The Smiths - Singles
This post was preceded and followed by three related posts:
Morrissey - Bootlegs
The Smiths - Bootlegs
The Smiths - Rarities
A few words on The Smiths’ singles taking in: Woolworths in Enniskillen, Prince’s ‘Girls & Boys’, Owen Paul’s ‘My Favourite Waste of Time’, Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’, Nina Simone, New Order, misheard lyrics, cover stars, B-Sides, Vinyl Matrix Etchings, 7” singles from 1986 and more.
The Smiths - various 12”s. Photograph by Paul McDermott.
By 1986 I was spending all my pocket money on singles and in the first six months of that year I bought four. Falco’s ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ had been a huge hit all over Europe in late-85 and hit the top spot In both Ireland and the UK in March 1986, it remains one of my favourite tunes.
The Blow Monkeys’ ‘Digging Your Scene’ was released a few weeks earlier and I got the 7” after seeing the band on Top of The Pops. I still love the song but I love the sleeve even more - the band’s logo is cut by the hole in the silver sleeve and the missing part of it is printed on the brilliant custom label. Whenever I’m placing this single back in its sleeve I still line up the 7” so that the logo matches up.
It’s Immaterial and Suzanne Vega remain favourites. ‘Driving Away From Home (Jim’s Tune)’ was a big hit and I still think it’s incredible that such an unusual song broke the Top 20 in both Ireland and the UK. I got Vega’s Solitude Standing for Christmas 1987 and it’s still one of my all time favourite albums.
The Blow Monkeys - ‘Digging Your Scene’ (7” - RCA), Falco - ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ (7” - A&M), It’s Immaterial - Driving Away From Home (Jim’s Tune) (7” - Siren/Virgin) and Suzanne Vega - ‘Left of Center’ (7” - A&M). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
More singles were bought between September 1986 and January 1987. I purchased the Bangles’ ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ and RUN DMC’s ‘Walk This Way’ within weeks of each other. Looking back I’m surprised that ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ wasn’t a No. 1 (No. 3 in the UK and No. 2 in Ireland). That song was everywhere for months.
In 1986 I had never heard of Aerosmith and I certainly didn’t know that ‘Walk This Way’ was a cover version. I hadn’t started poring over the small print on the back of record sleeves at this stage but by the following year I’d make the link between Run DMC and Beastie Boys via Rick Rubin’s production credits.
The Red Box and Timbuk 3 singles remain huge favourites of mine. A few weeks after Timbuk 3’s chart run with ‘The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades’ Westworld charted with their brilliant ‘Sonic Boom Boy’ and in my mind I always think of these songs as an inseparable pair.
Bangles - ‘Walk Like An Egyptian’ (7” - CBS), RUN DMC - ‘Walk This Way’ (7” - London), Red Box - ‘For America’ (7” - WEA) and Timbuk 3 - ‘The Future’s So Bright I Gotta Wear Shades’ (7” - IRS). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Things really changed though in the summer of 1986.
The Smiths released 17 singles in the UK and Ireland between May 1983 and December 1987. During that period there were singles released in other territories and there have also been further singles released since 1992 to promote various compilation albums. But when I think of the Mancunian-Irish band I think of this run of 17 singles in a four and a half year period. It was an astonishing run of incredible songs.
I came in at ‘Panic’. The band’s 11th single was the first one I purchased. I had heard it in the summer of 1986 and decided that this was the band for me.
I bought it in early August in Woolworths in Enniskillen. We were on a family holiday in Sligo and had travelled over the border into Northern Ireland to buy my brother a Ghettoblaster. He got a JVC two-tape machine and as part of the electrical shop’s deal he was able to pick out two new tapes. He chose Prince’s Parade and Madonna’s True Blue - he chose wisely in fairness.
Prince and the Revolution - ‘Girls & Boys’ (7” - Warner Bros.) and The Smiths - ‘Panic’ (7” - Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
Over in Woolworths there was a deal on 7” singles - “3 for the price of 2”. Along with ‘Panic’ I bought Prince’s ‘Girls & Boys’, and the third 7” I got that day was Owen Paul’s ‘My Favourite Waste of Time’. The Owen Paul single came in a black paper sleeve and was the cheapest of the three. I think I did well!
Somewhere along the way I’ve mislaid my 7” of ‘My Favourite Waste of Time’ which is a pity because I still have a soft spot for the Scottish singer’s cover version of Marshall Crenshaw’s song. Of course in 1986 I had never heard of Crenshaw and it would be a few decades before I found out that Crenshaw’s original (titled: ‘You’re My Favorite Waste of Time’) was the B-Side to his 1982 hit ‘Someday, Someway’.
