Paul Morley & Simon Armitage deconstruct "This Charming Man"

[Pelicanlake]

Phew!!!! I love Simon Armitage's work but he seems out of his depth here. All concerned seemed to have missed many of Morrisey's references. Morrisey didn't even write most of those lines “I would go out tonight/ But I haven’t got a stitch to wear” comes from the 1961 movie A Taste Of Honey, while “A jumped up pantry boy/ Who never knew his place” comes from a line by Laurence Olivier to Michael Caine in 1972’s 'Sleuth'.

[rotosound1]

@clodandpebble "morally depleted scratch-card addict"  Brilliant.

[LottaRadiohead]

Excuse me, does someone know who covers "This Charming Man" at the end of the video ?

[swallowedtothesea]

I fucking hate Armitage and these garrulous, sophomoric, latter-aged academics. They blemish otherwise perfect writing by dissecting and scrutinising over specifics, thereby loosing all the glamour and beauty of otherwise conceptual feeling. I love Morrissey because he says it and gives no further explanation, there should be nothing except what the writer has written and ones own imagined interpretation.

[rgdfgfgdhdfh]

Honest sexy latin brides "busizz4me.info"

[robbieonguitar]

Morrissey is definitely included in the highest echelons of genius songwriters.

But as Dylan (Who is also up there) once said: "Sometimes they just come to me. I wrote songs in five minutes."

Maybe this could be the case...

[kedkoz]

a couple of stupid cunts who need to get a proper fucking job and stop trying to intellectualise pop music.

Did Morley do a similar thing with 2 Unlimited's 'No limit'?

Wankers of the highest order!

[variousthings]

Hello fellow YouTube commenters! I quite like Paul Morley.

[qpwo6]

@variousthings and i quite like simon armitage

[missbabyice]

@ValerieLokas - I got that impression from what Armitage was saying. The narrator's basically a boy toy

[Mankind081]

Morley you cunt, THE LYRICS HAVE NO DEEP MEANING.

They were simply chosen because they rhyme and fit the music.

[wrapupinarug]

@Mankind081 You appear to be just the sort of beautiful person who would be just as thrilled by one incomprehensible groan as you would by a million perfectly constructed syllables. You, my friend appear to be just the specimen a person with no knowledge of could de-construct in one uttering, I am not that person i fear.

[madcapoperator]

Simon armitage is a rather clever bloke and not too far up his own arse like Morley is. 'Oooh look at me i'm going to appear in every single british documentary that focuses on british music in the late 70's through the 80's'. Prick, or as he'd say: PWICK!

[tranmer3]

@madcapoperator JEALOUS SPITE , I HEAR??

[madcapoperator]

@tranmer3 Not at all, im glad im not some pseudo-interllectual twat droaning on about fuck all

[rabbitisrich]

Morley's face at 2.49- 2.55. Just look at it! LOOK AT IT!

[rabbitisrich]

Or as A A Gill put it: " It brilliantly reached heights of jaw-dropping pretension that Newsnight Review can only aspire to; its knuckle-chewingly embarrassing hilarity was far deeper than anything David Brent managed to come up with. Every word and thought in this programme was utterly misjudged, and its set to become an instant TV classic, straight into the top 10 of best worst moments of all time."

[tgelias]

Paul Morley is a fucking Cunt.

[LupinLoverGuitarist]

I think it shouldn't be looked down on that Armitage has tried to interpret such a glorious song. It's not a crime. I'm a keen fan of the Smiths, and Armitage.

Maybe it can't be summed up in a few minutes, but that's all the time he's been given, and it's clearly been edited.

Everyone interprets things differently, that's his opinion and I think it's fascinating to listen to.

x

[aaronb01]

What is the point in this toss?

[ashbash986]

this is great. and i'd love to hear interpretations of this song from the people who seem to think what's being said here is so off the mark.

[greenvii]

okay, that's really funny but you're a nasty cunt.

[delafrontera1]

Are you serious? Who gives a fuck about the implications of the word, "Punctured"? Honestly, get over this stuff people. This song is like 27 years old.

[jonnyd716]

how exactly is this charming man rooted in manchester or whatever?

apart from the fact that the smiths are from manchester...

wheres the actual references etc?

[wasagoodkid]

clodandpebble -

i quite agree, a song with such varied and dicotonous interpretations, and suddenly one man has it summed up in 2 minutes, theres a lot he left out. people have rated your comment as poor only because they see it as a challenge to peoples apreciation of The Smiths, they are of course misled, but when mike joyce cares to comment, all he says is 'i just thought it was a good riff' your point has definitely been proven!

[DoctorMeatDic]

This is bollocks. This guy hasn't a clue what Morrissey was writing about.

Shame on Mike Joyce yet again. He should never have gotten a penny from Morrissey and Marr considering how much he's fleeced the Smiths since his limited involvement.

[519386]

Thanks TrevMno!!! I know realise that Morrissey is not a third rate Wilde copyist and closet racist boot boy. But rather Charles Hawtrey in drag. Well that explains everything,Carry On Up The Khyber Pass sweetie. As for the 'wanky posturing comment', verbal masturbation is obviously your area of expertise. After you with the Kleenex honey!!!

