We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (single)

Cover art

MORRISSEY Single
Name	We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
Release	27 April 1992
Length	2:29
Recorded	February 1992, North London
Writer/composer	Morrissey/Whyte
Producer	Mick Ronson
Art work	Tristram Penna
Vinyl Etching	I DON'T KNOW ANYONE THAT'S HAPPY, DO YOU?
Publisher	HMV Records (UK)
Format(s)	7" Vinyl, 12" Vinyl, CD
Chart position	UK #17
Single chronology
My Love Life ← We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful → You're The One For Me, Fatty

Track list

7" Vinyl

[HMV POP1629]

1. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful – 4:26 (Morrissey/Whyte)
2. Suedehead [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:54 (Morrissey/Street)

12" Vinyl

[HMV 12POP1629]

1. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful – 4:26
2. Suedehead [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:54
3. I've Changed My Plea To Guilty [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:13 (Morrissey/Nevin)
4. Alsatian Cousin [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 2:19 (Morrissey/Street)

CD

[HMV CDPOP1629]

1. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful – 4:26
2. Suedehead [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:54
3. I've Changed My Plea To Guilty [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:13
4. Alsatian Cousin [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 2:19

CD - US version

[Sire/Reprise 9 40560-2]

1. We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful – 4:26
2. Suedehead [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:54
3. I've Changed My Plea To Guilty [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 3:13
4. Pregnant For The Last Time [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 2:33 (Morrissey/Nevin)
5. Alsatian Cousin [Live in London, Oct. 4, 1991] – 2:19

Lyrics

We hate it when our friends become successful

We hate it when our friends become successful

Oh, look at those clothes Now look at that face, it's so old And such a video Well, it's really laughable

We hate it when our friends become successful And if they're Northern, that makes it even worse And if we can destroy them You bet your life we will Destroy them If we can hurt them Well, we may as well... It's really laughable

You see, it should've been me It could've been me Everybody knows Everybody said so They say: "Ah, you have loads of songs So many songs More songs than they can stand Verse Chorus Middle-eight Break, fade" Just listen...

Music Video

Credits

• Directed by Tim Broad

Live History

Play count (Morrissey concert): 63

Morrissey live history:

• Atlanta, Georgia 1992-11-18 (Morrissey concert)
• Auburn Hills, Michigan 1992-09-26 (Morrissey concert)
• Belfort, France 1992-07-04 (Morrissey concert)
• Birmingham, England 1992-12-12 (Morrissey concert)
• Boulder, Colorado 1992-10-01 (Morrissey concert)
• Bristol, England 1992-12-18 (Morrissey concert)
• Buffalo, New York 1992-09-16 (Morrissey concert)
• Charlotte, North Carolina 1992-11-19 (Morrissey concert)
• Charlottesville, Virginia 1992-11-20 (Morrissey concert)
• Cleveland, Ohio 1992-09-25 (Morrissey concert)

... further results

Appears On

• Suedehead: The Best Of Morrissey
• The Malady Lingers On
• We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (single)
• Your Arsenal
• ¡Oye Esteban!
• ¡The Best Of! Morrissey

Discogs Information

Credits

• Artwork [Co-Ordination] - Tristram Penna
• Bass Guitar - Gary Day
• Drums - Spencer Cobrin
• Guitar - Alain Whyte
• Guitar - Boz Boorer
• Management [Press] - murray chalmers
• Other [Hair] - Debbie Danelle
• Photography By - Linder Sterling
• Sleeve - E. Riff

Notes

B1, B2, B3: Recorded live at Hammersmith Odeon. October 4th,1991.

Vinyl slipped in a white polylined inner sleeve made by DRG MALAGO.

Barcode reverse upper left is on a bevelled rectangular sticker on some copies. Dot print. Sticker adhesive liable to bleed to the surface causing darkened spots to paper & fading of dot ink.

Images

• We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful - Discogs master release: https://www.discogs.com/master/5419
• We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (12" 45 RPM Single) - Discogs release: https://www.discogs.com/Morrissey-We-Hate-It-When-Our-Friends-Become-Successful/release/1239566

Discogs information (additional release)

Notes

Issued in an old style HMV 'Pop Series' cover with catalogue singles advertised on back. The same track plays on both sides with different speed (side A: 78rpm / side B: 45rpm).

Images

• We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful (10" Promo 45 RPM 78 RPM Single) - Discogs release: https://www.discogs.com/Morrissey-We-Hate-It-When-Our-Friends-Become-Successful/release/672255

Wikipedia Information

"We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful" is a single by English singer Morrissey released in April 1992 by HMV. It was released as the first single from his Your Arsenal album, preceding the album by three months, and was the first Morrissey single to be co-written with guitarist Alain Whyte and produced by glam rock guitarist Mick Ronson, known for his work with David Bowie as one of the Spiders from Mars. Peaking at No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart, the song shows a harder edge to Morrissey's sound and moves away from the lighter pop of his 1991 album Kill Uncle. The Swedish synthpop band Universal Poplab covered the song on their 2004 debut eponymous album, in a duet with the Swedish pop singer Håkan Hellström. Reel Big Fish covered the song on their 2005 album We're Not Happy 'til You're Not Happy, replacing the lyric "And if they are Northern" with "And if they are No Doubt". Morrissey claimed that the lyrics were about the music scene in Manchester, with bands contesting for success. James lead singer Tim Booth has claimed the song is about the success James had as a fellow Manchester band, once performing it at a festival in place of Morrissey. Morrissey however states that the song is not about James.On hating it when his friends became successful, he said: "When my old friend Simon Topping [the frontman of Manchester band A Certain Ratio] appeared on the cover of the NME, I died a thousand deaths of sorrow and lay down in the woods to die."

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Hate_It_When_Our_Friends_Become_Successful