ONE SONG BY THE SMITHS : A SATURDAY SERIES (Part 4)

Is this the song where the band proved themselves to even their harshest of critics?

mp3 : The Smiths - The Queen Is Dead

The title track from the third LP, it remains an astonishing and unique six and a bit minutes of art almost 25 years on. A jingly-jangly indie-pop band whose fame was based on bedsit misery weren't supposed to be capable of making such a ferocious assault on your aural senses.

A vicious attack on Thatcherite Britain as well as a condemnation of the soap opera that is the British Royal family, it is one of the best lyrics ever penned. Please don't waste your time arguing. Even if you dont like The Smiths and detest everything that Morrissey stands for, you are being narrow-minded if you cant accept his lyric as the work of a genius.

And its a tune that not only rocks, but brings out the very best in the rhythm section of Joyce and Rourke, and on its own is enough in this fan's eyes to believe that Morrissey and Marr were wrong to pursue that infamous court case in which they more or less said the drummer and bass player were just hired hands. The Queen Is Dead is a song in which all four members are at the top of their game.

And if you never saw them live at the height of their powers:-



It's a tune that it is impossible to cover unless you do something quite radical. Which is exactly what The Boo Radleys did ten years after the fact when they were one of a number of then well-known indie acts asked to be part of a tribute LP called The Smiths Is Dead. Turning their back on what they themselves were best known for, they unleashed some trip-hop on a very unsuspecting public:-

mp3 : The Boo Radleys - The Queen Is Dead

Utterly brilliant in its own way.