‘Work Is a Four Letter Word’
The Last Straw
This cover song was recorded by the Smiths in May 1987 at Firehouse Studios in London in the course of what would turn out to be their final studio session as a band. The song was produced by Grant Showbiz with mixing performed by Stephen Street. The song appeared on the B-side of their 20th single, ‘Girlfriend in a Coma’, which was released August 10, 1987.
The single's cover art features playwright Shelagh Delaney from a 1961 edition of A Taste of Honey1.
This was the second time Delaney appeared on a Smiths cover (having already appeared on the cover of the Louder Than Bombs compilation album).
“SO FAR SO BAD” was etched on the runout of the B-side of the UK seven-inch vinyl format, while the runout on the B-side of the twelve-inch format was etched with “AND NEVER MORE SHALL BE SO”.
‘Work Is a Four Letter Word’ was included as a backing track on the twelve-inch vinyl and CD formats of the German release of the ‘Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before’ single in October 1987.
In Japan, the song was included as a backing track on a sort of hybrid issue of the ‘Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before’ single, which was actually a nine-track CD compilation of remastered songs released in January 19882.
The song was included as a track on a limited release (a total of 2,500 units) in France in 1992 in the form of a CD giveaway titled Handsome Devils. The CD was used to promote subscriptions to the French magazine Les Inrockuptibles. The cover art for the French release consists of a black and white photograph of two Teddy boys.
The song was also included as a B-side to the Smiths’ 28th single, ‘Sweet and Tender Hooligan’, which was released in May 1995.
Last, but not least, a remastered version of the song appears on the deluxe edition of the Complete super-compilation album, which was released in October 2011.
‘Work Is a Four Letter Word’ was written by Don Black3 and Guy Woolfenden4. The song, which was originally sung by English singer Cilla Black5 (and produced by George Martin), was released in June 7, 1968 as a B-side to her ‘Where is Tomorrow’ single, which was a minor hit in the UK, reaching no. 39 in the charts.
Listen to Cilla Black perform the song here:
The track was also the theme song for a 1968 British satirical comedy film by the same name starring Cilla Black in her only acting role in a cinematic film.
"'Work Is a Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That was it, really. I made a decision that I was going to get away on holiday. The only place I could think of was L.A. L.A. was the only place I knew where there'd be sunshine, so off I went. I never saw Morrissey again." - Johnny Marr, Record Collector, December 1992
Notwithstanding Marr’s statements to the contrary, Morrissey’s insistence that the Smiths cover ‘Work Is a Four Letter Word’ in and by itself did not cause the dissolution of the group (see the author’s recent post regarding the dissolution of the Smiths, the bough breaks); rather, it could be fairly described as the proverbial last straw for the frustrated and exhausted guitarist.
Morrissey’s thoughts on the song seemingly mirrors those of Marr, acknowledging that the song was certainly a flashpoint with respect to Marr’s decision to walk away from the Smiths:
“I thought it was an amusing song. I think I was the only member of the Smiths who actually did. I thought it was quite funny and very throwaway, and a bit of a tease really. I wasn't attempting to produce a great piece of Gothic Art, it was just a taunting little number. I even got the words wrong, accidentally. (...) It was very instrumental in breaking up the Smiths but what care I? Cilla Black, unbeknown to herself, actually broke the Smiths up... which is pretty much to her credit." - Morrissey, Brit Girls (television documentary) November 22, 1997
In a Q&A session on True To You a decade later, Morrissey provided a more cerebral commentary on his reason for covering the song:
"Everything has its place and its reason. Certainly, the early Smiths covers, for example 'Work is a four-letter word' and 'Golden Lights' were done as acts of playful perversity - they weren't meant to be groundbreaking miracles of sound. And that's usually how it is, just a matter of throwing something unexpected into the mix."
Listen to ‘Work Is a Four Letter Word’ here:
A Taste of Honey was Shelagh Delaney’s first play, written when she was only 19. The play was adapted into an award-winning film of the same title in 1961.
Aside from the single and 'Work Is A Four Letter Word', the CD features the Troy Tate version of 'Pretty Girls Make Graves' as well as 'Some Girls Are Bigger Than Others', 'Girlfriend In A Coma', 'I Keep Mine Hidden', 'Sheila Take A Bow', 'Is It Really So Strange?', and 'Sweet And Tender Hooligan'.
Donald Blackstone CBE (born 1938), known professionally as Don Black, is an English lyricist.
Guy Anthony Woolfenden OBE (1937 – 2016) was an English composer and conductor.
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (1943 – 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer and television presenter.
How many sources do you read as prep for each article? And is it mainly books or websites?
I ask because I'm considering doing my own secondary blog about a favourite artist. I have a few favourites.