ONE SONG BY THE SMITHS....A SERIES FOR SATURDAYS (Part 40)

Last week I touched upon how the continual emphasis on the Morrissey lyrics was often detrimental to how good a lot of The Smiths songs really where.  And yet, in true TVV contradictory style, this week I'm asking you to consider something that is poetry set to music:-

mp3 : The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain

Yes, it became clear afterwards that some of the best lines stole from elsewhere, most notably the playwright Shelagh Delaney whose work A Taste Of Honey contained the lines "I dreamed about you last night. Fell out of bed twice."

It was an incredibly brave track to choose as the first track on the debut LP.  Yes, it was already incredibly popular with fans who were very familiar with the version recorded for the John Peel show as well as having heard it live at gigs. But it is a love song and a far from obvious opener.....

The thing is....a version this song could have been a hit single if it hadn't been for the coverage given to the band in the tabloid newspaper The Sun....a tale which is told at great and interesting length by Simon Goddard in the book The Smiths : Songs That Saved Your Life.

In summary, Hand In Glove had been a minor hit in May 1983.  Four months later, the plan was to release a follow-up from the studio work with Troy Tate who was supposed to produce the debut LP.  That follow-up was supposed to be Reel Around The Fountain.  The band had also gone back into the BBC studios to record another session version of the song, this time for Kid Jensen.  But just before the broadcast, The Sun - which has never been slow to have a go at the BBC - ran a sensationalist story 'Child Sex Song Puts the Beeb in a spin', the main aspect of which was that a row had allegedly blown up over a decision by management to ban the song from the Jensen session.  In typical Sun-style, they then quoted the offending lyrics in question......and proceded to re-produce lyrics from Handsome Devil.

Rough Trade then got cold feet over the single.  Instead it would be a few more months before This Charming Man would be released as the follow-up to Hand In Glove.  In the meantime, the Troy Tate sessions were binned, meaning the proposed single was seemingly lost for ever.....

mp3 : The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (Troy Tate version)

Similar in many ways to the Peel Session version and the way it was performed live, this recording is less genteel than that which appears on the LP.  It is also proof that the addition of the keyboards  if anything took away from the majesty of the song.  But while the Troy Tate recording is great, I'm not convinced it would have been a chart hit.....it's not exactly tailor-made for daytime radio.....brilliant though it is.

Here's the Peel version along with the recording from the first Scotland show at the Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow in 1984 (with apologies for the frequency interference about a minute or so into the recording):-

mp3 : The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (Peel Session)
mp3 : The Smiths - Reel Around The Fountain (live, Glasgow 1984)

Happy Listening.