6:19 am - 11/29/2009
Moz on Desert Island Discs - download it here (41 min)
MORRISSEY has revealed his thoughts about life, death, suicide and being alone, in a frank interview.
In the interview for today’s (Sunday) edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, presenter Kirsty Young asked him: “Have you thought about being in control of your death?”
He replied: “Yes, I have. And I think this self-destruction is honourable. I always thought it was. It’s an act of great control and I understand people who do it.”
Later asked which luxury he would take to make his life more bearable on the mythical island, Morrissey, 50, laughed:
“Well, I would either take a bed, because I like to go to bed. Or I would take a bag of sleeping pills because I might want to make a quick exit. I would really take the bed, I think, because going to bed is the highlight of everybody’s day. I like to be hidden and I like to sink – it’s the brother of death. It means we can switch our brains off when we go to bed and forget about ourselves.”
With hits including Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, he explained: “I see the poetry in everything and I see the sadness in everything and I take that and I carry it with me. And that’s quite difficult. I feel profoundly touched by people’s sadness – that’s the thing I most see in other people.”
He told of leading a different life. “Naturally, I am quite separate. I’m not a celebrity, I’m not a part of anything and the music industry has never grabbed me, in the way that the sea might grab a sailor. I think the world is quite dark and I think it is quite mad and I think to be a human being is quite a task. Everybody dies screaming. They don’t die laughing their heads off, as far as I know.”
The enigmatic singer added: “Nothing comforts me at all. I think the world is a mesmerizing mess. I think human beings are mesmerizing messes, and there we are. I’m fascinated by the brevity of life and how people use their time, because we all know the axe will fall. It’s inevitable as you and I are sitting here now that the Tuesday will arrive when you, Kirsty, are not here. Nobody can reach you by telephone, nobody can write to you and nobody can email you. You just won’t be here. So we all know this fact and with that at the forefront of our mind in everything that we do, I find it fascinating how people spend their time.”
Morrissey talked about growing up in Stretford. “I was just considered to be unbalanced, which helped me greatly, because it simply confirmed everything I knew – I didn’t want to grow up to be anything that I knew. I wanted a completely different life and whatever that entailed. I think my parents were very worried for a very long time. But then when you become successful it seems to authenticate any kind of insanity or madness, however people view it.”
He said university was not an option for him. “I was working class, we had no money. We lived in central Manchester in the late sixties, early seventies, when I went to school and it was a very barren time. Things didn’t begin for me until I left school. Then I began to become educated, which is a bitterly sad story.”
The lyricist said his father thought “I was a bit of a lunatic” when he was a teenager. “So that was the great separating point.” While his mother had taken “a very balanced view” of his career and success.
But Morrissey indicated he was happy with how he had lived his life. “I think so. I think I was in a very awkward situation and I managed somehow to wiggle out and not much more can be asked of me. I think if you reach 50 and you’re not at one with yourself, whatever that may be, then you’re in serious trouble because you’ve had time to work things out. And there isn’t much time left.”
Not that he has any plans to settle down. “Settling down? I’m waiting to explode – no, I don’t want to settle down until I’m carried out feet first. I don’t want to be any kind of happy couple with a photograph on the television set. I find it quite embarrassing. I’m happier with horses. You have to get involved with relatives and other people’s great aunt Bessies and things like that. And I’d rather not. I’m 50 years old now and a pattern emerges and I accept that and I don’t mind at all, really.”
During the recording, Kirsty told him that she was a fan of his while she was still at school and wondered if he ever felt uncomfortable having obsessive followers dedicated to the cult of Morrissey?
”No, not really. I understand the reasons why. I think they feel I’ve been slighted generally and I’m disregarded and I’m overlooked and so forth. And I think they’re quite right. Nothing’s ever easy. I release a new single and it’s very hit and miss whether anybody will play it. And most people don’t play it. I want people to hear the music. I don’t want to be an island, except emotionally.”
