The 10th track on Morrissey's World Peace Is None Of Your Business studio album, 'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle' contains lyrics1 that are something of a flash point for many listeners. Among other colorful descriptions, fans have referred to the song as being misogynistic, awful, "dirge-like" and crap. To provide the unfamiliar with a brief summary of the import of its lyrics: There are women who can be lazy, gold-digging heifers who entrap fools into marriage.
That it is less than an upbeat song that paints many women with the same brush is beyond cavil, but this must be considered carefully and with all due deliberation given that Morrissey has written many songs casting women in a pointedly sympathetic light (from the Smiths’ “Girl Afraid” to his own “Mama Lay Softly on the Riverbed”, among others). To take it a step further, it would not be unreasonable to allow Morrissey a wide artistic berth when assessing the churlish lyrical content of 'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle'.
One would be remiss if they fail to note that World Peace Is None Of Your Business also contains a track titled 'I'm Not A Man'. While not the subject of this post, this other song finds Morrissey acerbically rejecting the less-than-flattering tropes that have long defined masculinity:
Don Juan
picaresque
wife-beater vest
cold hand
ice man
warring caveman
well, if this is what it takes
to describe
I'm not a man
The purpose of mentioning the masculine ethos of 'I'm Not A Man' in this review of 'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle' is one of context; Morrissey is seeking to disrupt the listeners intellectual complacency and shake them out of it, regardless of the gender in his crosshairs. If it accomplishes anything, 'Kick the Bride Down the Aisle' challenges both old and new ideas on marriage, and inconveniently uncovers the subconscious motivations of some (though certainly not all) brides and grooms. The barbed criticisms of the song merely lend credence to Morrissey's point - that conventional assumptions on marriage may indeed be facile and (perhaps) have no bearing on its real-life vagaries. To place a fine point on the matter, there is the lore of the commonly held perceptions of marriage as a time-honored tradition (with all of its proverbial bells and whistles), but then there is the reality of married life, which is more often than not littered with dependencies, disillusionment, unfulfilled expectations, and regret. Perhaps critics are stung more by Morrissey's almost total absence of subtlety on the subject, in which case the author would recommend that they top off their Spotify playlists with Taylor Swift and some oldies in the vein of Air Supply.
Musically, there is a vague similarity between 'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle' and System Of A Down's2 2006 song 'Lonely Day', which Morrissey played during intermission on the third American leg of his 2007 - 2008 Greatest Hits tour. Listen to ‘Lonely Day’ here:
It is interesting to note that in a 2012 interview3, Morrissey referenced 'Lonely Day' as being "the last song I absolutely loved". In the same year, Morrissey said4 of Lonely Day' that: "It caught me in the right way at the right moment. I like the band generally, and the main vocals (by Serj Tankian) always have interesting tunings, almost Arabic, sounding like ancient codes for bewailing the dead or something. Although 'Lonely Day' wasn't sung by Serj.”
'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle' was co-written with guitarist Jesse Tobias5 and produced by Joe Chiccarelli6. Erstwhile Morrissey associate Kristeen Young7 provided backing vocals, with a pleasant dash of flamenco guitar courtesy of Gustavo Manzur8. The song was recorded in February 2014 at La Fabrique Studios in France along with the other tracks that appear on the World Peace Is None Of Your Business studio album (released July 2014). Morrissey has performed the song in concert 44 times to date.
Listen to 'Kick The Bride Down The Aisle':
Kick the bride down the aisle
and make no mistake
It's the best you can do for everyone's sake
kick the bride down the aisle
and treasure the day
I know so much more than I'm willing to say
She just wants a slave
to break his back in pursuit of a living wage
so that she can laze and graze
for the rest of her days
write down every word I say
Kick the bride down the aisle
in a mudslide of gloom
she'll order you to tidy your room
kick the bride down the aisle
look at that cow
in the field
it knows more
than your bride knows now
she just wants a slave
to break his back in pursuit of a living wage
so that she can laze and graze
for the rest of her days
Write down every word I say
You're that stretch of the beach
that the tide doesn't reach
no meaning, no reason
the lonely season
Kick the bride down the aisle
and treasure the day.
System of a Down is an Armenian-American heavy metal band formed in Glendale, California, in 1994.
E-mail interview with news.com.au
Village Voice, October 10, 2012
Jesse Tobias (born April 1, 1972) is an American musician who has been the lead guitarist and co-writer for Morrissey since 2004.
Joe Chiccarelli is an American record producer, mixer and engineer. A native of Boston, Massachusetts, Chiccarelli has been active since the 1980s. To date, Chiccarelli's superlative talent has garnered him ten Grammy awards. He is responsible for album sales of well over 50 million.
American multi-instrumentalist from Austin, Texas. Morrissey’s keyboardist 2009 - 2023.
I like the lyrics, I don't find it offensive and I love the tune!