I've Changed My Plea To Guilty
Illness As Art
'I've Changed My Plea To Guilty' is the B-side to Morrissey's 'My Love Life' single, which was released on September 17, 1991. The song was co-written with Mark Nevin. This was Morrissey's last collaboration with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley.
While the back cover of the single indicates that the song, along with ‘My Love Life’, was recorded in London in March 1991, there is some conjecture that 'I've Changed My Plea To Guilty' may have been recorded earlier (in December 1990 at Hook End Manor) alongside other material that was meant to appear on a planned rockabilly mini-album. Those plans were shelved, with some (but not all) of the material recorded during this session mixed and released on subsequent singles.1
The UK version of "I've Changed My Plea To Guilty" runs 3:42 and includes two overlapping samples at the beginning and end of the track. These samples were put together by co-writer Nevin.
The first sample is of a man and woman speaking, apparently in a restaurant as dishes are clinking in the background (per Nevin, the female is Suzy Solan, a waitress friend of his from Minneapolis, Minnesota). The second sample is from Skeeter Davis'2 1962 recording of ‘The End Of The World’ played on a scratchy vinyl record. Both of these samples return at the end of the UK version, with the male voice continuing his story and the Skeeter Davis record fading out with audible vinyl surface noise.
The US version of ‘I've Changed My Plea To Guilty’ omits these samples altogether; consequently, it runs a shorter 3:11. The US mix is somewhat brighter and contains the full coda of the song including the fade-out of the final piano chord.
A live version of the song taken from a concert at the Hammersmith Odeon, London on October 4, 1991 during Morrissey’s Kill Uncle tour was included on the B-side to the 12-inch and CD versions of his ‘We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’ single (released April 27, 1992).
Listen to the live version of ‘I've Changed My Plea To Guilty’ from the B-side of the ‘We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful’ single here:
While wholly a subjective assessment, this writer believes ‘I’ve Changed My Plea To Guilty’ to be among Morrissey’s best songs in his entire oeuvre. Morrissey himself told one interviewer that he thought ‘I’ve Changed My Plea To Guilty’ to be "....the best song, in my mind, that I have recorded".
Listen to the US version of ‘I’ve Changed My Plea To Guilty’ here:
The cover art for the Japan release (CD and EP format) featured a photograph of bassist Gary Day and guitarist Alain Whyte examining Jobraith's eponymous 1973 album (which included the track 'Morning Starship', a song covered by Morrissey on his California Son album). There was also a Japan only version of the CD and EP that included a jigsaw puzzle of Morrissey.
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