Morrissey could not answer a question about who he was now or who he felt himself to be as a performer. “I have absolutely no idea. I really do not. Life leads me, I follow it and I have no idea where I will be in two hours’ time, which is interesting. I do like to keep moving.”
He recalled his first performance, as a child on a table top at home in Manchester, singing Marianne Faithfull’s 1965 hit Come And Stay With Me.
“It’s embarrassing and I would never really say this, apart from the fact that we’re on national radio and I don’t have much choice. But I would stand on the table and sing – and I was off even at that stage.”
Moz's Choices for the Desert Island
1 - New York Dolls - (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
2 - Marianne Faithfull - Come And Stay With Me
3 - The Ramones - Loudmouth
4 - Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground - The Black Angel's Death Song
5 - Klaus Nomi - Der Nussbaum
6 - Nico - I'm Not Saying
7 - Iggy & The Stooges - Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell
8 - Mott The Hoople - Sea Diver
Book - The Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde
Luxury - A bed (or a bag of sleeping pills), but chooses the bed.
Choice of one track - of the above - New York Dolls - (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
Excerpt from Moz's Autobiography
"An excerpt from Morrissey's forthcoming autobiography appears in the book that accompanies the Tate St Ives exhibition The Dark Monarch, Magic and Modernity in British Art. It's a piece called The Bleak Moor Lies about a chance encounter on Saddleworth Moor in 1989."
source +joe-frady's scans from morrissey-solo
Morrissey on Desert Island Discs + Excerpt from Autobio
Moz on Desert Island Discs - download it here (41 min)
MORRISSEY has revealed his thoughts about life, death, suicide and being alone, in a frank interview.
In the interview for today’s (Sunday) edition of Radio 4’s Desert Island Discs, presenter Kirsty Young asked him: “Have you thought about being in control of your death?”
He replied: “Yes, I have. And I think this self-destruction is honourable. I always thought it was. It’s an act of great control and I understand people who do it.”
Later asked which luxury he would take to make his life more bearable on the mythical island, Morrissey, 50, laughed:
“Well, I would either take a bed, because I like to go to bed. Or I would take a bag of sleeping pills because I might want to make a quick exit. I would really take the bed, I think, because going to bed is the highlight of everybody’s day. I like to be hidden and I like to sink – it’s the brother of death. It means we can switch our brains off when we go to bed and forget about ourselves.”
With hits including Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, he explained: “I see the poetry in everything and I see the sadness in everything and I take that and I carry it with me. And that’s quite difficult. I feel profoundly touched by people’s sadness – that’s the thing I most see in other people.”
He told of leading a different life. “Naturally, I am quite separate. I’m not a celebrity, I’m not a part of anything and the music industry has never grabbed me, in the way that the sea might grab a sailor. I think the world is quite dark and I think it is quite mad and I think to be a human being is quite a task. Everybody dies screaming. They don’t die laughing their heads off, as far as I know.”
The enigmatic singer added: “Nothing comforts me at all. I think the world is a mesmerizing mess. I think human beings are mesmerizing messes, and there we are. I’m fascinated by the brevity of life and how people use their time, because we all know the axe will fall. It’s inevitable as you and I are sitting here now that the Tuesday will arrive when you, Kirsty, are not here. Nobody can reach you by telephone, nobody can write to you and nobody can email you. You just won’t be here. So we all know this fact and with that at the forefront of our mind in everything that we do, I find it fascinating how people spend their time.”
Morrissey talked about growing up in Stretford. “I was just considered to be unbalanced, which helped me greatly, because it simply confirmed everything I knew – I didn’t want to grow up to be anything that I knew. I wanted a completely different life and whatever that entailed. I think my parents were very worried for a very long time. But then when you become successful it seems to authenticate any kind of insanity or madness, however people view it.”
He said university was not an option for him. “I was working class, we had no money. We lived in central Manchester in the late sixties, early seventies, when I went to school and it was a very barren time. Things didn’t begin for me until I left school. Then I began to become educated, which is a bitterly sad story.”
