The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
"Dear hero imprisoned, With all the new crimes that you are perfecting"
Morrissey’s third single, 'The Last of the Famous International Playboys' was released on January 30, 1989. The single’s B-side consisted of ‘Lucky Lisp’ and ‘Michael’s Bones’ (the latter included on the 12-inch version). The single reached an impressive number 6 on the UK Singles Chart.
The song is notable for featuring most of Morrissey's former bandmates—Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce and one-time Smiths guitarist Craig Gannon—all of whom also appear on the single’s B-side. Neil Taylor1 also plays guitar on the song.
A non-album single at the time of its release, 'The Last of the Famous International Playboys' can be found (along with its B-side, ‘Lucky Lisp’) on the 1990 Bona Drag compilation album (as well as the 2010 reissue of the album), while ‘Michael’s Bones’ was included on the 1997 Centenary Edition of Viva Hate as well as 1998’s My Early Burglary Years compilation album.
The artwork for the single features a family photograph of Morrissey, aged 7, up a tree in Chorlton-on-Medlock2, Manchester...a boy at play. Both the 7-inch and 12-inch versions contained messages etched on their runouts:
“ESCAPE FROM VALIUM” (A-side)
”RETURN TO VALIUM” (B-side)
Producer Stephen Street composed the music for the song. This included the song's bassline, despite the presence of Andy Rourke. Street explained, "...they were my bass lines and such. I mean, Andy did his own version of it, but they were my bass lines. ... Andy is such a lovely guy, he would add to it, and he is such a great bass player." Street was influenced by the English post-punk group the Fall for the song's music. with the song’s intro resembling David Bowie's 'The Man Who Sold the World'.
The song mythologizes the notorious pair of vicious London gangsters known as the Kray twins (Ronnie and Reggie Kray), who held a tight rein on the East End of London during the 1960s.3
In an interview with the NME shortly after the single’s release4, Morrissey lightheartedly said that "'The Last of the Famous International Playboys' are Bowie, Bolan, Devoto and me", but then explained that he had an interest in the infamy associated with grisly crimes; specifically, the role of the media in creating a morbid celebrity status for the perpetrators:
Question: “Is crime another interest of yours?”
Morrissey: “Well I think it always has been, not actively, but a fascinating subject […] I often wonder why people who commit such crimes are treated like celebrities, it doesn’t do the crime rate much good does it? It’s interesting also the way notorious people can be quite glamorous. The Krays do exemplify that totally. I don’t have admiration for The Kray Twins at all but am fascinated and almost amused that they’ve been confused with minor celebrities. In their day they were, but they murdered. I think the attention they received and continue to receive elevates them to the state of minor celebrities.”
Morrissey also described his enthusiasm for the song in the same interview:
"'The Last Of Famous International Playboys' is the first record that I feel hysterical about. And I'm very pleased to feel that way. I compare it to ‘Shoplifters of the World Unite.’ I heard 'Shoplifters of the World Unite' once on the radio, a chart rundown. It was a new entry. They had to play it. They had no choice. And I laughed hysterically as it listened to it. I felt a great sense of victory. And that's the same way I feel about 'The Last of the Famous International Playboys.'"
Morrissey later amplified his thoughts on the issue of the morbid motivations for fame as they involve criminality, most especially murder (and society’s role in this perverse paradigm), in a radio interview with New York’s WDRE in November 1991, explaining,
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