𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗣𝗬 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗧𝗛𝗗𝗔𝗬 𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗬

“𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙢 𝙞𝙣 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙣𝙩 𝙤𝙛 𝙥𝙚𝙤𝙥𝙡𝙚 𝙞𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙢𝙤𝙨𝙩 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙖𝙧𝙩 𝙛𝙤𝙧𝙢. 𝙒𝙝𝙚𝙣 𝙮𝙤𝙪'𝙧𝙚 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙛𝙖𝙘𝙚 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖𝙣 𝙖𝙪𝙙𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚, 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙘𝙖𝙣 𝙨𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙡𝙞𝙠𝙚, 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙞𝙛 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮 𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙡𝙡𝙮 𝙡𝙤𝙫𝙚 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙩𝙝𝙚𝙮'𝙡𝙡 𝙖𝙘𝙘𝙚𝙥𝙩 𝙬𝙝𝙖𝙩𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧 𝙮𝙤𝙪 𝙨𝙖𝙮.”
—MORRISSEY

Photo credits unknown – Edit by Emanuela

📌Stephen Patrick Morrissey, who is most commonly referred to by his last name, Morrissey, was born 63 years ago today, on May 22, 1959, in Davyhulme, Lancashire UK, and grew up in nearby Manchester. As a young man he especially adored the work of Oscar Wilde.
For Morrissey, pop music provided a needed escape from his "dreary" childhood in Manchester. "𝘗𝘰𝘱 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘩𝘢𝘥, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘱𝘭𝘦𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘸𝘪𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘱 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘳," he told The New York Times in 1991. "𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘰𝘯 𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘰𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵. 𝘈 𝘭𝘰𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘴 𝘐 𝘧𝘦𝘭𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘦𝘯𝘨𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘥 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘣𝘴𝘰𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘵𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘢𝘧𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘳."

💥𝕎ℍ𝕆 𝕀𝕊 𝕄𝕆ℝℝ𝕀𝕊𝕊𝔼𝕐?💥
Morrissey gained fame in the 1980s as the co-founder and frontman of 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗦𝗺𝗶𝘁𝗵𝘀, a British rock band. With his eccentric style and acid-tongued lyrics, he became an icon for disaffected youth. After the band's breakup in 1987, Morrissey embarked on a successful solo career, while also continuing to make waves with his many controversial comments.

Photo credit: Getty Images

🎆𝗠𝗢𝗥𝗥𝗜𝗦𝗦𝗘𝗬'𝗦 𝗛𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗟𝗜𝗚𝗛𝗧𝗦:🎆
📌Considered among the most important forerunners and innovators of indie and britpop music, Morrissey is regarded as one of the greatest lyricists in the history of British music and his lyrics have become the subject of academic study.
📌In 2007, the British newspaper Daily Telegraph included him in its list of one hundred living geniuses.
📌In 2008, he was listed as one of the hundred greatest singers of all time by Rolling Stone magazine. (Source: Wikipedia)

🎆MORRISSEY AND PLACEBO - BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN🎆
Most Placebo fans know “Bigmouth Strikes Again“ by The Smiths - a 1986 song from their third album The Queen Is Dead - since the band covered it in 1997 when they were asked by the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles to perform the song for the various artists compilation “The Smiths Is Dead”.

𝗖𝗨𝗥𝗜𝗢𝗨𝗦 𝗙𝗔𝗖𝗧: The Placebo version changed the song lyric "and her Walkman started to melt'" to "and her Discman/Megadrive started to melt."...
It had been more than ten years since the original song by The Smiths was first released, and technology had evolved...
Placebo's rendition of the song also appeared as a B-side to "Nancy Boy", as well as on Disc 2 of the “Sleeping with Ghosts special edition”.

🎆 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 – 𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 𝗖𝗢𝗩𝗘𝗥 𝗥𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗘𝗪 🎆
📌On the occasion of Morrissey's birthday, please enjoy with us this nice review by Far Out Magazine about Placebo's cover version of Bigmouth Strikes Again:

Photo credit unknown

𝙍𝙀𝙑𝙄𝙎𝙄𝙏 𝙋𝙇𝘼𝘾𝙀𝘽𝙊'𝙎 𝘽𝙍𝙄𝙇𝙇𝙄𝘼𝙉𝙏 𝘾𝙊𝙑𝙀𝙍 𝙊𝙁 𝙏𝙃𝙀 𝙎𝙈𝙄𝙏𝙃𝙎 𝙎𝙊𝙉𝙂 '𝘽𝙄𝙂𝙈𝙊𝙐𝙏𝙃 𝙎𝙏𝙍𝙄𝙆𝙀𝙎 𝘼𝙂𝘼𝙄𝙉'
One of the starring lights of the mid-1990s British rock and roll scene, Placebo offered something that the rest of the Britpop scene could get anywhere near. Brian Molko and the rest of the band were an authentic alternative act and their cover of the now-iconic Smiths song ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ is an example of why.
Blur and Oasis paid homage to the icons that came before them. To some extent emulating their heroes The Kinks and The Beatles, Britpop has always given thanks to its predecessors. Placebo, however, took those values and tried to reach a new, previously alienated audience by subverting them.
(…)

Meanwhile, Blur were releasing their own self-titled LP and Oasis ruled the world for a few nights at Knebworth. Each one used the foundations of British rock and roll formed in the 1960s to create some of the ’90s most infectious tunes. Placebo, however, were looking a little closer to home as they took the glam-rock styling of Bowie and T-Rex to a new darker direction.
Another moment of Placebo subverting the icons of the past is with their cover of The Smiths hit ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’. The group were asked to put add their own rendition of the song as part of The Smiths Is Dead, a project which acted as a celebration of the 10th anniversary of the LP’s release by the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles.

