'Life Is a Pigsty'
Morrissey's Götterdämmerung
'Life Is a Pigsty' is the seventh track on Morrissey's 8th studio album, Ringleader of the Tormentors (released April 2006). The song was written by Morrissey and guitarist Alain Whyte. At 7:22, it is the longest track on the album.
The song starts with gentle, almost tentative piano, with the sound of thunder in the distance. Morrissey sings "It's the same old SOS / But with brand new broken fortunes / And once again I turn to you /Once again / I do, I turn to you / It's the same old SOS / But with brand new broken fortunes / I am the same underneath / But this you...You surely knew?"
When I initially listened to these lines (this was after the conclusion of my so-called "wilderness years", wherein I took a 25 year break from Morrissey's music) I thought "Really? He's still going on about angst?" But after some time it became uncomfortably apparent that these words possess a clarity and profound sincerity that could be neither ignored nor dismissed.
At 2:44 the song takes an ominous turn, with the distinct sound of a bass drum being slowly struck. Something is amiss. We hear the words "Life is a pigsty" being slowly uttered, over and over and over again.
Beginning at 3:46 Morrissey plaintively, almost accusingly tells the subject
"And if you don't know this / Then what do you know? / Every second of my life / I only live for you
And you can shoot me / And you can throw me off a train / But I still maintain...I still maintain
Life is a pigsty"
As the song progresses, a sense of anguish and resignation comes to the fore. The passage of so much time - indeed, a lifetime - finds Morrissey unable to come to terms with this present state of affairs, leaving him pleading for help.
"And I've been shifting gears all along my life / But I'm still the same underneath / This you surely knew? /I can't reach you / I can't reach you / I can't reach you anymore
Can you please stop time? / Can you stop the pain? / I feel too cold / And now I feel too warm again / Can you stop this pain? / Can you stop this pain?"
Musically and lyrically the song then takes on an operatic atmosphere, with rolling bass drum and what can be fairly described as almost wailing ambient sounds as Morrissey reaches his Götterdämmerung. But there is something else...amid the downfall, the closing-in of the inevitable, the "final hour", Morrissey transcends the enveloping darkness ..."I'm falling in love again":
"Even now, in the final hour of my life / I'm falling in love again, again
Even now, in the final hour of my life / I'm falling in love again, again...
Again...
Again...
I'm falling in love again, again...
Again...
Again..."
These final lines, delivered in the midst of a roiling, swirling, and crashing crescendo, leaves one almost astonished at what they have just heard. The listener may be left with the feeling that a nerve has been touched, and an indelible mark made upon what can barely be described. While opinions vary, this listener believes 'Life Is a Pigsty' to be a masterpiece, and certainly one of Morrissey's finest songs.
According to Alain Whyte, when he was recording the piano for 'Life is a Pigstye' at his home, a storm approached and the thunder heard at the beginning of the song is real versus being a sound-effect added in the mixing process! Whether this is true or not, the sound of distant thunder adds a Sturm und Drang element to the song.
Listen to 'Life is a Pigstye' here: