Morrissey A-Z: "Driving Your Girlfriend Home"

Ha! No, I'm just working off a list kindly provided by @GirlAfraidWillNeverLearn on the second or third day of this exercise, when it looked like we were missing songs out (which was true).

My list was originally based on the Wiki list, I think. I removed all songs that haven't leaked (yet) and changed the alphabetical sorting a bit (articles).
 
A lovely song. That question of whether he's longing for the passenger or her boyfriend is so interesting, it really could be read either way. It's such a good portrait of Moz as the 'outsider-looking-in'. Sometimes I feel that's he not longing for either of them - just looking at their dysfunctional situation, comparing it with his own loneliness on the sidelines and coming to the conclusion that they're all unhappy in their own ways, a relationship doesn't solve everything. A sort of prequel to "Happy Lovers United" which covers a similar theme.
 
A lovely song. That question of whether he's longing for the passenger or her boyfriend is so interesting, it really could be read either way. It's such a good portrait of Moz as the 'outsider-looking-in'. Sometimes I feel that's he not longing for either of them - just looking at their dysfunctional situation, comparing it with his own loneliness on the sidelines and coming to the conclusion that they're all unhappy in their own ways, a relationship doesn't solve everything. A sort of prequel to "Happy Lovers United" which covers a similar theme.

That's how I see it. He empathises with her, but I don't think he's romantically interested in either party here.
The song always felt like a sister to Girl Afraid to me, except it takes the narrative even further. It works on a more personal level, because he's more involved here. The listener automatically feels for the girlfriend because he manages to transfer his own sympathy for her. And he does all that with minimum effort, all through the emotion in his voice while telling her story without actually commenting on it. It's brilliant.

I also sometimes feel it might be connected to King Leer, although it's very different in sentiment.
 
I feel it is one of his most underrated songs because it has all the qualities that we love like an interesting lyric open to various interpretations, a wistful acoustic tune, a fine vocal harmony. And it is the only song to feature Linder's voice, even if not very audible, the effect is splendid.

Yet the song has never been performed live, never appeared on one of his random compilations, and features on one of the least acclaimed solo albums (including by the man himself)
 
I feel it is one of his most underrated songs because it has all the qualities that we love like an interesting lyric open to various interpretations, a wistful acoustic tune, a fine vocal harmony. And it is the only song to feature Linder's voice, even if not very audible, the effect is splendid.

Yet the song has never been performed live, never appeared on one of his random compilations, and features on one of the least acclaimed solo albums (including by the man himself)
It has been performed live, but only towards the end of the Kill Uncle tour.






It is criminally underrated and he should dig it out again at some point in the future...
 
I wonder why he chose Linder to do backing vocals? He did refer to Linder as a Wonderful Woman,
which not only made me think of that song, but also it’s earlier version,
‘What Do You See In Him?’

Was Morrissey being mischievous by using Linder on backing vocals as a way to draw a connection between ‘Driving Your..’ and ‘Wonderful Woman’ & ‘What Do You See In Him?’ for the listener?

Maybe something to take into consideration, or not. :lbf:

“Oh the nights are too long
When the questions are lost
I try
But i will never understand
.....

What do you see in her?
I ask myself
What do you see in him?
I love her, I love her, I love her

That she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad “


That's how I see it. He empathises with her, but I don't think he's romantically interested in either party here.
The song always felt like a sister to Girl Afraid to me, except it takes the narrative even further. It works on a more personal level, because he's more involved here. The listener automatically feels for the girlfriend because he manages to transfer his own sympathy for her. And he does all that with minimum effort, all through the emotion in his voice while telling her story without actually commenting on it. It's brilliant.

I also sometimes feel it might be connected to King Leer, although it's very different in sentiment.
 
I wonder why he chose Linder to do backing vocals? He did refer to Linder as a Wonderful Woman,
which not only made me think of that song, but also it’s earlier version,
‘What Do You See In Him?’

Was Morrissey being mischievous by using Linder on backing vocals as a way to draw a connection between ‘Driving Your..’ and ‘Wonderful Woman’ & ‘What Do You See In Him?’ for the listener?

Maybe something to take into consideration, or not. :lbf:

“Oh the nights are too long
When the questions are lost
I try
But i will never understand
.....

