First Of The Gang To Die

"We are the Pretty Petty Thieves"

Cover art of the ‘First of the Gang to Die’ single

Morrissey’s 28th single, ‘First of the Gang to Die’ was released July 12, 2004. It is the second single off of the You Are The Quarry studio album (which was released May 17, 2004). The single reached an impressive number six on the UK Singles Chart, staying in the chart for a remarkable seven weeks. The song reached number 20 in Sweden, number 26 in Ireland, and was a minor hit in both Germany and the Netherlands.

‘First of the Gang to Die’ debuted live at Convention Hall in Yuma, Arizona on August 11, 2002 (Morrissey’s third gig into his World Tour 2002) under the title ‘The First of the Gang to Die’. Listen at 16:30 to hear Morrissey introduce and then perform the song:

Co-written with Alain Whyte and produced by Jerry Finn, the song was formally credited as having been recorded in Los Angeles in 2004. However, the sessions for the You Are The Quarry material were in reality split between Hook End Recording Studios in England in the autumn of 2003 and Conway Studios in Los Angeles in late 2003 or possibly January 2004.

Listen to the studio version of ‘First of the Gang to Die’ here:

Morrissey’s musicians on the studio track were Boz Boorer (guitar), the aforementioned Alain Whyte (guitar), Gary Day (bass), Dean Butterworth (drums) and Roger Manning (piano).

Back cover of the ‘First of the Gang to Die’ single

A promotional music video for the song was directed by Bucky Fukumoto and released July 2004. The video consists of live footage of Morrissey's performance of the song at Manchester M.E.N. on May 22, 2004. An alternate version of the music video includes some footage of fans as well as shots taken backstage and during the pre-show soundcheck. Watch the alternate version of the music video here:

Roy Wilkinson of Mojo magazine described ‘The First of the Gang to Die’ as “…an East LA gangland variation on Vauxhall’s You’re The One For Me Fatty,”. Indeed, the first line in the song fixes its setting for the listener: “Los Angeles, you are too hot”.

The lyrics of ‘First of the Gang to Die’ sympathetically explore the demimonde of a latino gang member named Hector. While the song stops short of glorifying gang life, it provides a glimpse of its grittiness through a lens of warmth and humanity:

You have never been in love
Until you've seen sunlight thrown
Over smashed human bone

While young Hector engages in criminal activity, he is shown as much a victim of gang life as he is a perpetrator of it: “With a gun in his hand / And the first to do time / The first of the gang to die”.

Notwithstanding his depredations, Morrissey cloyingly declares that young Hector “stole all hearts away” before his untimely demise. Indeed, Morrissey describes a lost youth tinged more with innocence than malevolence, violently plucked from the world before his time from a bullet to his throat:

Such a silly boy…a bullet in his gullet
The first lost lad to go under the sod

According to Alain Whyte, the song is meant as a tribute to Morrissey's significant Hispanic fanbase:

"We first noticed it at the Coachella Festival in Palm Springs in 1999. All these Hispanic kids were coming to see us, with quiffs and leather jackets, shouting for Morrissey. The Latinos