I could have ended up a huge Prince fan but I didn’t. My brother’s copy of Parade soundtracked the rest of summer 1986 and it meant that even though I now had a Prince 7” I couldn’t be a big fan of one of my brother’s favourite new artists. My brother also had claims on The Cure and Simple Minds. If my brother liked a band then I would be at most lukewarm about that artist’s music. Those were the rules. I didn’t make them up, I’ve no idea who did, but that’s the way it was.
If my brother had Prince, I now had The Smiths. ‘Panic’ sucked me in big time. Partly due to the fact that I misheard a lyric. Morrissey sings, “The Leeds side streets that you slip down”. But I heard, “The Lee-side streets” and thought he was singing about my hometown of Cork. He mentions Dublin in the song, so in my 13-year-old mind it made perfect sense that he would also sing about Cork.
The Smiths had played Cork’s Savoy twice in 1984 (20 May and 18 November). I was 11 in 1984, obviously I wasn’t at either gig. Years later I can remember hearing about these gigs and being stunned that The Smiths had played in Cork - I couldn’t believe it. Sure of course he’s singing about Cork, I reckoned. He has to be singing about Cork.
In the summer of 1986 after buying ‘Panic’ I felt part of a club. I was all in.
I bought the subsequent singles upon release and then worked my way back picking up the earlier singles I’d missed out on. Some were easy to get while others proved more elusive. I’d wait until the mid-90s to finally have all 17 singles.
Fourteen of these singles reached No. 1 in the UK Indie Chart. ‘Hand in Glove’, the band’s debut single, stalled at No. 3. The band’s final two singles ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ and ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ both reached No. 2.
Nina Simone’s ‘My Baby Just Cares For Me’ kept the former off the top spot, the song was used to soundtrack a Chanel No. 5 advert leading to a re-release of the 1958 single. It was New Order’s ‘Touched By the Hand of God’ that kept The Smiths’ last single off the top spot. New Order are one of my favourite bands but I’ve always thought that ‘Touched By the Hand of God’ is one of their weakest singles. On the other hand, I think The Smiths’ last single is probably one of the greatest Morrissey/Marr compositions. Sometimes there just isn’t any justice.
Only New Order and Depeche Mode had more No. 1’s in the UK Indie Chart in the 80s. The Smiths had 15 singles reach the Top 30 in the UK Singles Chart and 6 of their singles went into the Top 10 in the Irish Singles Chart.
I can’t overstate how exciting it was picking up these records. Each new single came in a beautiful sleeve and had a different cover star. Who is Shelagh Delaney? Who is Yootha Joyce? Is that the actress who played Mildred from George & Mildred? If it is her, what’s she doing on a Smiths’ record? Who’s Truman Capote? Who’s Candy Darling? Each new record just posed more and more questions. Buying Smiths’ records was an education. What did the etchings in the runout groove of the vinyl mean? If ‘Panic’ started me off then the next few singles only convinced me that this band was mine.
I bought ‘Panic’ and the next few releases on 7” but at some point I realised that a 12” release had an extra B-Side so I switched to the bigger format.
All 17 singles are below - ‘Hand in Glove’ was only released on 7” but the other 16 are all on 12”.
Hand in Glove
‘Hand in Glove’ (7” - RT113, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Hand in Glove’
B-Side: ‘Handsome Devil’ (Live)
Released: May 1983
Cover Star: George O’Mara photographed by Jim French taken from Margaret Walter’s book The Nude Male (1979).
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - KISS MY SHADES / B - KISS MY SHADES TOO
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 3
Note: This is a “Manchester Address” copy of the 7”. The first 6,000 7”s had “70, Portland St, Manchester” as a contact address on the back sleeve. Later pressings had Rough Trade’s London address on the back sleeve.
2. This Charming Man
‘This Charming Man’ (12” - RTT136, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘This Charming Man’ (Manchester) / ‘This Charming Man’ (London)
B-Side: ‘Accept Yourself’ / ‘Wonderful Woman’
Released: October 1983
Cover Star: Jean Marais in Jean Cocteau’s Orphée (1949)
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - WILL NATURE MAKE A MAN OF ME YET? / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 25
Note: This is the 12” with no band name on the front sleeve and the Rough Trade logo parodying the classic Capitol Records logo (a capitol dome over “Rough” in bold cursive over “Trade” typeset. The logo on the back of the sleeve added an oval ring (also a Capitol hallmark).
