still ill

As I lay dying is as good as any time to talk about the Smiths.

The Smiths formed in Manchester when I was negative five. They broke up when I was born. Themes of dry humor and alienation tore them apart cautiously and continuously over the previous five years. Pregnancy had not been accounted for and one more American baby was one girl too much. Or something.

But in 1982, it was time that ordinary folk showed their faces, showered their dull oil glows on a world of Spandu Ballet and Orchestral verbs. Time for the old names, the dust and stone names: The Smiths. The word "mordant" comes to mind, or maybe that's just the Wikipedia article.

These sites exist for the People, however, and knowledge is free (if unwanted): http://www.plunderingdesire.com/.

Whenever I'm sick, I get Smith songs stuck in my head because heaven knows I'm miserable now. And when people ask me how I'm doing: Still ill. Take me out tonight because I want to see people and I want to see life. To die by your side is such a heavenly way to die. Something about Joan of Arc (flames rose, Roman nose) and her immortal walkman.

The most amazing thing about the Smiths, besides that they were amazing, is that you can sing all their songs one after another and it will sound like the same song, with slight modulation between "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" and "Panic." But try it. It doesn't take much effort.

All I knew about the Smiths for a long time was the joke a friend would make whenever I complained about anything. Actually it wasn't a joke. It was more like this:

Me: I'm so tired. Everything's pointless.
Him: Oh go find a corner and a rose and weep into your guitar, Morrissey.

If I were Morrissey, I would write more about Joan of Arc. That was a good idea. Give her a toaster oven to go with the hearing aid and the walkman. Irony aside, every good sacrificial victim of British tyranny and pig-headedness needs a toaster oven.

Another good thing about the Smiths: Radiohead

Please excuse me from gym, I've got this terrible cold coming on.