Our Frank

Give us a drink And make it quick Or else I'm gonna be sick

Cover of the UK release of the ‘Our Frank’ single

‘Our Frank’, Morrissey’s 8th single, was released February 4, 1991¹. Apart from being the first single from the upcoming Kill Uncle studio album, it was also the first of Morrissey’s collaborations with Mark E. Nevin² to be released. The single reached number 26 in the UK Singles Chart.

Back cover of the UK release of the ‘Our Frank’ single

The single’s cover art consists of a close-up photograph of Morrissey credited to Pennie Smith³, his face partially obscured by a leaf-laden bough. The runouts on both the 7 and 12-inch formats of the UK single were etched with “free Reg, free Ron” (A-side) and “DRUNKER QUICKER” (B-side).

Cover of the US CD format of the ‘Our Frank’ single

‘Our Frank’ was recorded at Hook End Manor⁴ in the autumn of 1990 along with the other tracks that appear on the Kill Uncle album. The producers on the song were Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Morrissey’s musicians on the recording were Mark E. Nevin (co-writer and guitar), Mark 'Bedders' Bedford (bass), Andrew Paresi (drums), and Seamus Beaghen (piano)⁵.

A promotional music video for the song was directed by John Maybury⁶ and featured footage of Morrissey intercut with scenes of skinheads running amok through the streets around London's Kings Cross district. Morrissey later stated that he was “unhappy” with the music video, though it is not clear if his displeasure began upon the completion of the video (which begs the question of how it is that it was ever released in the first place) or subsequent to his August 1992 performance at Madstock⁷.

Morrissey recalled the music video in a 2006 interview, stating that, "I made a video years ago for the song ‘Our Frank’ with the director James Maybury [sic] that was so awful that we tried to hide it."

Morrissey’s displeasure with the ‘Our Frank’ music video was such that it was left off of his The Malady Lingers on (1992) as well as the ¡Oye Esteban! (2000) video compilation releases. The only official, commercial source for the ‘Our Frank’ video is the 1991 Japan-only ‘Sing Your Life’ video-single.

The cover of the Japan-only ‘Sing Your Life’ video-single

The lyrics of ‘Our Frank’ involve "frank and open, deep conversations" that get Morrissey