Shoplifters of the world Unite
Release date: 1987, January
UK Chart: 12
Cover: Elvis Presley, first official press photograph.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- ALF RAMSEY’S REVENGE
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Shoplifters of the world u. - The Smiths poster, 1987, January
Shoplifters of the world unite
Learn to love me
Assemble the ways
Now, today, tomorrow and always
My only weakness is a listed crime
My only weakness is … well, never mind, never mind
Oh, shoplifters of the world
Unite and take over
Shoplifters of the world
Hand it over
Hand it over
Hand it over
Learn to love me
And assemble the ways
Now, today, tomorrow, and always
My only weakness is a listed crime
But last night the plans of a future war
Was all I saw on Channel Four
The world won’t listen
Release date: 1987, February
UK Chart: 2
Cover: Jürgen Vollmer’s photographs of Hamburg’s young Rock scene in the early 60s – most famously of the Beatles . The pictures were published in his 1981 book Rock’n'Roll Times to show the style and spirit of the early Beatles and their first fans.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: none
Poster Available Here
The world won't listen - The Smithsposter, 1987, Feb
The world won’t listen
1. Panic
2. Ask
3. London
4. Bigmouth Strikes Again
5. Shakespeare’s Sister
6. There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
7. Shoplifters of the World Unite
8. The Boy with the Thorn in His Side
9. Money Changes Everything
10.Asleep
11.Unloveable
12.Half a Person
13.Stretch Out and Wait
14.That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore
15.Oscillate Wildly
16.You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
17.Rubber Ring
Louder than bombs LP
Release date: 1987, March
UK Chart: 38
Cover Star: Playwrighter Shelagh Delaney in Manchester, 1961, photographed by Arnold Newman one month before the film ‘A Taste of Honey’ (based on her play).
Louder than Bombs 2LP was first released in US only but later released in UK in order to avoid raising imports price.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: none
Poster Available Here
Louther than bombs – The Smiths poster, 1987, Mar
Louder than Bombs
| 1. Is It Really So Strange?
2. Sheila Take a Bow 3. Shoplifters of the World Unite 4. Sweet and Tender Hooligan 5. Half a Person 6. London 7. Panic 8. Girl Afraid 9. Shakespeare’s Sister 10.William, It Was Really Nothing 11. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby 12. Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now |
13. Ask
14. Golden Lights 15. Oscillate Wildly 16. These Things Take Time 17. Rubber Ring 18. Back to the Old House 19. Hand in Glove 20. Stretch Out and Wait 21. Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want 22. This Night Has Opened My Eyes 23. Unloveable 24. Asleep |
Ask
Ask
Shyness is nice and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You’d like to
Shyness is nice and
Shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life
You’d like to
So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me I wont say no, how could I?
Coyness is nice, and
Coyness can stop you
From saying all the things in
Life you’d like to
So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me I wont say no, how could I?
Spending warm Summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buxom girl in Luxembourg
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it’s not Love
Then it’s the bomb, the bomb, the bomb,
the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together
Nature is a language – can’t you read ?
Nature is a language – can’t you read ?
So, ask me, ask me, ask me,
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it’s not Love
Then it’s the bomb, the bomb, the bomb,
the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb
That will bring us together
If it’s not Love
Then it’s the bomb
Then it’s the bomb
That will bring us together
So, ask me, ask me, ask me,
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Oh, la…
Sheila take a bow
Release date: 1987, April
UK Chart: 10
Cover Star: American transsexual actor and model Candy Darling, also one of the Andy Warhol superstars, in the movie Women in revolt, a film directed by Paul Morrissey and produced by Warhol in 1971.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- COOK BERNARD MATTHEWS*
*Britain’s leading turkey producer, obviously a sarcastic message.
Listen to the song here
Sheila take a bow - The Smiths,1987, April
Sheila take a bow
Is it wrong to want to live on your own ?
No, it’s not wrong – but I must know
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad ?
Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
And don’t go home tonight
Come out and find the one that you love and who loves you
The one that you love and who loves you
Oh …
Is it wrong not to always be glad ?
