Morrissey A-Z: "The More You Ignore Me, The Closer I Get"

BookishBoy

Well-Known Member






Today's song is this Morrissey/Boorer composition, the lead single from Vauxhall and I, reaching #8 in the UK chart and #46 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US.

What do we think?
 
My favourite ever Morrissey single and my favourite ever Moz TOTP performance.

How much fun was Alain Whyte having up there but where was Boz ?
 
One of the true great Morrissey singles, this song is up there with playboys, Sunday, first of the gang.

A welcome return to the charts with this song, but then again any track from Vauxhall could have made the top 20
 
Another one of my earliest Morrissey favorites. And definitely one of his strongest a-sides. A fantastic song.
 
The obvious single from the album and a deserved return to the Top Ten. I think it was the first really strong single since the Bona Drag era, and I personally can't imagine any other songs from Vauxhall and I having the same impact on the charts.

Strong and amusing lyrics, a memorable vocal melody and a decent Boz tune.

In the poll on the Hoffman board this ranked 15th from 264 solo songs.
 
I agree, this makes the top 5 of his very best singles.
And I was spending 10 months in Tallinn (Estonie) which was still very Soviet at the time. Still managed to hear this song on BBC world and later also many Times on Finnish radio. I had to call home and ask my sister to schip me a copy of the single and album, and it was my pleasure and privilégie to discover all the new songs, hardly aware of the critics. So I’ll also picknick this as my desert island song.
 
superb song,one of his best,great lyrics and a great vocal as well.dont know if anyone could actually dislike this song.
9 grudges/10 judges.


well done emma on winning the tennis,what an achievement.
 
A deserved classic, with an iconic riff and some hilariously dark lyricism that ranks with some of his best phrasing and delivery: all scheming intent, completely invested in this character. Kinda sticks out a little on Vauxhall due to its heavier music, but the themes are no less disturbing or (in a twisted way) heartfelt as “Lifeguard Sleeping...”, “The Lazy Sunbathers” and “Speedway” respectively.
A mainstay of comps as it should be: just want to hear it more live!
9/10
 
Picked up the promo disc a couple of weeks before release from a record fair at the Electric Ballroom in Camden. Played it to death.

Funny to think Morrissey was living a short walk across the road from the the E B at Regent Park Terrace at the time.

Loved it then, love it now 27 years later "oh where did all the time go"
 
Once again, a track, that I associate extremely strongly with the very early spring of 1994, when you step more slowly out of the dark into the light, which is even realised in the video. A wonderfully old-fashioned melody and an irresistible Morrissey in image and lyrics, taking coquetry to the extreme, that's all it took back then to get completely lost in it. And for the hundredth time I repeat that Lillywhite's production represents him at his best, whatever problems there were between them. One of my top 5 Morrissey singles.
 
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Once again a track, that I associate extremely strongly with the very early spring of 1994, when you step more slowly out of the dark into the light, which is even realised in the video. A wonderfully old-fashioned melody and an irresistible Morrissey in image and lyrics, taking coquetry to the extreme, that's all it took back then to get completely lost in it. And for the hundredth time I repeat that Lillywhite's production represents him at his best, whatever problems there were between them. One of my top 5 Morrissey singles.
I don't think too many people would have an issue with Steve Lillywhite's production at all during this era.

It was only the Maladjusted period that suffered.
 
One of the true great Morrissey singles, this song is up there with playboys, Sunday, first of the gang.

A welcome return to the charts with this song, but then again any track from Vauxhall could have made the top 20
Except of course Hold On To Your Friends 😶‍🌫️

Back to this. A great song. Single or album track, it’s a gem.
 
I don't think too many people would have an issue with Steve Lillywhite's production at all during this era.

It was only the Maladjusted period that suffered.
It's not so much about whether other fans criticise this production. I'm comparing it with his later productions and I don't understand why Chiccarelli, for example, is praised so highly (by Moz too), or even the brave and late Fynn. The classic era of Morriseey ends for me at the end of 1997 with Maladjusted. Even here, I don't see, that Lillywhite did much wrong. This record sounds like a mid 90s bitterswet summer ending: pointing backwards, nostalgic and transfigured. In terms of Morrissey's solo work, still the best approach, to connect it with a certain period in your own life or the mood of the seasons.
Whenever he sounds in this direction today (take for example the 3 donated outtakes) the songs are great, but don't seem to fit in with his current thinking about his external impact.
 
Trivia:
Spence and Gaz at TOTP, because they were back in the studio with him @ that time, recording b-sides. Now, I get it! Boz not there, because he was busy arranging Moonriver.
 
It's not so much about whether other fans criticise this production. I'm comparing it with his later productions and I don't understand why Chiccarelli, for example, is praised so highly (by Moz too), or even the brave and late Fynn. The classic era of Morriseey ends for me at the end of 1997 with Maladjusted. Even here, I don't see, that Lillywhite did much wrong. This record sounds like a mid 90s bitterswet summer ending: pointing backwards, nostalgic and transfigured. In terms of Morrissey's solo work, still the best approach, to connect it with a certain period in your own life or the mood of the seasons.
Whenever he sounds in this direction today (take for example the 3 donated outtakes) the songs are great, but don't seem to fit in with his current thinking about his external impact.
Chiccarelli is praised because his introduction coincided with a long overdue upturn in the quality of songwriting. But I, like you, feel recent albums would’ve sounded even better with Lillywhite producing.

The More you Ignore Me sounds luscious. It vies with Alma Matters and Playboys, for the status of my most played/loved single.
 
Chiccarelli is praised because his introduction coincided with a long overdue upturn in the quality of songwriting. But I, like you, feel recent albums would’ve sounded even better with Lillywhite producing.

The More you Ignore Me sounds luscious. It vies with Alma Matters and Playboys, for the status of my most played/loved single.
Very good announcement, my friend. Without completely opening up the discussion, I don't understand, that Chiccarelli is praised so much because he ends up recording a lot live, especially Morrissey's vocals. Lillywhite has more overdubs and many more effects on his voice. Of course, it would be a nice statement to say that JC's production is more homogeneous, but to my ears Lilywhite simply offers the more exciting and mysterious sound picture. And that, 3 different times.
 
McCartney-esque bass sound, great lead riff, twinkling arpeggios shining here and there, then those lyrics and Morrissey’s rich sounding voice. What’s not to love.
 
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