Album: Louder Than Bombs
Year: 1987
. . .
“I can’t help the way I feel”
“Is It Really So Strange?” the opening track on Louder Than Bombs was one of the first songs The Smiths had written after The Queen is Dead, but when they tried to record it, they never found a take they really liked and shelved it in favor of all the other songs we’ve been talking about over the last few days.
However, at the very tail end of 1986, The Smiths — sans the recently sacked Craig Gannon — decided to do another John Peel session: their first one in three years. And one of the songs they chose was “Is It Really So Strange,” and this time they knocked it out of the park, bringing in the reliable John Porter to help them work it out.
I left the North, I travelled South
I found a tiny house and I can’t help the way I feel
Oh yes, you can kick me, and you can punch me
And you can break my face
But you won’t change the way I feel
‘Cause I love you
One of Morrissey’s funniest songs, “Is It Really So Strange?” documents one of his favorite subjects: trying to figure out exactly where he belonged, as well as with whom he belonged, and never quite figuring it out.
I left the South, I travelled North
I got confused, I killed a horse, I can’t help the way I feel
Oh yes, you can punch me and you can butt me
And you can break my spine
But you won’t change the way I feel
‘Cause I love you
All of this was set to some of the bounciest 50’s-style rock and roll the Smiths ever did, Marr’s guitars tumbling around each other, and before each chorus, a deftly-executed snare drum roll by Mike Joyce.
And is it really so strange?
Oh, is it really so strange?
Oh, is it really so, really so strange?
I say no, you say yes
But you will change your mind
As always, all of the guitar overdubs by Johnny Marr play off of each other perfectly, to the extent that some of my sources think that The Smiths just added to the original demo version, but when the results are good, what difference does it make? In the end, after heading back South again, Morrissey gets confused again, and this time kills a nun before losing his bag at a motorway station. As you do. All of this sets up the final chorus, which is kinda poignant.
Why is the last mile the hardest mile?
My throat was dry, with the sun in my eyes
And I realised, I realised, I could never
I could never, never, never go back home again
In any event, The Smiths like the final result so much that they licensed it from the BBC as one of the b-sides of the “Sheila Take a Bow” single, which I never bought because the whole thing was on Louder Than Bombs, but made it to #10 in the U.K. pop charts because Louder Than Bombs hadn’t been released over there yet.
“Is It Really So Strange?”
“Is It Really So Strange?” Live in London, 1986
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