Southpaw
Morrissey's Cryptic Plea To Johnny Marr(?)
The eighth and final track on the Southpaw Grammar studio album (released 1995), 'Southpaw' is an impressive ten minutes in length. Co-written with Alain Whyte, the song is a tantalizing musical departure from Morrissey's work up to this point. While the song's length is seemingly displeasing to more than a few listeners, it is in fact critical to what is achieved. Produced by Steve Lillywhite, the musicians on the track are Boz Boorer (guitar), Alain Whyte (guitar), Jonny Bridgwood (bass) and Spencer Cobrin (drums).
Beginning with the intro, one is met with an ominous undercurrent that slowly expands as the song progresses. Both electric and acoustic guitar along with Cobrin's remarkable drumming propel the song inexorably forward. Rather than a conventional bridge section or a climactic crescendo, the music flows seamlessly into the second half of the song, which is an extended fade-out that goes on and on, with Cobrin shifting to a drumming style that one might associate with martial music. Boorer and Whyte’s guitars rise and sink with a sort of cascading effervescence, creating a deeply textured tapestry of sound that is thick with reverb. In the midst of this, delicate counter-melodies as well as changing tempos seemingly emerge out of nowhere, only to disappear below the surface and then reappear again.
Morrissey delivers succinct and evocative lyrics that speak to a "sick boy" who finds himself abandoned by his friends, retreating to the supposed safety of home - a move which marks a life-change. Curiously, the focus of the lyrics change completely throughout the second half of the song (the extended fade-out portion), which finds Morrissey intoning that "There is something that you should know...the girl of your dreams is sad and all alone". The song ends with Morrissey's piteous plea: "Help me, help me, help".
More than merely being a song for entertainment, 'Southpaw' can be fairly described as an experience, and one that utilizes an astonishing musical paradigm in its execution as well as Lillywhite's astute production. Indeed, the song meanders between art, madness, and back, with Morrissey's forlorn lyrics threaded throughout.
Upon careful, painstaking review, one may discern references and allegories that suggest a deeper meaning in 'Southpaw'. One must recall that Morrissey's ‘Billy Budd’ (released just the prior year on Vauxhall and I) contained some rather overt references to Johnny Marr. Collectively, these references on 'Billy Budd' seemingly point to Marr as being not only the song's subject, but that the song itself is a message from Morrissey to his erstwhile friend and music partner. This was explored in some detail in a post the author dedicated to 'Billy Budd' in May of this year (see https://tomfpapp.substack.com/p/billy-budd?utm_source=publication-search). Mention is made of this as 'Southpaw' appears to be yet another message to Marr, albeit this time one that belies a despondent man who regrets the fracturing of their partnership.
It would not be an assumption that Morrissey's choice of words for the lyrics of 'Southpaw' (or any of his lyrics for that matter) was conscious and deliberate. This is critical as the lyrics of 'Southpaw' happen to speak of a "boy" who "ran [with his pals] in the sun", and who turned around and found that "they were gone"...