The lyricist said his father thought “I was a bit of a lunatic” when he was a teenager. “So that was the great separating point.” While his mother had taken “a very balanced view” of his career and success.
But Morrissey indicated he was happy with how he had lived his life. “I think so. I think I was in a very awkward situation and I managed somehow to wiggle out and not much more can be asked of me. I think if you reach 50 and you’re not at one with yourself, whatever that may be, then you’re in serious trouble because you’ve had time to work things out. And there isn’t much time left.”
Not that he has any plans to settle down. “Settling down? I’m waiting to explode – no, I don’t want to settle down until I’m carried out feet first. I don’t want to be any kind of happy couple with a photograph on the television set. I find it quite embarrassing. I’m happier with horses. You have to get involved with relatives and other people’s great aunt Bessies and things like that. And I’d rather not. I’m 50 years old now and a pattern emerges and I accept that and I don’t mind at all, really.”
During the recording, Kirsty told him that she was a fan of his while she was still at school and wondered if he ever felt uncomfortable having obsessive followers dedicated to the cult of Morrissey?
”No, not really. I understand the reasons why. I think they feel I’ve been slighted generally and I’m disregarded and I’m overlooked and so forth. And I think they’re quite right. Nothing’s ever easy. I release a new single and it’s very hit and miss whether anybody will play it. And most people don’t play it. I want people to hear the music. I don’t want to be an island, except emotionally.”
Morrissey could not answer a question about who he was now or who he felt himself to be as a performer. “I have absolutely no idea. I really do not. Life leads me, I follow it and I have no idea where I will be in two hours’ time, which is interesting. I do like to keep moving.”
He recalled his first performance, as a child on a table top at home in Manchester, singing Marianne Faithfull’s 1965 hit Come And Stay With Me.
“It’s embarrassing and I would never really say this, apart from the fact that we’re on national radio and I don’t have much choice. But I would stand on the table and sing – and I was off even at that stage.”
Moz's Choices for the Desert Island
1 - New York Dolls - (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
2 - Marianne Faithfull - Come And Stay With Me
3 - The Ramones - Loudmouth
4 - Lou Reed & The Velvet Underground - The Black Angel's Death Song
5 - Klaus Nomi - Der Nussbaum
6 - Nico - I'm Not Saying
7 - Iggy & The Stooges - Your Pretty Face Is Going To Hell
8 - Mott The Hoople - Sea Diver
Book - The Complete Works Of Oscar Wilde
Luxury - A bed (or a bag of sleeping pills), but chooses the bed.
Choice of one track - of the above - New York Dolls - (There's Gonna Be A) Showdown
Excerpt from Moz's Autobiography
"An excerpt from Morrissey's forthcoming autobiography appears in the book that accompanies the Tate St Ives exhibition The Dark Monarch, Magic and Modernity in British Art. It's a piece called The Bleak Moor Lies about a chance encounter on Saddleworth Moor in 1989."
source +joe-frady's scans from morrissey-solo
Oh, when Morrissey is teasy and funny and silly and sweet I just want to DIE of pleasure... "
omg i love him even more now
morrissey is incredibly lovely here tbh
I'm so confused when I feel he's sexy lol
unf young moz
I do hope he was lying when he said that his youth was spent in celibacy, it would be criminal to have had him go to waste.
may never come out
most celeb autobios are boring as hell, but I feel like his would be fascinating. Maybe with some hints at his relationship with Mr. Marr <3
p.s. thanks for the mp3 d/l :D
But since when can you choose eight songs? I thought it was like five or something, IDK
Crazy creepy interview. Thought Kirsty was remarkably good with him. He's so genuinely...peculiar, all the time.
That autobiography sounds like a veritable mire of words. Might be worth it though...
Oh, no I didn't mean creepy like that. I meant...like a Tim Burton film, or something. I thought he was very sweet too, I think that's why I found it creepy...he was sweet, charming, and eloquent about suicide. It's what makes him scarily special...