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Kofi's hat

MP3s, music news and reviews, and a sprinkling of pop culture. Named by Aqualung's Matt Hales, after his son.

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Location: Los Angeles, California, United States

Ink in my blood, a song in my heart. Metaphor is my middle name.



Saturday, July 22, 2006

Morrissey Dedicates Song To Syd Barrett

Morrissey honored the late Syd Barrett in Spain tonight during his set at the Festival Internacional de Benicàssim by dedicating a song to him.

Moz chose "I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now" for Barrett.

Walk right through me
I am a ghost
And as far as I know I haven't even died
And my love is under the ground
My one true love is under the ground


The songs that preceded it are also interesting; all could easily also refer to Barrett. Morrissey began his set with "Panic". The complaint about music played on the radio reminded me of the lackluster reception for Barrett's solo albums, which eventually became critically acclaimed and gained a cult following.

"Panic" was followed by "Irish Blood, English Heart" ("There is no one on earth I'm afraid of/And I will die with both of my hands untied", and in death Barrett arguably found freedom from failing health and from his own reluctance to leave his home. Some might say he'd found freedom by managing to live on his own since his mother died, despite being in poor health.

Next came "The Youngest Was The Most Loved" ("There is no such thing in life as normal" and references to seclusion, which both fit given Barrett's history; the part about killing does not), and "You Have Killed Me" makes sense as a rather dramatic expression of mourning. The duo leading right into "I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now" were "Still Ill" ("Does the body rule the mind/Or does the mind rule the body?/I don't know...") and "First Of The Gang To Die" ("he stole all hearts away").

Although... Moz tends to write a lot of angst-ridden songs about love and death. Perhaps any of them could be analyzed this way. Still, the Barrett dedication was likely factored into the setlist to some extent.

Morrissey sang a total of four Smiths songs. Along with the aforementioned "Panic" and "Still Ill", his set included "Girlfriend In A Coma" and "How Soon Is Now?".

He closed with "Life Is A Pigsty".

Morrissey's Setlist

Panic
Irish Blood, English Heart
The Youngest Was The Most Loved
You Have Killed Me
Still Ill
First Of The Gang To Die
I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now
Girlfriend In A Coma
Let Me Kiss You
Ganglord
I Will See You In Far Off Places
To Me You Are A Work Of Art
I Just Want To See The Boy Happy
How Soon Is Now?
Trouble Loves Me
At Last I Am Born
Life Is A Pigsty

Morrissey - I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero Now (available on Ringleader Of The Tormentors)

Morrissey - Irish Blood, English Heart (available on You Are The Quarry)

Syd Barrett - Golden Hair (available on The Madcap Laughs)

2 Comments:

Blogger Michael said...

You have the incorrect album listed for your mp3 download of "Irish Blood, English Heart".

11:14 PM  
Blogger trill42 said...

And for "I'll Never Be Anybody's Hero"; I had the album titles swapped. Forgot to bring them along when I swapped the order of the songs. Thanks, fixing it now...

11:50 PM  

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