Morrissey A-Z: "Trouble Loves Me"

It is indeed absurd that this wasn't the second single from Maladjusted. Alma Matters was a good lead single in all its catchiness, but who ever thought that Roy's Keen would pass muster as the second one? By Satan the album campaign was already lost, so it didn't really matter what was the third single -- but it was nice that there was one, especially with the new songs on the b-side.
 
By Maladjusted, I was sitting in an unfurnished council house on a street peppered with petty criminals listening to the album on a discman wired to a small PC speaker.

Sat on the floor, I was contemplating the inevitable and upcoming separation of me from my teenage sweetheart. Life was exceptionally uncertain, money was scarce and Trouble Loved Me.

In other words: This is a good 'un.
 
It's a song that I thought was OK at the time but not much beyond that. It seems to have aged very well and I'm really enjoying it on a relisten. I think someone earlier mentioned that the song perhaps suffered by appearing on Maladjusted. I would agree. For me, Maladjusted was a patchy and inconsistent album that I never fully embraced. A few times during this A-Z project I've felt that Maladjusted as a whole deserved a revisit.
 
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This is mentioned on PJLM, so checked to see if it was available on YT, & found the referenced live radio session from 1997 (MORRISSEY - August 16, 1997 - Modern Rock Live (Y107, Los Angeles, USA), which features 5 wonderful tracks, including a slightly different version of TLM. Band sound great on this tbh. Enjoy.


Great find, thank you!
 
Perfect song. Pretty sure it would be my most played song of all time, but I don't want to over-play it. I have a lot of sentimentality connected to this song, now it only comes out on a special occasion. Similar themes to In the future when all's well, though much better lyrically and with a resonating shine of hope.

When it rains it pours, and just when everything seems to fall into place and you can finally enjoy life, something else rears it's head. But despite this, you don't just hide in thoughts of the future (where all's well), instead you gotta hold your head high and face the music.

I got this lyric tattooed a while back. Tattoos seemed to have a weird power of permanence when I had none, but now I don't really care whats on my body. Perhaps in hindsight I should have got a more witty or interestingly written specifically ''morrissey'' lyric. (The sanest days are mad would be a good one) But f***, when the song is this good it's hard to care... Morrissey and this song specifically got me through some really tough times...
 
The first three quarters of the song are pretty much perfect i.e. the two verses, the first chorus, middle eight and second chorus.
Then, when the synth bagpipes come in (or whatever they are), it all gets a bit over-egged.
Still, a great song and really pleased it gets played a lot live.
Must have been such a buzz for Alain playing this at the recent shows - one of his finest compositions.
 
By Maladjusted, I was sitting in an unfurnished council house on a street peppered with petty criminals listening to the album on a discman wired to a small PC speaker.

Sat on the floor, I was contemplating the inevitable and upcoming separation of me from my teenage sweetheart. Life was exceptionally uncertain, money was scarce and Trouble Loved Me.

In other words: This is a good 'un.
Petty criminals used to listen to this album? Wow, who'd have thought!
 
Right from the opening figure - a lonely barroom piano near closing time - this is easily one of the best Morrissey/Whyte contributions. All the musicians are on point as the melody wends its way through the peaks and valleys of quiet intimacy and dramatic bombast. Lyrically, he's in fine form. I also like the perhaps unintentional wordplay bookending the Southpaw and Maladjusted era with the sentiments of "Nobody Loves Us" and "Trouble Loves Me."
 
I love trouble (love me). This song is a highlight of a good album and one I play all the time. Why it’s not celebrated more on stage I don’t know and why it wasn’t the second single why I dunno that either
 
Great song. Loved it at first listen in that mysterious and lazy summer of 97. So nostalgic and old fashioned in a positive way.
 
Along Alma and title track creates the immortal trinity of evergreens from this, however, not the best album. In my private rank, it ranks somewhere between 11th and 20th among all Morrissey's songs.

8/10
 
I adore this song but every time I listen, I can't help wishing that it was a bit faster / more aggressive. It's just so... sedate in places, it loses impact (for me) - I love when it ramps up during "In the half-light / So English, frowning... / Then at midnight, I..".
 
Simply Morrissey’s best ever song for me. I absolutely adore it.
 
One of the many Moz songs that circulate being my favourite of all.
Melodramatic, humorous, tragic and real, it’s one I rarely ever tire of.
“Go to waste in the wrong arms, I’m still running ‘round”
“In the half light, so English frowning, and then at midnight, I can’t get you out of my head”
 
I love the verses,but something about the chorus just doesn't sit right. It all feels a bit limp and middle of the road dad rock. On a good day this song moves me, on another day it just annoys me with how cloying and affected it is. It feels like it comes from a musical stage show at times.
 
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