songs again. Your first seven are wrong.

Agreed. Not even "Jack the Ripper". He didn't rape 'em, he murdered 'em.

 

[Jukebox Jury]

I started something I couldn't finish

''I grabbed you by the guilded beams
that's what tradition means
and now 18 months hard labour
seems... fair enough''

Jukebox Jury

 

[Jukebox Jury]

Let me get my hands
On your mammary glands
And let me get your head
On the conjugal bed
I say, I say, I say

Jukebox Jury

 

[Not Right in the Head]

Jukebox Jury

You kids.

 

[Jukebox Jury]

I must say I've changed my thoughts on I Can Have Both, though. I used to think it was about ambisexuality. Now I realise it's about the choice to have sex or not. The choice between being sexually active and not.

Peter

But Peter,
You cannot have ''both'' ie sex and not having sex You have one or the other......

Jukebox Jury

 

[I am a Ghost]

But Peter,
You cannot have ''both'' ie sex and not having sex You have one or the other......

Jukebox Jury

I thought it was about someone not being able to choose between what type of sweets they wanted.

But then, I'm just an innocent old Irishman...

 

[*R*]

OK ... This is the story with Birthday :
The person who is being "loved" emphatically - and repeatedly - says NO!
But in the mind of the singer that NO! doesn't mean NO!
If he can't be given what he wants, then he feels he must take it ...
He abandons the syrupy, sentimental approach of yesterday ... and delivers his incomparable, yet "unkind", love to the unwilling object of his affection - right here, right now on the floor. Cue his own ecstatic howling.