Fact #167594
When:
Short story:
While recording their album The Queen Is Dead, The Smiths move into Rak Studios, St Johns Wood, London, England, UK, Europe, where they record Bigmouth Strikes Again, There Is A Light That Never Goes Out, Asleep and Rubber Ring.Full article:
Stephen Street (engineer) : That was a great session. At that point I was putting in a lot of ideas. When you’re the only person working with the band you start to become, by the nature of the work, co-producer. I remember that night the session went really well and I asked Johnny and Morrissey whether they’d consider giving me a production point, just one per cent of the sessions that I’d do. They thought about it and said, ‘Fine.’ So that’s how I stepped up from engineer to co-producer.
Andy Rourke (bassist, The Smiths) : We’d record the whole rhythm section and most of the guitars, just having to guess what Morrissey would come up with.
Johnny Marr (guitarist, The Smiths) : I gave him a cassette. Sometimes with a fully developed track that I'd done on a Portastudio. Sometimes they were very, very threadbare. He'd go off and work out what he was going to do, and then he'd come in the studio. He'd sometimes send me a postcard or, as we were going in the studio, he'd write the titles down. That was really good to see - like, 'Whoah' - and he'd go and sing on it. I hadn't heard the lyric.
Andy Rourke : Morrissey would be there while the initial recording of the music was going on and, if he liked it, he’d sit there nodding and smiling. If he didn’t, he’d leave the room and not come back … It was a big guessing game – How To Keep Morrissey Happy.
BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN
Johnny Marr : I was really happy to have certain songs on singles, like That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, Shakespeare's Sister, Bigmouth Strikes Again and Shoplifters Of The World Unite, because they were radical rock singles and that suited me.
Morrissey : I would call it a parody if that sounded less like self-celebration, which it definitely wasn’t. It was just a really funny song.
Johnny Marr : I said to (Keith Richards) at one point that Bigmouth Strikes Again was my Jumping Jack Flash and, being a great guy, he didn't call security and have me ejected from the building...
THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT
Johnny Marr : I didn't realise that There Is A Light was going to be an anthem but when we first played it I thought it was the best song I'd ever heard.
There's a little in-joke in there just to illustrate how intellectual I was getting. At the time everyone was into the Velvet Underground and they stole the intro to 'There She Goes Again' - da da da-da, da da-da-da, Dah Dah! - from the Rolling Stones’ version of 'Hitchhike’, the Marvin Gaye song. I just wanted to put that in to see whether the press would say, ‘Oh, it's the Velvet Underground!’ Cos I knew that I was smarter than that. I was listening to what The Velvet Underground was listening to.
Mike Joyce (drummer, The Smiths) : I remember being in a Pizzaland in Altrincham, giving the waitress my order - yeah, yeah, cheese and tomato, all that - and she said, You know the strings on 'There Is A Light' - is that an emulator or is it played? (Laughs) I was like, ‘Whaaat? Are you fuckin' joking or what?’ What a fucking question! I thought she was going to say, you know, ‘Parmesan cheese? Anchovies?’
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Andy Rourke (bassist, The Smiths) : We’d record the whole rhythm section and most of the guitars, just having to guess what Morrissey would come up with.
Johnny Marr (guitarist, The Smiths) : I gave him a cassette. Sometimes with a fully developed track that I'd done on a Portastudio. Sometimes they were very, very threadbare. He'd go off and work out what he was going to do, and then he'd come in the studio. He'd sometimes send me a postcard or, as we were going in the studio, he'd write the titles down. That was really good to see - like, 'Whoah' - and he'd go and sing on it. I hadn't heard the lyric.
Andy Rourke : Morrissey would be there while the initial recording of the music was going on and, if he liked it, he’d sit there nodding and smiling. If he didn’t, he’d leave the room and not come back … It was a big guessing game – How To Keep Morrissey Happy.
BIGMOUTH STRIKES AGAIN
Johnny Marr : I was really happy to have certain songs on singles, like That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore, Shakespeare's Sister, Bigmouth Strikes Again and Shoplifters Of The World Unite, because they were radical rock singles and that suited me.
Morrissey : I would call it a parody if that sounded less like self-celebration, which it definitely wasn’t. It was just a really funny song.
Johnny Marr : I said to (Keith Richards) at one point that Bigmouth Strikes Again was my Jumping Jack Flash and, being a great guy, he didn't call security and have me ejected from the building...
THERE IS A LIGHT THAT NEVER GOES OUT
Johnny Marr : I didn't realise that There Is A Light was going to be an anthem but when we first played it I thought it was the best song I'd ever heard.
There's a little in-joke in there just to illustrate how intellectual I was getting. At the time everyone was into the Velvet Underground and they stole the intro to 'There She Goes Again' - da da da-da, da da-da-da, Dah Dah! - from the Rolling Stones’ version of 'Hitchhike’, the Marvin Gaye song. I just wanted to put that in to see whether the press would say, ‘Oh, it's the Velvet Underground!’ Cos I knew that I was smarter than that. I was listening to what The Velvet Underground was listening to.
Mike Joyce (drummer, The Smiths) : I remember being in a Pizzaland in Altrincham, giving the waitress my order - yeah, yeah, cheese and tomato, all that - and she said, You know the strings on 'There Is A Light' - is that an emulator or is it played? (Laughs) I was like, ‘Whaaat? Are you fuckin' joking or what?’ What a fucking question! I thought she was going to say, you know, ‘Parmesan cheese? Anchovies?’