What I didn’t know about Rank: Morrissey wanted the title to be “The Smiths in Heat” but Rough Trade wasn’t too happy about that choice. So Morrissey, the clever asshole that he is, chose “Rank” which apparently is shorthand for the Cockney slang “J. Arthur Rank” – meaning “wank.” Either the management at Rough Trade didn’t realize or thought it was hilarious and went all in on the joke.

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The Smiths “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” from “The Queen Is Dead” released 35 years ago today, June 16th, 1986. One of the greatest songs from the greatest album ever, one that shaped my teen years and defined the summer of ‘86. The 12″ single promo of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” has the song on both sides; it was released prior to The Queen Is Dead (and matches the cover of the LP exactly, just more faded) but the actual radio single wasn’t released until ‘92 when it hit #25 in the UK, years after The Smiths had broken up. The song is considered one of The Smiths best: NME ranks it as the 12th greatest song of all-time. The ‘92 single cover differs significantly from the promo copy:

Back to The Queen is Dead! The album made it to #2 on the UK charts and #70 in the US. After the intro clip of uber-British chant “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty,” the album launches into the rollicking title track “The Queen Is Dead” and from there only grows with lyrical and musical perfection. My absolute favorite is “Frankly Mr. Shankly” – when Johnny Marr launches into his dense signature jangle at the 0:39 point I get, to this day, literal shivers. “Cemetry Gates” is another favorite, bouncing along to lyrics that decry plagiarism while invoking a blend of a (dreaded) sunny day and the dark sorrow of a cemetery in a way that is so only-Morrissey (who else can include lyrics like “ere long done do does did, words which could only be your own, you then produce the text from whence was ripped some dizzy whore, 1804″?). “Bigmouth Strikes Again” is utter brilliance. And no one does despondency as beautifully as Morrissey: “I Know It’s Over,” “Never Had No One Ever” and the epic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” were all part of the soundtrack my teenage angst and heartbreak but also to a glorious time of my youth, with all its ridiculousness, pettiness, beauty and fun.

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This is the limited edition “The Queen is Dead” 12″ which was reissued in 2017, and features the 1992 edit of the track (no “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty” intro like on the Queen is Dead LP) with the B-side containing three instrumentals: “Oscillate Wildly,” “Money Changes Everything,” and ‘The Draize Train.’ “The Queen is Dead” is one of my favorite tracks from the 1986 album, musically it’s beautiful chaos, best played very very loud, and lyrically it’s brutally scathing in that so-very-Morrissey way, ripping apart the monarchy and ripping apart himself (“Oh, I know you and you cannot sing. I said, That’s nothing, you should hear me play piano). About his lyrics Morrissey says, “I didn’t want to attack the monarchy in a sort of beer monster way. But I found, as time goes by, this happiness we had slowly slips away and is replaced by something that is wholly grey and wholly saddening. The very idea of the monarchy and the Queen of England is being reinforced and made to seem more useful than it really is.” And about the music Johnny Marr states, “I had an idea to do a song that had the aggression of the Detroit garage bands, ‘cos I’m such a Stooges fan. And it’s influenced by the Velvets too- it’s The Smiths does The Stooges does The Velvet Underground. ‘VU’ [compilation of Velvet Underground outtakes, released in 1985] had just been released, so there’s a little not to ‘I Can’t Stand It’ in there. We chopped a couple of minutes off the song in the end. The long version felt more like us running a marathon, then doing a lap of honour!” Bassist Andy Rourke adds, ““Me, Mike [Joyce] and Johnny were jamming on this heavy riff – we played it solidly for about 20 minutes, looking at each other thinking, ‘We’ve really got something here.’ Johnny made me feel good about it; said it was one of the best basslines he’d ever heard, so my head was kind of swelling through the roof. Then, just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Morrissey comes and puts his lyrics over the top.” (NME blog)

Farewell to this land’s cheerless marches
Hemmed in like a boar between arches
Her very Lowness with her head in a sling
I’m truly sorry but it sounds like a wonderful thing

I say Charles don’t you ever crave
To appear on the front of the Daily Mail
Dressed in your Mother’s bridal veil?

And so I checked all the registered historical facts
And I was shocked into shame to discover
How I’m the 18th pale descendent
Of some old queen or other

Oh has the world changed, or have I changed?
Oh has the world changed, or have I changed?
Some nine year old tough who peddles drugs
I swear to God, I swear I never even knew what drugs were

So I broke into the Palace
With a sponge and a rusty spanner
She said: “Oh, I know you, and you cannot sing”
I said: “that’s nothing – you should hear me play piano”

We can go for a walk where it’s quiet and dry
And talk about precious things
But when you are tied to your mother’s apron
No-one talks about castration

We can go for a walk where it’s quiet and dry
And talk about precious things
Like love and law and poverty
These are the things that kill me

We can go for a walk where it’s quiet and dry
And talk about precious things
But the rain that flattens my hair
These are the things that kill me

Passed the pub that saps your body
And the church who’ll snatch your money
The Queen is dead, boys
And it’s so lonely on a limb

Pass the pub that wrecks your body
And the church, all they want is your money
The Queen is dead, boys
And it’s so lonely on a limb

Life is very long, when you’re lonely

If you have close to 15 minutes to spare, here’s a film by Derek Jarman that incorporates “The Queen Is Dead” (for its official video) plus “Panic” and “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.”

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The Smiths “The Queen Is Dead” released 30 years ago on this date, June 16th, 1986. Sire/Rough Trade Records. One of my favorite albums ever (and Britain’s NME agrees with me, rating it the Greatest Album of All Time), The Queen Is Dead defined the summer of ‘86. It made it to #2 on the UK charts and #70 in the US.

After the intro clip of uber-British chant “Take Me Back to Dear Old Blighty,” the album launches into the rollicking title track “The Queen Is Dead” and from there only grows with lyrical and musical perfection. My absolute favorite is “Frankly Mr. Shankly” – when Johnny Marr launches into his dense signature jangle at the 0:39 point I get, to this day, a musical skin orgasm (a researched phenomenon!). “Cemetry Gates” is another favorite, bouncing along to lyrics that decry plagiarism while invoking a blend of a (dreaded) sunny day and the dark sorrow of a cemetery in a way that is so only-Morrissey (who else can include lyrics like “ere long done do does did, words which could only be your own, you then produce the text from whence was ripped some dizzy whore, 1804″?). “Bigmouth Strikes Again” is utter brilliance in fractured and tortured minor key. And no one does despondency as beautifully as Morrissey: “I Know It’s Over,” “Never Had No One Ever” and the epic “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out” were all part of the soundtrack to moments of teenage angst and heartbreak. Yet the overarching essence of The Queen Is Dead to my ears is not depression, but rather a glorious celebration of life, with all its ridiculousness, pettiness, beauty and diversity: much like my summer of ‘86.

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