3. What Difference Does It Make?
‘What Difference Does it Make?’ (12” - RTT146, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘What Difference Does it Make?’
B-Side: ‘Back to the Old House’ / ‘These Things Take Time’
Released: January 1984
Cover Star: Terence Stamp in an outtake from The Collector (1965).
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - None / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 12 / Irish Singles Chart No. 12
Note: The original sleeve was withdrawn when Stamp withdrew permission. A second pressing was issued with Morrissey photographed in Stamp’s pose holding a glass of milk instead of a chloroform-soaked pad. The Stamp sleeve was re-instated when Rough Trade secured permission from the actor to use the original photograph. In Iron Fist in Velvet Glove - the story of Microdisney, Cathal Coughlan mentions that himself and Sean O’Hagan: “worked in Rough Trade re-sleeving Smiths’ records when they couldn’t get the right to use Terence Stamp’s picture on the cover of ‘What Difference Does it Make?’.”
4. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ (12” - RTT156, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’
B-Side: ‘Girl Afraid’ / ‘Suffer Little Children’
Released: May 1984
Cover Star: Viv Nicholson in a photograph taken from her memoir Spend Spend Spend.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - SMITHS PRESUMABLY / B - FOREVER ILL
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 10 / Irish Singles Chart No. 11
Note: The photograph of Nicholson was the first of three taken from her memoir (Vivian Nicholson & Stephen Smith - Spend Spend Spend (Jonathan Cape, London 1977) to be used as Smiths’ covers. The 1985 Dutch single ‘Barbarism Begins at Home’ and the 1988 UK CD single of ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ also used photographs of Nicholson.
5. William, It Was Really Nothing
‘William, It Was Really Nothing’ (12” - RTT166, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’
B-Side: ‘How Soon is Now?’ / ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’
Released: August 1984
Cover Star: Unknown model, photographed sitting on a bed, taken from an early 80s advertisement for ADS speakers.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST / B - ROMANTIC AND SQUARE IS HIP AND AWARE
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 17 / Irish Singles Chart No. 8
Note: The original sleeve was withdrawn after a threatened copyright violation claim. The second version of the sleeve featured a lilac tinted photograph of Billie Whitelaw from the film Charlie Bubbles (1968).
6. How Soon is Now?
‘How Soon is Now?’ (12” - RTT176, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘How Soon is Now?’
B-Side: ‘Well I Wonder’ / ‘Oscillate Wildly’
Released: January 1985
Cover Star: A still of actor Sean Barrett taken from the film Dunkirk (1958).
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - THE TATTY TRUTH / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 24 / Irish Singles Chart No. 5
Note: This was the third time that ‘How Soon is Now?’ was officially released having previously appeared on Hatful of Hollow and as a B-Side to ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’.
7. Shakespeare’s Sister
‘Shakespeare’s Sister’ (12” - RTT181, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’
B-Side: ‘What She Said’ / ‘Stretch Out and Wait’
Released: March 1985
Cover Star: Pat Phoenix from Coronation Street.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 26 / Irish Singles Chart No. 11
Note: The cover photograph of Phoenix is not a publicity shot. She gave the photograph to Morrissey from her own personal collection.
8. That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ (12” - RTT186, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’
B-Side: ‘Nowhere Fast’ / ‘Stretch Out And Wait’ / ‘Shakespeare’s Sister’ / ‘Meat Is Murder’
Released: July 1985
Cover Star: A still of a child taken from a 1965 Ukrainian film, The Enchanted Desna.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS, OUR SOULS / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 49 / Irish Singles Chart No. 20
Note: The four B-Sides were all recorded live at the Apollo, Oxford on 18 March, 1985.
9. The Boy With the Thorn in His Side
‘The Boy With the Thorn in His Side’ (12” - RTT191, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘The Boy With the Thorn in His Side’
B-Side: ‘Rubber Ring / Asleep’
Released: September 1985
Cover Star: Truman Capote photographed by Cecil Beaton in 1949.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - ARTY BLOODY FARTY / B - IS THAT CLEVER...JM
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 23 / Irish Singles Chart No. 15
Note: On the 12” ‘Rubber Ring’ and ‘Asleep’ segue into one another to beautiful effect. The voice sample at the end of the former loops and fades into the wind noise preceding the latter.
