The B-side to the CD and 12-inch versions of Morrissey's 'I Just Want To See The Boy Happy' single (his 35th), ‘Sweetie Pie’ was released on December 4, 2006. Morrissey co-wrote the song with Michael Farrell*, who was Morrissey’s keyboarder and pianist from 2004 - 2007). Kristeen Young** provides backing vocals on the song.
‘Sweetie Pie’ was recorded during the sessions for the Ringleader Of The Tormentors album in Rome between September and November 2005, with producer Tony Visconti. The song was remixed at some point in 2006 by Visconti, with background vocals by Kristeen Young added to it. This completely transformed the song into the one that was eventually released on the fourth and final single from Ringleader Of The Tormentors (as well as Morrissey’s Swords compilation album).
The song has an otherworldly sound to it with its barely-there instruments (almost completely replaced by slightly discordant ambient sounds and touches of reverse-tape effects). At the extreme risk of sounding maudlin, ‘Sweetie Pie’ has a celestial, choral feel. With the accompaniment of Young’s vocals, it is oddly, vaguely, angelic.
The lyrics of ‘Sweetie-Pie’ echo those of ‘Life is a Pigstye’, and are quite astonishing on their own. Morrissey speaks of ending his life as he’s fallen in love. And given how Morrissey feels in his head, ”And how I live in the world/They are oceans apart” Morrissey goes on to tell the subject that “I'm depending on you/To see I get safely to/The port where my heart is too lost to find/And we'll be there to meet you when it's your time”. The song cements Morrissey’s penchant for rendering illness into art. Indeed, it is Morrissey’s métier.
*In Autobiography, Morrissey describes his first meeting of Farrell:
”Mikey Farrell is an outstanding addition on keyboards – an infallible guide of new sounds and dry wit, of mid-western hardiness and team squad yardage. Interestingly, a vast knowledge of show tunes and an ability to play almost anything ten seconds after first hearing it. His opening words to me were, ‘I’m a poor man’s Roger Manning,’ in his shaggy-hangdog look that would soon sharpen itself into stylish Pepe le Moko aspect. ‘My wife saw you at the Roxy when the Smiths first played in LA,’ he went on. ‘Oh, that must’ve been an interesting night since we’d never played the Roxy.’ God forbid I just leave things as they are. From Cleveland, Mikey is of Irish grandparents and is stubbornly competitive, which I enjoy since it usually works to my favor. Proof of something is the sun-drenched day when we all play football at Hyde Park in London, and once I’ve scored the first goal I close down the match since ‘it seems obvious where this is going.’ Mikey fumes since his chance to wrestle me into unconsciousness is thwarted.
ME: Do you know what you haven’t got?
MIKEY: A personality?
ME: Well, besides that. You don’t actually have piano fingers.
It is a noisy gathering at Pizza Express on Parkway in Camden.
MIKEY: The Queen is Dead had a big influence on me in high school.
ME: A bad one, I trust?
MIKEY: Of course.
I smell a new world of music with Mikey, but I also realize that he’s the type who would jump ship should the royal wave come from Barbara Strident. If I was anything at all, I was sewage disposal. The mouth speaks first, and then thirty seconds later the brain catches up with whatever it is I’ve just said.”
Listen to the song here:
Sweetie-pie
I've fallen in love
And the joke is on me
And the sun's given up
I'm depending on you
To see I get safely to
The port where my heart is too lost to find
And we'll be there to meet you when it's your time
Sweetie-pie
I'm ending my life
Because I've fallen in love
And enough is enough
I'm depending on you
To see I get safely to
The port where my heart is too lost to find
And we'll be there to meet you when it's your time
Sweetie-pie
How I feel in my mind
And how I live in the world
They are oceans apart
I'm depending on you
To see I get safely to
The port where my heart is too lost to find
And we'll be there to meet you when it's your time
**Kristeen Young is a singer-songwriter and pianist from St Louis, Missouri.
"I am passionately in love with Morrissey. I grew up listening to his music, so part of what I am is formed by him. The first time I heard the Smiths I was 14 and my boyfriend played me Hatful Of Hollow. I lived in the Midwest, I had no brothers or sisters, and the radio only played the mainstream. This was something different. I played that album over and over again. How we actually met was very cinematic. The great producer Tony Visconti had heard my music, and asked to produce our new record. One day when Tony was testing out our video on a big screen, a voice behind him said, "Who's that? She's very good." It was Morrissey. When his opening band pulled out of his Ringleader Of The Tormentors tour in April 2006, he asked us to fill in. We've opened for him at every gig since. The whole thing is unreal. This man, who I think is the greatest lyricist that ever existed and who I've worshipped since I was a teenager, is now my friend. And he's a good friend. He's extremely generous and accommodating. He's given us all these gigs, even though we're an unsigned band. When we got together for the Guardian photo shoot, Morrissey asked me to sit on his shoulders. At first I thought he was joking, but he really wanted me to. I thought, "This is bizarre!" So there I am, literally heaving with desire for him and suddenly his head is between my thighs. We'd certainly never been that close before. Singing with Morrissey on the B-side of his last single, ‘Sweetie Pie’, was the thrill of my life. It was incredible, but somehow felt natural. When I was young, listening to his records, I could never sing in his key - it was always too low. So instead, I harmonised. I grew up harmonising to his melodies. I know a lot of people do that, but for some reason it actually happened to me for real. I'm extremely lucky in that regard."
-Kristeen Young
The Guardian, March 10, 2007
Kristeen Young was the opening act on Morrissey's 'Greatest Hits’ tour. During her set at a concert at the Hammerstein Ballroom in New York City on October 23, 2007, some audience members were chanting “Morrissey”. Apparently exasperated by this perceived affront, Young replied “Morrissey gives good head, I mean, er, cunnilingus…”. Young was abruptly fired as Morrissey's opening act.
"My band, KRISTEENYOUNG, have been asked to leave the Morrissey tour. Although I have been advised not to respond or issue a statement, my feelings are that I must. We have been asked to leave because of something I said on stage at The Hammerstein Ballroom, in New York City, this past Tuesday night. Unfortunately, the statement has been perceived as being profane (when, actually, one of the two words in question is a scientific term found in junior high, health class text books, and the other word, I feel most would agree, is lightweight slang) or defamatory. What I said was part of a thread of stage statements I made throughout our set. They were metaphorical and overstated to make an artistic point. The “offending” statement, in particular, was in no way a literal statement, and was very much in keeping with the tone of my writing in general. I reach for beauty and intelligence in my lyrics, but try to retain a bit of the everyday in them. Maybe the statement was a bit TOO everyday. Maybe I misjudged… but I meant no harm. I love Morrissey with all of my heart, soul, body, spirit, to the core of my existence and always will. These will be the only words I will ever write or speak on the subject ever again. Please don’t ask for an interview or e-mail me with questions."
-Kristeen
Friday, October 26, 2007
Remarkably, Morrissey and Young made up a few years later, and in 2011 she was once again invited to go on tour with Morrissey . On the 'World Peace Is None Of Your Business' tour in 2014, Young was again let go as Morrissey believed she had given him a respiratory infection at a concert in Miami (which caused Morrissey to cancel a number of subsequent concerts). At the time Young insisted that she had no infectious illness (rather, that she had recently suffered an allergic reaction), to no avail.
Listen to the Michael Farrell version of ‘Sweetie-Pie’ here: