‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’

The Smiths 23rd single, ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ was released December 7, 1987. It was the last of three UK singles from the band's fourth and final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come. The single reached number 30 in the UK Singles Chart.

While the single version of the song is 3:09 in length, the album version, which exceeds 5-minutes, contains a one-minute and fifty-five second introduction consisting of melancholic piano playing against the backdrop of a shouting crowd clashing with police, which was recorded some point during the course of the UK miners' strike of 1984–85¹.

The cover of the single featured a close-up photograph of a smiling Billy Fury², a 1950s and 1960s-era British singer.

Cover of the ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ single

The British 7” and 12” vinyl releases contained "THE RETURN OF THE SUBMISSIVE SOCIETY" (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE” etched on the A-side runout, while the B-side runout was etched with "THE BIZARRE ORIENTAL VIBRATING PALM DEATH" (X) STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE”.

‘Sheridan Whiteside’ was one of Morrissey's pseudonyms, taken from the protagonist of the play The Man Who Came to Dinner, a character who was based on drama critic and raconteur Alexander Woollcott³ . Interestingly, ‘Sheridan Whiteside’ is also referenced on the etching on the Smiths’ single ‘I Started Something I Couldn't Finish’⁴.

Morrissey initially sought to etch "Eaten by Vince Eager⁵" on the vinyl runout of the single, but changed his mind after being warned of potential legal action from the Englsih pop singer. Given that the single’s cover art features Billy Fury, it is ironic that Vince Eager is featured on the track ‘Halfway to Paradise’ on the Billy Fury album The Symphonic Sound of Fury (released 2018).

Back cover of the single

On ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’ we witness the apotheosis of the Morrissey/Marr musical partnership - the stunning confluence of delicate guitar, exquisite orchestral strings, and expressive vocals that almost audibly stagger under the weight of emotive turmoil.

While the theme of the song is not unchartered territory, Morrissey’s lyrics in this instance are short in length, simply stated, and exceedingly direct, the sum of which is markedly visceral.