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Being a huge Morrissey/The Smiths fan, people often ask me: "What's your favorite Morrissey song?"
My absolute favorite song is "Jack the Ripper". Casual fans might not be hip to this song, as it's somewhat of a rare song.
So, it's time the tale was told on "Jack the Ripper"! The song originally appeared as a B-Side on his single, Certain People I Know (Dec 1992). Like numerous fans at the time, I was collecting all the formats, CD Single, 12" and 7" (sorry, I never bothered trying to get the cassingle!). I bought the single at a record store in Berkeley, California, called Mod Lang, but I think at the time they only had the CD version.
Obviously, I fell in love with the B-Side. The song is so haunting and I just love these lyrics:
Oh, you look so tired
Mouth, slack and wide
Ill-housed and ill-advised
Your face is as mean
as your life has beenCrash into my arms
I want you.
You don't agree
but you don't refuse
I know you.
So, despite having a massive fan approval of this song, it was very strange that shortly after the single's release (reaching the UK charts at #35), that the single was instantly recalled and deleted. It was taken out of circulation and instantly became a collector's item.
I'm not sure what its value is today, but when I attended a Smiths convention many years ago, there were people willing to pay $100 in cash for the single (I'm sure someone could've swindle more money out of the desperate fans).
Morrissey liked the song enough to release a live version of it as a promotional single, preceeding his Beethoven was Deaf (1993) album. This live version seems also appear in several other compilations and singles including: My Early Burglary Years (1998), Now My Heart Is Full (1994), and World of Morrissey (1995).
Although the live version sounds, er, very muscular, it is missing the last stanza of the studio version:
And no one knows a thing about my life
I can come and go as I please
If I want to I can stay
If I want to I can leave
Nobody knows me
Nobody knows me
It's come to my conclusion that Morrissey simply just hated the studio recording of "Jack the Ripper" and "You've Had Her" (the other b-side off Certain People).
Despite being such a rare song, here are some musicians who's covered this particular song:
AFI is a punk-turned-goth band from California. They were fairly underground before getting some massive mainstream success a few years ago when they changed their sound to more goth-punk. If you listen to their early releases, they don't really sound like anything recently. Although I can't recall off the top of my head, I think they've covered another Smiths song.
My Chemical Romance is kind of a hard-core rock band, based out of New Jersey. I don't really know much about them, as their sound isn't really my cup of tea. I just know that they look like they belong in a Tim Burton film.
Colin Meloy, singer/songewriter of The Decemberists recorded "Jack the Ripper" for his all-Morrissey cover EP (which was only sold on his tour in 2005). This version is acoustic and is the best version of the lot.
It breaks my heart, but I can't afford to see Morrissey on this 2007 tour.
September 2, 2007 1:22 PM vu my♥posts [email protected] morrissey-solo.com morrisseymusic.com
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