The version Molko and the rest of the band provide is simply brilliant. The band take the song’s gentle beginning and amplifies it by slowing down the tempo and stripping it back with acoustic guitar lulling us all into a false sense of security.
However, the band breakthrough into the song’s main body and begin to slash and stab with swaggering confidence. Molko’s vocal performance is both far removed and utterly akin to Morrissey’s own style, yet somehow Molko takes it to another level.
It’s the mark of a band not daunted by the prospect of paying homage to a legendary act, instead, they’re intrigued to find the inner workings and manipulate them for their own. It is the mark of a band determined to never compromise and never give an inch, it’s something throughout their career that they’ve held as a badge of honour.
𝘍𝘢𝘳 𝘖𝘶𝘵 𝘔𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘻𝘪𝘯𝘦 - 𝘔𝘰𝘯 27𝘵𝘩, 𝘋𝘦𝘤 2021

Photo credit unknown

🎆𝔹𝕀𝔾𝕄𝕆𝕌𝕋ℍ 𝕊𝕋ℝ𝕀𝕂𝔼𝕊 𝔸𝔾𝔸𝕀ℕ – 𝕊𝕆ℕ𝔾𝔽𝔸ℂ𝕋𝕊 🎆
📌This song is an attack on the demanding and merciless media. Front man, Morrissey, described being hounded by the press and even compares himself to the French martyr, Joan of Arc.
📌The shrill voice in the background of this song is Morrissey's tuned to a higher pitch. This caused a great deal of hilarity at the time of recording. "He could hear himself sounding like one of The Chipmunks or Pinky and Perky and he was rolling on the floor laughing," bassist, Andy Rourke, recalled to NME. "Maybe in the end they just took a sample of him singing 'Bigmouth…' normally and tuned it up because he was laughing so much he couldn't pull it together."
The sleeve notes instead credit the backing vocals to "Ann Coates," which is a pun on Ancoats, a district in Manchester, England.
📌The lyrics refer to Joan of Arc's melting hearing aid. At the time of the song's release, Morrissey had taken to wearing a hearing aid when performing, in a show of support for a hearing-impaired fan who had recently written to him: "I did it to show the fan that deafness shouldn't be some sort of stigma that you try to hide."
📌Guitarist, Johnny Marr, told Guitar Player that this was The Smiths' answer to The Rolling Stones' "Jumpin' Jack Flash": "With 'Bigmouth Strikes Again', I was trying to write my 'Jumpin' Jack Flash.' I wanted something that was a rush all the way through, without a distinct middle eight as such."
📌The British rock band, Placebo, did a cover version of this song, in which Joan of Arc's "Walkman" was replaced with a "Discman." Nowadays, when Morrissey performs this song live, he changes it to an "iPod."
📌A photograph of James Dean was used for the single artwork.
In 1983, before The Smiths hit the big time, Morrissey published a book about the actor called James Dean Is Not Dead. Morrissey later spoke of his affinity with Dean: "Nobody had a passion for him as I did - for that constant uneasiness with life."
📌At Marr's insistence, this was the first single to be released from The Queen Is Dead. The guitarist told One Rad Song: "Everyone wanted to put out 'There Is A Light That Never Goes Out' as the first single but I insisted that 'Bigmouth...' should be the first new thing people heard from The Queen Is Dead. I'm glad I did."

Photo credit: Karl Walter

📑 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡 – 𝗦𝗢𝗡𝗚 𝗟𝗬𝗥𝗜𝗖𝗦
Sweetness, sweetness I was only joking
When I said I'd like to smash every tooth
In your head
Oh oh oh
Sweetness, sweetness, I was only joking
When I said by rights you
Should be bludgeoned in your bed
And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her Roman nose
And her Walkman started to melt
Bigmouth, la-da-da-da-da, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race
Oh oh oh oh oh
Bigmouth, la-da-da-da-da, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race
And now I know how Joan of Arc felt
Now I know how Joan of Arc felt
As the flames rose to her Roman nose
And her hearing aid started to melt
Bigmouth, la-da-da-da-da, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race
Oh oh oh oh oh
Bigmouth, la-da-da-da-da, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race
Oh oh oh oh oh
Bigmouth, oh oh oh oh, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race
Oh oh oh oh oh
Bigmouth, la-da-da-da-da, bigmouth, la-da-da-da
Bigmouth strikes again
And I've got no right to take my place
With the human race

And here for you the two versions of Bigmouth Strikes Again, the one by Placebo and the original version by The Smiths, live.
They are very different from each other, but each has its own peculiarities.

𝗣𝗟𝗔𝗖𝗘𝗕𝗢 – 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡
👉https://bit.ly/3sQggIc

𝗧𝗛𝗘 𝗦𝗠𝗜𝗧𝗛𝗦 – 𝗕𝗜𝗚𝗠𝗢𝗨𝗧𝗛 𝗦𝗧𝗥𝗜𝗞𝗘𝗦 𝗔𝗚𝗔𝗜𝗡
👉https://bit.ly/3GfwxvJ

Post by Emanuela