Morrissey A-Z: "You Were Good in Your Time"

Another one of his best ever ballads. And for my money, his singing has never sounded so warm and so full as it does here. Unbelievable, yet understated, vocal performance. This is just a magnificent song.
 



Today's song is this Morrissey/Whyte composition from the Years of Refusal album.

What do we think?

Music is very personal. Great music should move you. I love the ending starting at 3:15 or so. It has.a very Yorke/Greenwood feel. It is a very interesting listen.

Who would be responsible for the song after 3:15 or so? Is it the magnificent Whyte? Obviously Morrissey is responsible for giving it the final okay, but is it the producer? It's very interesting to me. It moves me, which is what a song you love should do.

Be well and safe, all!
 
Reminds me of a bond tune, and for this song would be quite fitting as this is the last DC film..
Not something I’ve played since the album came out in 09 and is one of the songs on the second half of the album that I never listen to .
This song has gone up in my estimation from something I first disliked , to now an ok song, I think the production saves the song from being a complete disaster.
 
Music is very personal. Great music should move you. I love the ending starting at 3:15 or so. It has.a very Yorke/Greenwood feel. It is a very interesting listen.

Who would be responsible for the song after 3:15 or so? Is it the magnificent Whyte? Obviously Morrissey is responsible for giving it the final okay, but is it the producer? It's very interesting to me. It moves me, which is what a song you love should do.

Be well and safe, all!
I would imagine the ending is a collaborative effort from Morrissey and producer Jerry Finn.
 
fantastic song in my opinion,voice is superb and the music at the end is very dreamy,
9 deformed/10 uninformed.
 
My least favourite song on YOR, but it doesn’t mean it’s bad. The ballad section is nice, very operatic, but doesn’t really stick out as one of his most memorable melodies. The turn into ambient noise is a welcome distraction, and places Moz more in line with late Scott Walker, Low, Sunn O))) and Tim Hecker, rather than Elvis. However, I think both outstay their welcome, and, in the end, it doesn’t live up to “Birthday” before it and makes the album’s momentum somewhat sag.
Fine, though.
6/10
 
“You were gooth in your time, and we thank you.”
 
Wasn’t a favourite when the album first came out but, in the years following, I’ve become to like it more. Remember the 2nd have of the 2009 tour when it was used as the walk on music🕺🕺🕺
 
You said more in one day
than most people say
in a lifetime, it was our time
and we thank you’

💜







Though I think Morrissey’s ‘experimental’ usually doesn’t work, and here with the synth and effects, it comes off as cheesy. Not one of my favorite albums of his and Finn doesn’t help it.
 
It's an odd, yet brilliant song, wonderful lyrics, stupendous vocals & immaculate delivery.
Courtesy of PJLM, the samples used in the song were apparently taken from the movie Pépé le Moko (Julien Duvivier, 1941).
I'm sure there's a video out there 'somewhere' with Moz being interviewed about the album, and this track, where he explains about the haunting & eerie ending is supposed to represent the passing of the subject matter person from this world to the next.
Magnifique.
 
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A very solid song and one that would have made a natural album closer.

The overlong ending is unnecessary and the following two songs feel tacked on.

In the poll on the Hoffman board it ranked 119th from 264 solo songs.
 
It is not a song that I listen to very often, so I couldn’t remember the tune anymore. It doesn’t stand out as his best tune on the album, but his words and voice are wonderful. I am also not sure that YOR needed a ballad at all, But it doesn’t bother me.
 
From:

"And when you're dancing
And laughing and finally living
Hear my voice in your head
And think of me kindly..."

To:

"An end-of-the-ride sigh
Your soft smile says:
"please understand, I must surrender."
Then you grip with your hand
Now so small in mine
Are you aware wherever you are
That you have just died?"

Ah, the ironic bitterness. Chuckling here.
 
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