Shelagh Take A Bow
Shelagh Delaney's Profound Influence on Morrissey and the Smiths
Any serious, in-depth study of Morrissey - and by extension his body of work - would be incomplete if one did not explore his influences, While the works and life of Oscar Wilde (among many others) is undoubtedly a major source of artistic inspiration for Morrissey, the works of English dramatist and screenwriter Shelagh Delaney perhaps eclipses the former. It is interesting to note that Morrissey shares such a similar background as Delaney, being born and raised in Manchester as well as being of working-class, Irish lineage by way of immigrant parents.
Born Sheila Mary Delaney in 1938 to an Irish father and English mother in Salford, Greater Manchester, she later changed her first name to sound more Irish before the premiere of her first play, A Taste Of Honey, which she had completed at the age of only 18. A Taste Of Honey, which was (at the time) a controversial exploration of sexuality, racism, and socioeconomic degradation, made it to the stage in 1958. In the play's program, Delaney was described as "the antithesis of London's 'angry young men'. She knows what she is angry about.”
Morrissey's admiration for the English playwright is well-established as references to Delaney are rife throughout the works of the Smiths as well as Morrissey's solo career. These references are by way of both lyrical allusions to Delaney’s work* and the use of Delaney's image (as well as the images of actors from film adaptations of her plays) being featured as album/single cover art. The Smiths' Louder Than Bombs compilation album and their 'Girlfriend In A Coma' single each feature Delaney.
A photo-still of actress Rita Tushingham from the 1961 film adaptation of A Taste Of Honey was used for cover art of the Sandie Shaw/Smiths single 'Hand In Glove'.
A photo-still from the 1968 film adaptation of Delaney's Charlie Bubbles adorns the cover of the Smiths' 1987 reissue of the 'William Is Was Really Nothing' single.
It is thought that the subject of the Smiths' 'Sheila Take A Bow' is Delaney.
A clip from Shelagh Delaney's Salford was used by Morrissey as one of his tour intermission videos in 2008 and 2009. And following the news of Delaney's death in November 2011, Morrissey featured her image as a backdrop on his tour at that time.
In an interview in 1983 with NME, Morrissey cites The Lion In Love as well as A Taste of Honey (the latter in the form of a film adaptation of the play) as being among his favorite books and films, respectively.
In fact, Morrissey lists Delaney as one of his heroes in the 1985 Meat Is Murder Tour Program.
“I’ve never made any secret of the fact that at least 50 percent of my reason for writing can be blamed on Shelagh Delaney.” And 'This Night Has Opened My Eyes' is a Taste Of Honey song - putting the entire play to words."
-Morrissey, NME 1986
*Delaney's play A Taste Of Honey features the following lines, which were adapted by Morrissey in the lyrics of Smiths and solo songs:
"I dreamt about you last night, and I fell out of bed twice"; "You told me not to trust men calling themselves Smith."; "That river, it's the color of lead."; "I'm not sorry and I'm not glad"; "Oh well, the dream's gone, but the baby's real enough"; "It's a long time, six months"; "You can't just wrap it up in a bundle of newspaper. And dump it on a doorstep."; "I don't owe you a thing"; "As merry as the day is long"; "Sing me to sleep"; "You want taking in hand"; "It's your life, ruin it your own way."
Likewise with Delaney's 2nd play, The Lion In Love, which features the lines "I think we've courted long enough, it's time our tale was told"; "I'll probably never see you again"; "Cash on the nail"; "Anything's hard to find if you go around looking for it with your eyes shut"; "I'd sooner spit in everybody's eye"; "I'll go out and get a job tomorrow / you needn't bother" ; "Nell: And getting nowhere fast. Andy: These things take time."; "Pagliacci - that's me"; "Shall I tell you something? I don't like your face"; "ten-ton truck"; "Do I owe you anything"; "Tied to his mother's apron strings"; "So rattle her bones all over the stones, she's only a beggar-man whom nobody owns"
"A spark of me was always very, erm, unsure and that's when I think you rely on other people's ideas. I mean, I know I overdid it with Shelagh Delaney. It took me a long, long time to shed that particular one.
-Morrissey, Mojo Magazine, 2006
Following Delaney's death in 2011 at the age of 72, Morrissey released the following statement:
"A genuine poet has passed through the world. Shelagh Delaney exercised a wide influence with the shock of plain language, and shafts of satiric wit, into a severe and donnish 1950s world where working-class people had thus far been assumed to be simplistic, flag-waving cannon-fodder. Her writing was a magnificent confession of life as it was commonly lived in her hometown of Salford, with all of its carefully preserved monotony. She was attacked for immorality, which, then as now, is proof that you have hit on something. 'A Taste of Honey' was a sentiment that had not been expressed before its time - far more real than life. It was the Salford of sagging roofs, rag and bone men, walk-up flats, derelict sites, rear-entrance buses, and life in tight circumstances. Shelagh Delaney did not become fat with success, or become a celebrity, because she was of richer intellect. She has always been a part of my life as a perfect example of how to get up and get out and do it. If you worry about respect you don't get it. Shelagh Delaney had it and didn't seem to notice it."