10. Bigmouth Strikes Again
‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’ (12” - RTT192, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Bigmouth Strikes Again’
B-Side: ‘Money Changes Everything’ / ‘Unloveable’
Released: May 1986
Cover Star: A 1948 photograph of James Dean by his friend Nelva Jean Thomas.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - BEWARE THE WRATH TO COME / B - TALENT BORROWS, GENIUS STEALS
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 26 / Irish Singles Chart No. 40
Note: Kirsty MacColl contributed backing vocals, but they were left off the final mix.
11. Panic
‘Panic’ (12” - RTT192, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Panic’
B-Side: ‘Vicar in a Tutu’ / ‘The Draize Train’
Released: July 1986
Cover Star: Richard Bradford, who played private eye McGill in the 1960s TV series Man in a Suitcase.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - None / B - I DREAMT ABOUT STEW LAST NIGHT
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 11 / Irish Singles Chart No. 7
Note: The first recording to feature Craig Cannon on second guitar.
12. Ask
‘Ask’ (12” - RTT194, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Ask’
B-Side: ‘Cemetry Gates’ / ‘Golden Lights’
Released: October 1986
Cover Star: Yootha Joyce in Catch Me If You Can (1965).
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - ARE YOU LOATHESOME TONIGHT? / B - TOMB IT MAY CONCERN
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 14 / Irish Singles Chart No. 9
Note: Later pressings replaced the shorter single version of ‘Ask’ with the longer version from The World Won’t Listen. Kirsty MacColl sings backing vocals.
13. Shoplifters of the World Unite
‘Shoplifters of the World Unite’ (12” - RTT195, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Shoplifters of the World Unite’
B-Side: ‘London’ / ‘Half a Person’
Released: January 1987
Cover Star: Elvis Presley photographed by James R. Reid.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - ALF RAMSEY’S REVENGE / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 11 / Irish Singles Chart No. 7
Note: The record is dedicated to Ruth Polsky, the promoter who booked American tours for The Smiths. Polsky died in September 1986.
14. Sheila Take a Bow
‘Sheila Take a Bow’ (12” - RTT195, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Shoplifters of the World Unite’
B-Side: ‘Is It Really So Strange?’ (Peel Session, 17/12/86) / ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’ (Peel Session 17/12/86)
Released: April 1987
Cover Star: Candy Darling in the film Women in Revolt (1971), directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Andy Warhol.
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - COOK BERNARD MATTHEWS / B - None
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 10 / Irish Singles Chart No. 3
Note: ‘Is It Really So Strange?’ and ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’ were from the band’s fourth and final Peel Session, recorded on 2 December 1986 and first transmitted on 17 December 86.
15. Girlfriend in a Coma
‘Girlfriend in a Coma’ (12” - RTT197, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’
B-Side: ‘Work is a Four-Letter Word’ / ‘I Keep Mine Hidden’
Released: August 1987
Cover Star: Shelagh Delaney from a 1961 edition of A Taste of Honey
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - EVERYBODY IS A FLASHER AT HEART / B - AND NEVER MORE SHALL BE SO
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 13 / Irish Singles Chart No. 12
Note: ‘Work is a Four-Letter Word’ was a Cilla Black cover and ‘I Keep Mine Hidden’ was the last Morrissey/Marr composition. Shelagh Delaney also appears on the cover of Louder Than Bombs.
16. I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ (12” - RTT198, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’
B-Side: ‘Pretty Girls Make Graves’ (Troy Tate version) / ‘Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others’ (live)
Released: November 1987
Cover Star: Avril Angers in The Family Way (1966)
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - “MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / B - YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 23 / Irish Singles Chart No. 13
Note: ‘Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before’ was to be released as a single but ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’ was released instead. The reference to “mass murder” in the former was deemed too sensitive in the aftermath of the Hungerford massacre in August 1987.
17. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ (12” - RTT200, Rough Trade). Photograph by Paul McDermott.
A-Side: ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’
B-Side: ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ (Peel Session 09/08/84) / ‘Nowhere Fast’ (Peel Session 09/08/84)
Released: December 1987
Cover Star: Billy Fury
Vinyl Matrix Etching: A - “THE RETURN OF THE SUBMISSIVE SOCIETY” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / B - “THE BIZARRE ORIENTAL VIBRATING PALM DEATH” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE
Charts: UK Indie Chart: No. 1 / UK Singles Chart No. 30 / Irish Singles Chart No. 17
Note: ‘Rusholme Ruffians’ and ‘Nowhere Fast’ were from the band’s third Peel Session, recorded on 1 August 1984 and first transmitted on 9 August 1984.
Note: The great passionsjustlikemine website was a hugely valuable resource in pulling some of this information together.