No, it’s not wrong – but I must add
How can someone so young
Sing words so sad ?
Sheila take a, Sheila take a bow
Boot the grime of this world in the crotch, dear
Continue reading
Girlfriend in a coma
Release date: 1987, August
UK Chart: 13
Cover Star: British playwright Shelagh Delaney, in her play Taste of Honey, 1958.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: 7”• B- SO FAR, SO BAD
12”• A- EVERYBODY IS A FLASHER AT HEART / B- AND NEVER MORE SHALL BE SO
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Girlfriend in a coma - The Smiths,1987, aug
Girlfriend in a coma
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s serious
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s really serious
There were times when I could
Have “murdered” her
(But you know, I would hate
Anything to happen to her)
NO, I DON’T WANT TO SEE HER
Do you really think
She’ll pull through ?
Do you really think
She’ll pull through ?
Pull through …
Girlfriend in a coma, I know
I know – it’s serious
My, my, my, my, my, my baby, goodbye
Strangeways, here we come
Release date: 1987, September
UK Chart: 2
Cover Star: Richard Davalos, in the movie East of Eden, the 1955 film directed by Elia Kazan.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: 1- GUY FAWKES WAS A GENIUS
*13 April 1570 – 31 January 1606, also known as Guido Fawkes, the name he adopted while fighting for the Spanish in the Low Countries, was a member of a group of provincial English Catholics who planned the failed Gunpowder Plot of 1605. He tried to destroy the Westminster Palace with some catholics more.
Poster Available Here
Strangeways here we come - The Smiths, 1987, Sept
Strangeways here we come
1. A Rush and a Push and the Land Is Ours
2. I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish
3. Death of a Disco Dancer
4. Girlfriend in a Coma
5. Stop Me If You Think You’ve Heard This One Before
6. Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me
7. Unhappy Birthday
8. Paint a Vulgar Picture
9. Death at One’s Elbow
10. I Won’t Share You
I started something I couldn’t finish
Release date: 1987, November
UK Chart: 23
Cover Star: Avril Angers, from the movie The Family Way, a 1966 movie directed by Roy Boulting.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- “MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / B- YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP
UK 7″ and 12″: “MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL”(X)STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP
* The Wool Hall was the recording studio in Bath where The Smiths had recorded their latest album Strangeways, Here We Come. Sheridan Whiteside was one of Morrissey’s pseudonyms. .
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
I started something I couldn’t finish – The Smiths,1987, nov
I’ve started something I couldn’t Finish
The lanes were silent
There was nothing, no one, nothing around for miles
I doused our friendly venture
With a hard-faced
Three-word gesture
I started something
I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
…And now I’m not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that’s what tradition means
And I doused another venture
With a gesture
That was … absolutely vile
Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me
Release date: 1987, December
UK Chart: 30
Cover Star: Billy Fury, english singer. In a 1984 interview Morrissey included Billy Fury’s singles in his brief collection of most treasured people and possessions. Morrissey has told that Billy “was discovered working on the docks in Liverpool, was dragged to London, styled and forced to make records. He always wanted to make very emotional overblown ballads but found himself in the midst of the popular arena. He despised almost every aspect of the music industry and was very, very ill from early age”.
Etchings on the single’s matrix: A- “THE RETURN OF THE SUBMISSIVE SOCIETY” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE* / B-“ THE BIZARRE ORIENTAL VIBRATING PALM DEATH” (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE
*Sheridan Whiteside was one of Morrissey’s pseudonyms.
Listen to the song here
Poster Available Here
Last night I dreamt - The Smiths, 1987, Dec
Last night I dreamed that somebody loved me
Last night I dreamt
That somebody loved me
No hope, but no harm
Just another false alarm
Last night I felt
real arms around me
No hope, no harm
Just another false alarm
So, tell me how long
Before the last one ?
And tell me how long
Before the right one ?
The story is old – I KNOW
But it goes on
The story is old – I KNOW
But it goes on
Oh, GOES ON
And on
Oh, goes on
And on