Yours with love, kisses and sticky fingers

This Charming Man, Daubrey Weirdsley

[519386]

It's funny how Paul Morley and Morrisey have grown to look like each other. Like a pair of Northern medallion men who failed the audition for the Spandau Ballet comeback tour. Oh! and Mr Morley should stop his Tony Parson impersonations, it won't work Parsons is a better writer.

Daubrey Weirdsley

[519386]

Oh God! It shouldn't really matter but these two are really ugly with bad haircuts. Toad and Ratty i think. A homage to bad taste.

[kickstartkid]

These English stiffs pretty much take the beauty and wit out of their typical dull English monologue. Afterall, The Smiths were an Irish band ;)

[mrpepperman]

The music of The Smiths speaks for itself we certainly don't need Morley.

[519386]

Dear Campfreddie,

Love the name.You sound interesting,explain why you think Savage is an arse. Is it because his gay and posh.

Yours Daubrey

[campfreddie]

Hello Daubrey. It's because Savage takes himself so seriously and has been talking and writing about the same things for over 30 years now. Morley is a plonker but he knows and embraces it.

[519386]

Oh!And one last thing i think Morley feels intellectually inadequate because he didn't go to university.Nothing wrong with that Tony Wilson went to oxbridge and the man was still a fool. What's wrong with Morley is he can't write and he masks it with a kinda psuedo intellectualism that whent out of fashion in the 80's the decade that spawned him....says it all really.

Yours Daubrey Weirdsley

[519386]

No my dear, it bored me shitless.He sounded like a 1st year Eng' Lit' undergrad' at a remedial class for underachievers. But then that's the nature of Morley's artlessness,which is a relentless conceptual mediocrity. He was the punk prog'rocker,the man who loved Simple Minds,the worthless U2. In fact Morley is to Rock criticism what U2 are to music,vacuos & self important. Try Jon Savage a Morley contemporary a better writer in both cultural & literary terms

Yours Daubrey Weirdsley

[campfreddie]

Thanks for clarifying the situation Daubrey. For what it's worth I find Savage to be an arse of the highest order whereas Morley is always entertaining. Let's not let it come between us.

[519386]

Paul Morley,provincial,culturally bankrupt northern twerp.Half digested Baudrillard & Barthes,Post Modernism for cretins & mental defectives. Advocate for the mediocre & facile.Magazine,Genesis for post punks.T.Rex,the 70's Robbie Williams.The Fall,leaden & lumpen for 30 years,the Northern Alf Garnett.FGTH,Gay Freddie & The Dreamers.Nick Cave 3rd rate Jim Morrison,who was a buffon anway.Morrisey another buffon,pub performer,medallion man & 50's Irish building worker.Morley intellectual free zone

[campfreddie]

Okay, but did you like it?

[tranmer3]

@519386 YOU BETTER KEEP ON THOSE LITTLE BLUE 1S, NOT TIME TO PLAY WILL THE PEOPLE YET KID.

[MrMoviemaverick]

@519386 What made you so angry?! Like a good rant myself....keep going!

[peaky9191]

i met simon armitage to day coming out of sainsburys proper nice fella

[missbabyice]

@peaky9191 - Love his accent :)

[d3p3ch3mod3]

also, you are the quary was great but morrissey really is only half of the creative whole... johnny marr is possibly more important to the smiths

[d3p3ch3mod3]

lol "he might get himself a right buggering" ...isn't that the analysis of the entire song in itself? anyway, it's a pretty straightforward song, thought the morley 'deconstruction' was straightforward too but then i'm american and apparently don't understand irony or something?!?

[missbabyice]

@d3p3ch3mod3 - I agree with you...that line rather sums it up.

[YouWish8]

Paul Morley is steeped in dire irony that no one except Morrissey would be able to understand,

well, that or he is a total cunt...

yeah, probably the latter.

[BarnacleGooseInvalid]

Paul Morley needs deconstructing.

[mrkristoff]

he's too subtle, after watching this clip 37 times I finally got him

[onemorejoe]

I'm still waiting for Paul Morley to come out as the driest comedian in history, keeping up that act for so many years has got to be worthy of a signed smiths LP.

[crappytimesarehere]

i have no fucking clue what morriseys songs mean but their great so who cares yeah!

[Dadamantastic]

yes it is

[dvddq]

lol Smiths rule

[xwsftassell]

Surely...

"Why pamper lifes complexity when the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?"

Is about a decision to take a passive rather than an active role in life.

[bollockowithalob]

Thanks for uploading.

Nice to hear Armitage misquoting "Withnail and I".

[rherrick123]

He's not misquoting. He not purposefully quoting a specific line in Withnail, just the idea. He just said 'To quote Withnail and I...' which was unfortunate.

Great video though, Simon Armitage has some very interesting ideas about the lyrics.

[snice1]

Paul Morley - Cock!!

[brading24]

I find it hard to believe I really heard that---- tell me it's a joke -a send up - please!!

[jjj7477]

Thanks for putting this up......