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There Is a Light That Never Goes Out is a song by The Smiths, written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead, but despite its popularity it was not released as a single until 1992, after The Smiths split up. Morrissey re-released the song as a double A-side live single (with his cover of Patti Smith's Redondo Beach) in 2005, which reached #11 in the UK singles chart. The song has been voted highly in numerous "best ever" song lists. Read Full BioThere Is a Light That Never Goes Out is a song by The Smiths, written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr. It was originally featured on their 1986 album The Queen Is Dead, but despite its popularity it was not released as a single until 1992, after The Smiths split up. Morrissey re-released the song as a double A-side live single (with his cover of Patti Smith's Redondo Beach) in 2005, which reached #11 in the UK singles chart. The song has been voted highly in numerous "best ever" song lists.
The song lyrically utilises a first-person narrative concerning yearning, anxiety, and implied romance. Morrissey assumes the role of a person who has, one could infer from the lyrics, been kicked out of home, so seeks solace and company in the form of the person the song addresses - the car's driver.
Musically, the song begins with a staccato bridge similar to that heard on Hitch Hike by Marvin Gaye and There She Goes Again by The Velvet Underground, which recurs as a musical motif throughout the song. With synthesized strings, a balladesque arrangement and yearning lyrics, many listeners have viewed "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" as a straightforward love song despite some ambiguity in the lyrics themselves.
Lyrics
Many of Morrissey's lyrics are borrowed from other sources. In particular, the title of this song has been a source of wonder. One credible suggestion has been that the title is a paraphrase of what Hugh Latimer said to Nicholas Ridley as they were about to be burned at the stake as heretics during the reign of "Bloody Mary," Queen Mary I of England:
Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
Simon Goddard argues in his book Songs That Saved Your Life that the basic narrative story is similar to that of the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, in which Dean - an idol of Morrissey's - leaves his torturous home life, being the passenger to a potential romantic partner. Given Morrissey's previous thematic and lyrical borrowings from literature and cinema, this is a viewpoint with some plausibility. According to Goddard, an earlier version lacked some of the finished version's ambiguity, culminating in the line "There is a light in your eyes and it never goes out". Additionally, the video for Morrissey's song Suedehead shows him visiting Dean's childhood home, and at one point displays the words "There is a light that never goes out."
Release and Versions
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" was originally planned to be a single from The Queen is Dead, but Rough Trade Records label boss Geoff Travis selected Bigmouth Strikes Again from the same album as the release instead. The song has subsequently been covered by a number of artists, including UK singer David Ford, Anberlin, Neuroticfish, Braid, Eurythmics, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, The Magic Numbers, The Divine Comedy, Neil Finn, Walleye (on the tribute album The World Still Won't Listen), Nada Surf, The Ocean Blue, Ghost Mice and Schneider TM (their version of the song is known as The Light 3000). There is also a Spanish version by Mikel Erentxun, called Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagará. Speedstar also recorded a cover which featured on the Triple J Like A Version compilation CD.
The song lyrically utilises a first-person narrative concerning yearning, anxiety, and implied romance. Morrissey assumes the role of a person who has, one could infer from the lyrics, been kicked out of home, so seeks solace and company in the form of the person the song addresses - the car's driver.
Musically, the song begins with a staccato bridge similar to that heard on Hitch Hike by Marvin Gaye and There She Goes Again by The Velvet Underground, which recurs as a musical motif throughout the song. With synthesized strings, a balladesque arrangement and yearning lyrics, many listeners have viewed "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" as a straightforward love song despite some ambiguity in the lyrics themselves.
Lyrics
Many of Morrissey's lyrics are borrowed from other sources. In particular, the title of this song has been a source of wonder. One credible suggestion has been that the title is a paraphrase of what Hugh Latimer said to Nicholas Ridley as they were about to be burned at the stake as heretics during the reign of "Bloody Mary," Queen Mary I of England:
Play the man, Master Ridley; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, in England, as I trust shall never be put out.
Simon Goddard argues in his book Songs That Saved Your Life that the basic narrative story is similar to that of the James Dean film Rebel Without a Cause, in which Dean - an idol of Morrissey's - leaves his torturous home life, being the passenger to a potential romantic partner. Given Morrissey's previous thematic and lyrical borrowings from literature and cinema, this is a viewpoint with some plausibility. According to Goddard, an earlier version lacked some of the finished version's ambiguity, culminating in the line "There is a light in your eyes and it never goes out". Additionally, the video for Morrissey's song Suedehead shows him visiting Dean's childhood home, and at one point displays the words "There is a light that never goes out."
Release and Versions
"There Is a Light That Never Goes Out" was originally planned to be a single from The Queen is Dead, but Rough Trade Records label boss Geoff Travis selected Bigmouth Strikes Again from the same album as the release instead. The song has subsequently been covered by a number of artists, including UK singer David Ford, Anberlin, Neuroticfish, Braid, Eurythmics, Noel Gallagher of Oasis, The Magic Numbers, The Divine Comedy, Neil Finn, Walleye (on the tribute album The World Still Won't Listen), Nada Surf, The Ocean Blue, Ghost Mice and Schneider TM (their version of the song is known as The Light 3000). There is also a Spanish version by Mikel Erentxun, called Esta Luz Nunca Se Apagará. Speedstar also recorded a cover which featured on the Triple J Like A Version compilation CD.
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There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
by The Smiths
Take me out tonight
Where there's music and there's people
And they're young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one
Anymore
Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people and I
Want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh, please don't drop me home
Because it's not my home, it's their
Home, and I'm welcome no more
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh God, my chance has come at last
(But then a strange fear gripped me and I
Just couldn't ask)
Take me out tonight
Oh, take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one, da
Oh, I haven't got one
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
Oh, there is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management
Written by: STEVEN MORRISSEY, JOHNNY MARR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
by The Smiths
Take me out tonight
Where there's music and there's people
And they're young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one
Anymore
Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people and I
Want to see life
Driving in your car
Oh, please don't drop me home
Because it's not my home, it's their
Home, and I'm welcome no more
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought oh God, my chance has come at last
(But then a strange fear gripped me and I
Just couldn't ask)
Take me out tonight
Oh, take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one, da
Oh, I haven't got one
And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine
Oh, there is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
There is a light and it never goes out
Lyrics © Warner Chappell Music, Inc., Universal Music Publishing Group, BMG Rights Management
Written by: STEVEN MORRISSEY, JOHNNY MARR
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
To comment on specific lyrics, highlight them
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