Jack The Ripper
Crash Into My Arms
Co-written with Boz Boorer, ‘Jack The Ripper’ was recorded in October1 1992 at Abbey Road Studios in London during a B-sides session with producer Mick Ronson2 (which turned out to be his final session with Morrissey). The musicians on this studio recording were the aforementioned Boz Boorer (guitar), Alain Whyte (guitar), Gary Day (bass) and Spencer Cobrin (drums).
Another version of the song was attempted with American producer Allen Toussaint3 at Sea-Saint Studio in November 1992 in New Orleans, Louisiana on the North American leg of Morrissey’s Your Arsenal tour. However, nothing came of it. According to Morrissey in Autobiography:
“Worn out, the band arrives at the studio where Allen will record the song…I slip into the studio and watch the band warm up. I say hello to Allen, who looks at me and then looks away. The band are rough to the point of bad - having been pushed around America like debilitated Bay City Rollers, and Allen Toussaint looks concerned. I am now embarrassed by the sound coming through the speakers, of which Allen says to his engineer ‘What have I let myself in for?’ I overhear the comment and I catch the engineer’s reply to Allen, which is a silent sssh…I rise and exit into the balmy air of New Orleans.”
The London version of ‘Jack The Ripper’ was released on December 7, 1992 as the B-side to the ‘Certain People I Know’ single (the fourth single from the Your Arsenal studio album). The runout on both the A and B sides of the single were etched with ‘WHY BOTHER TO KEEP CLEAN? TOWNHOUSE’ on the UK release. The single reached a disappointing number 35 in the UK Singles Chart.
Listen to the ‘Certain People I Know’ single B-side version of this song here:
A live recording of the song4 was released as a promotional 7-inch vinyl and CD backed by a live version of ‘Sister I’m A Poet’ in 1993.
The same live version of the song was contained on Morrissey’s Beethoven Was Deaf live album, which was released in May 1993,
and was released again as a backing track on the ‘Now My Heart Is Full’ single on August 23, 1994.
An alternate live version of the song taken from a concert at Drury Lane Theatre Royal in London on February 26, 1995 was included on a bonus CD that came with the CD format of the 20th Anniversary Remastered Edition of Vauxhall And I, which was reissued in June 2014.
The song also appears on various compilation albums that have been released over the years, as well as on the Who Put The 'M' In Manchester? DVD (released 2005), which contains yet another live version recorded at the Manchester Arena on May 22, 2004.
‘Jack The Ripper’ is one of Morrissey’s more prolific concert tracks, especially in the last decade where it is frequently heard, always with Morrissey and his band awash in a heavy red haze as they perform the song. To date, the song has been performed live 326 times.
The live version of ‘Jack The Ripper’, possessing an immensely muscular sound, is generally considered to be superior to the studio track. Beginning with its intro, the music sounds sinister, as if to signal that mortal danger lurks close by. The opening lines paint a vivid picture of a spent individual; too battered and too tired to either seek safety or resist:
Oh, you look so tired
Mouth slack and wide
Ill-housed and ill-advised
Your face is as mean as your life has been
It is quite possible that Morrissey is in fact speaking of himself in the third-person in these lines, though the matter is open to debate.
While the music evokes menace and foreboding throughout the song (most especially in the song’s bridge), this is ameliorated by some of the most unforgettable lines that Morrissey probably ever wrote:
Crash into my arms
I want you
You don't agree but you don't refuse
I know you
Who exactly does the protagonist know? A friend, or perhaps an acquaintance? Himself?
Is the protagonist seeking a tryst in the shadows with his reluctant, hapless paramour, or is his pursuit of a different nature?
And oh, you look so tired
But tonight you've presumed too much
Too much, too much
And if it's the last thing I ever do I'm gonna get you
The song appears to speak to intimacy and the vulnerability that inevitably accompanies it. The name of an infamous serial killer is utilized in the song as a vehicle by which to emphasize these dual themes as matters of love, desire, and
