This song was written and recorded at the Smiths' final session in May 1987 at Firehouse Studios, London, and has the distinction of being the very last song recorded by the Smiths prior to their dissolution. 'I Keep Mine Hidden' was never performed live by the Smiths, but has been performed by Morrissey during his 2009 tour.
'I Keep Mine Hidden' is the B-side on the 12-inch 'Girlfriend In A Coma' single, which was released August 1987. The vinyl format of the single has “AND NEVER MORE SHALL BE SO” etched on its B-side. Playwright Shelagh Delaney adorns the single's cover. This was the second time Delaney appeared on a Smiths cover, having already appeared on the cover of the Louder Than Bombs compilation album earlier that year.
'I Keep Mine Hidden' is also contained on the B-side to the 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' single, which the Smiths released November 1987 in the US (7-inch) and Germany (12-inch).
The Europe release of the 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' ‘Maxi’ single saw ‘I Keep Mine Hidden’ as track A2.
The cover art for the 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before' single features a photo-still of English actor and singer Murray Head from the 1966 film The Family Way.
'I Keep Mine Hidden' saw limited release (a total of 2,500 CD’s) in France in 1992 in the form of a CD giveaway titled Handsome Devils to promote subscriptions to the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. The cover art for the French release consists of a black and white photograph of two Teddy boys taken by Jimmy Forsyth1.
The song also appears on the May 1995 release of the Smiths’ 'Sweet And Tender Hooligan' single (as A2)
Morrissey included a live version of the song2 as the B-side to his ‘Something Is Squeezing My Skull’ single, which he released in April 2009.
An alternate version of 'I Keep Mine Hidden' was released in October 2011 on the deluxe edition of the Smiths’ Complete compilation album. Listen to the alternate version of the song here:
Lastly, the song appears as the B-side on the picture disc format of the Smiths’ final single, ‘The Queen Is Dead’ (released in June 2017).
Musically, 'I Keep Mine Hidden' is an upbeat, jaunty song, with Morrissey cheerfully whistling along to the music in the intro. The lyrics are paradoxical, as Morrissey sings of his supposed ability to hide his emotions. However, if one were to assume that he is speaking to Johnny Marr, then this puts a subtle twist on the song.
As later related by Grant Showbiz3, the song’s producer:
"Morrissey had this song, 'I Keep Mine Hidden' which was basically Morrissey saying, 'I'm sorry Johnny, I'm a complete f*** up but please forgive me […] With lots of specific references, it was a very direct song."4
Morrissey himself has never commented on the matter, but has said that it is one of his favorite Smiths' songs:
"The very last Smiths' sessions [...] we recorded two songs that turned up as B-sides: 'Work Is A Four Letter Word', and one called 'I Keep Mine Hidden', which was the last song Johnny and I wrote together and the last song the Smiths recorded together. Now when I play the Smiths - which I do a lot - that song is always the first I play. And it's the one that makes me feel the happiest."5
Johnny Marr is rather blunt in his stark description of the final Smiths session, and provides insight into his state of mind at the time:
"It was utter misery. The group were really falling to pieces. We'd finished making the record and I thought, 'Right, now for the first time, I can have a couple of weeks way from the group'. That's all it was. I wanted to get away and I felt we should all have taken a holiday. I told Morrissey he needed a holiday. The band put what I thought was really unfair pressure to come up with two B-sides for 'Girlfriend In A Coma'. I fought against it. I felt I'd worked far too hard to be put in that position, coupled with the fact that Morrissey had decided he didn't want to work with Ken [Ken Friedman, the manager of the Smiths at the time]. That was OK. That was a problem I could have dealt with. I just felt round the corner it was never ending. It was like I was never going to be allowed to come up for air [...] I wrote 'I Keep Mine Hidden', but 'Work Is A Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That's the main thing."6
Listen to ‘I Keep Mine Hidden’ here:
Listen to the BBC Radio 2 version of the song here:
Recorded for BBC Radio 2's Morrissey at Radio theatre. First transmitted February 11, 2009.
Uncut Magazine, August 1998
The Face, March 1990
Record Collector, November/December 1992