Morrissey A-Z: "The Boy Racer"

Great lyrics, minimum effort, maximum effect, typical Morrissey.

It's a decent tune, too. A good single.

However, this...

is entirely superior and deserving of its own release. Suppose Morrissey thought so too but then he went "Ah no, we're gonna kill this pretty thing" and buried it deep in the vault.

Regarding the acoustic version..

don’t know if it’s superior, has it’s moments though. The lyrics are more driving and the music could have been changed to fit the mood of the lyric, or they tried an electric version and that won everyone over. Also those first chords on this acoustic version remind me of the first cords on ‘Why don’t you find out for yourself’
so maybe it sounded too much like a Vauxhall track so they changed it too (?).
 
Well, the production of Vauxhall drove the songs from electric to more acoustic/moody, while it was the opposite on Southpaw, Morrissey's choice as far as I understand, but I always thought that his band was never really good in sounding loud/heavy.
 
Regarding the acoustic version..

don’t know if it’s superior, has it’s moments though. The lyrics are more driving and the music could have been changed to fit the mood of the lyric, or they tried an electric version and that won everyone over. Also those first chords on this acoustic version remind me of the first cords on ‘Why don’t you find out for yourself’
so maybe it sounded too much like a Vauxhall track so they changed it too (?).
Well, they changed all the acoustic arrangements they did at first because Morrissey apparently wanted a heavier sound. And that's fine.
I just really like this version.
 
Well, the production of Vauxhall drove the songs from electric to more acoustic/moody, while it was the opposite on Southpaw, Morrissey's choice as far as I understand,
agree.
but I always thought that his band was never really good in sounding loud/heavy.
don’t know, thought the album and the heavy bombastic vibe of the Arsenal
tour proved that they could play loud/heavy.
 
I’ve liked this on first hearing it and remain to do so to this day. It’s criminal that a Perth outing in 2011 aside, it’s not had a live run our since 99. :swear - a modern day tragedy
Me and my wife done the Scottish tour and it's a great song to hear live
 


Alain's Barnet :)
Liked how his backing vocals worked with Morrissey's here.
Not the best audio as a whole, but one of the better Jools appearances.
FWD.
 
I love Vauxhall, but I really think trying to do a follow-up album in the same style would have been a major backfire - Southpaw really needed to be something different, not a rehashed version of the previous album. Some of the Miravel session stuff is interesting, but I'm glad they changed things up.
 
agree.

don’t know, thought the album and the heavy bombastic vibe of the Arsenal
tour proved that they could play loud/heavy.
That's not my favorite tour at all and I am one of the few that believe they butchered Kill Uncle (and Street compositions) during the 1991 tour.
 
Me and my wife done the Scottish tour and it's a great song to hear live
You’re right. It’s a pity the last great ‘small venue’ tour didn’t see a repeat, be it in the UK/Ireland, Europe or anywhere else and it was reduced to that Perth Cameo.
 
That's not my favorite tour at all

For me the Arsenal shows were legendary and Morrissey in his prime and band at their very best ever.

and I am one of the few that believe they butchered Kill Uncle (and Street compositions) during the 1991 tour.

totally. I agree, the bands sound was awful... at first. Maybe Ronson sprinkled some magic stardust on the boys because they somehow miraculously went from level 3 to level 15! by Arsenal. I don’t know how they got their shit together, maybe a better budget helped too(?) because they sounded explosive by Arsenal.
 
That's true up to a point, but I think the warning signs were there back in 1992. I felt that - with the exception of The More You Ignore Me - Morrissey almost forgot how to write singles at this point and over that 5 year period you had the likes of We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful, Fatty, Dagenham Dave, Alma Matters and this one. All very repetitive and none of them with much lyrical substance.

2004 brought a big improvement, thankfully.

Agreed, if you're not careful, you can sing the chorus to the wrong song because they are sometimes interchangeable.
 
Me and my wife done the Scottish tour and it's a great song to hear live
i was at the perth gig in 2011,think it was the first song,it was never heard again,maybe it stretched his vocal too much.
 
Definitely have some mixed feelings on this one. At the time I thought it was just OK but in no way standout. I'm appreciating it a bit more hearing it now... but I also think we're hearing some signs of creative exhaustion - not just on this song - but on SG overall. I don't mean this to be at all demeaning, rather quite understandable given the volume of his work between say 1990-1995... with most of it being quite strong.
 


Alain's Barnet :)
Liked how his backing vocals worked with Morrissey's here.
Not the best audio as a whole, but one of the better Jools appearances.
FWD.

It always cracks me up how Alain flubs a chord at around the 17 second mark - you can see him turn round afterwards with a pissed expression on his face. Guess they didn't consider it a big enough f*** up to stop and go for a retake!
 
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