What do you see in her?
I ask myself
What do you see in him?
I love her, I love her, I love her

That she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad “

I've always wondered if Wonderful Woman is about her. It's one of my favourites, the lyric is so original, but the woman in the song isn't actually all that wonderful, is she?

Maybe he just chose her because she was around? Visiting while they were recording in the studio? It would have been wonderful as a proper duet, don't you think?
 
I've always wondered if Wonderful Woman is about her. It's one of my favourites, the lyric is so original, but the woman in the song isn't actually all that wonderful, is she?

:lbf:no she isn’t. Met her several times, spoke briefly, even asked her to sign my copy of Morrissey Shot, which she happily did. She
always came off as a positive person, which probably was/is a complimentary and necessary ingredient in her relationship with Morrissey, a kind of yin/yang dynamic.



Maybe he just chose her because she was around? Visiting while they were recording in the studio? It would have been wonderful as a proper duet, don't you think?
:thumb:
 
Got to agree with the majority view. This is the definitive song about being trapped in the friend-zone, again from a time when Moz specialised in singing my life.

1991 indeed.
 
I've always wondered if Wonderful Woman is about her.

Yes, probably not. But in regards to drawing a line between the two songs. I guess I was thinking of ‘What Do you See In Him?’ more,
with the narrator asking what she/he sees in the other, and being helpless, frustrated or disappointed
in not really being able to do anything about it, only observe.
 
Yes, probably not. But in regards to drawing a line between the two songs. I guess I was thinking of ‘What Do you See In Him?’ more,
with the narrator asking what she/he sees in the other, and being helpless, frustrated or disappointed
in not really being able to do anything about it, only observe.
I'm still thinking about that.
Also the parallels between Driving Your Girlfriend... and There Is A Light...

Will let you know when I've finished processing :lbf:
 
I like the somber downbeat objective vibe of this song and the ambiguous lyric. I always saw it as him just observing a friend in a relationship that he wished would end. Sometimes I imagine her being flirtatious with her beaus friends for attention but with him all she can get is a handshake. It’s a nice song and a highlight of the album but I almost never seek it out
 
I wonder why he chose Linder to do backing vocals? He did refer to Linder as a Wonderful Woman,
which not only made me think of that song, but also it’s earlier version,
‘What Do You See In Him?’

Was Morrissey being mischievous by using Linder on backing vocals as a way to draw a connection between ‘Driving Your..’ and ‘Wonderful Woman’ & ‘What Do You See In Him?’ for the listener?

Maybe something to take into consideration, or not. :lbf:


What do you see in her?
I ask myself
What do you see in him?
I love her, I love her, I love her

That she will plague you
And I will be glad
Yes, he will leave you
And I will be glad “
"I love her, I love her, I love her" - I don't think that's the lyric - is that misheard? In the live rendition of "What Do You See in Him" that I heard, he sings, "She's the lifeblood of me / As you walk hand in hand / I try and I try but I will never understand (..)" and then kind of vocalises "oh ha-ha, uh-huh-uh, uh-huh-,huh".

I always thought "Wonderful Woman" was about Linder - I'm sure it was hinted at when he interviewed her a few years ago, he always calls her "a wonderful woman."
 
Yes, probably not. But in regards to drawing a line between the two songs. I guess I was thinking of ‘What Do you See In Him?’ more,
with the narrator asking what she/he sees in the other, and being helpless, frustrated or disappointed
in not really being able to do anything about it, only observe.
First of all, I don't hear it as "I love her, I love her...". It's just vocalisation, "la da da, la da da"... That seems pretty important.

It's exactly like you said, he looks at this relationship and wonders what they see in each other, while he's feeling left out ("cheat the life out of me, as you walk hand in hand..." is a very dramatic way of saying that). And he ends up wishing for the demise of their relationship. How mean 😉. It's the antithesis of Happy Lovers At Last United.

It is kind of similar to Driving Your Girlfriend Home except that here it's the girlfriend herself asking "What do I see in him?".
 
Given the amount of similarly themed Morrissey lyrics, I always presumed the narrator was the girl's 'gay best friend', having to listen to her bitch about her boyfriend and their relationship, all the while blissfully unaware that the narrator is jealous and desperately craves the guy himself.
 
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