'If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me'

The lyrics of 'If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me' belie Morrissey’s deeply personal worldview — one whose hallmark is a persistent tension between aloof detachment and raw emotional need (“I am human and I need to be loved” anyone?). As his acerbic wit, notoriously solitary ways, and seemingly open-ended romantic disillusionment have proven, Morrissey walks a delicate tightrope between near contempt for others’ indifference and a deep yearning to be seen and loved. Wittingly or not, Morrissey — the man as opposed to the artist — reveals himself in 'If You Don't Like Me, Don't Look At Me'.

The song appears on the B-side of Morrissey’s 33rd single, ‘The Youngest Was The Most Loved’, which was released on June 5, 2006.

Co-written with Jesse Tobias, the track is generally assumed to have been recorded with producer Tony Visconti at Forum Music Village in Rome in the autumn of 2005, which corresponds to the recording session for the album Ringleader Of The Tormentors (September-November 2005). However Matt Walker is credited as the drummer on this song as well as the other B-sides to the single ‘The Youngest Was The Most Loved’, which means that it must have been recorded at a different time as Matt Chamberlain drummed on the album material (but still with Tony Visconti as producer). The other musicians credited on the recording are Boz Boorer (guitar), Jesse Tobias (guitar), Alain Whyte (backing vocals), Gary Day (bass) and Michael Farrell (keyboards).¹

Back cover of ‘The Youngest Was The Most Loved’ single

Defiant yet vulnerable, lines such as "Run, run young man through the glen" and "See if I care" possess carefree dismissal and the cold sheen of emotional armor. The repeated refrain "If you don't like me, then don't look at me" conveys both muted frustration and a desire for autonomy in the face of rejection — whether actual or anticipated.