ONE SONG BY THE SMITHS....A SERIES FOR SATURDAYS (Part 31)

I could be wrong but I think it was John Spears, in his book on the American slave trade, who wondered (in a rhetorical way, clearly) if there was anything new to be said about great historical events, such as the slave trade, where so much ink and paper had already been usefully employed. He pondered this question in the preface to a book that was nearly 300 pages long. His answer was in the writing, I guess. There is always something more to be said, even if it is just about a certain reinterpretation of already well-established facts. In that spirit, and obviously not to compare the horrors of slave trade to a simple song by The Smiths, you do wonder what more can be said about The Headmaster Ritual that hasn’t already been said, apart from wondering why JC hasn’t featured it yet in this particular series? To be sure, lots of ink (and tears, doubtless) has been spilt waxing lyrical about, yes, The Greatest Lyrics He Ever Wrote. Where do you even begin - with those belligerent ghouls and their cemented minds, the kids with bruises bigger than dinner plates? And all taking place down the nape of HIS neck. Sigh. It was a case of a few well-chosen phrases from Moz capturing the absolute essence of being amongst the downtrodden junior ranks in an oppressive school institution. Grange Hill it was not. It was also a sight to behold, this played live, Morrissey machine-gunning the audience in time to Mike Joyce’s pitter-patter-pitter-patter quickshot drumming. All those da-da-da’s as well... Need more be said? Well, you know, the track kicked-off Side A of, arguably, the second-best album The Smiths ever made. It was just under five minutes long, and science has now long proven that this is the very best amount of time that a modern pop/rock song should last. I suppose the only problem was that on the album, Meat is Murder, another song had to follow it... and that was of course Rusholme Ruffians, quite the stroke of genius, actually. This version of ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ is taken from a live show in Barcelona, captured for TV. It is stupidly good and demands repeated plays at high volume. I am sure JC would not wish for anything less. Now, all together, da-da-da....

mp3 : The Smiths – The Headmaster Ritual (live, Barcelona) (4.16)
Note From JC

The reason I havent featured this stupendous song before was that I always hoped the best blog writer in the world, and the bloke who inspired me to start this thing all those years ago, would share his thoughts on it with us.

Thanks Comrade Colin. More power to your fingertips.

And as a favour dear readers, coule I ask that you pay him a proper visit by clicking here....
mp3 : The Smiths - The Headmaster Ritual

PS : Happy Birthday to my wee brother Stevie - I know you eventually came round to agreeing with me that The Smiths were an exceptionally talented band. I'm glad you did get to see them play live before their break-up. One of the best gigs you've ever been to me I'm sure.....