How one of Johnny Marr’s favourite The Smiths songs “just fell through the roof” and into their lap
There are few musical duos as fascinating as Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Really, their enduring feud now comes as no surprise, given that even back in their prime, it always felt like the two stood on opposing sides of life. Yet, they were united by the powerful and fragile string of a common passion and the magical happenings that seemed to occur between them again and again when the songs they wrote together appeared as if from above.
It wasn’t even really that the two had a shared creative language that united them. Johnny Marr had the classic entrance into music, teaching himself guitar at home because he liked rock and roll, wanting to be like his heroes in bands. He was interested in fringe genres, too, like funk or heavier punk. Meanwhile, Morrissey was interested in high art and grand literature, busy reading Oscar Wilde and obsessing over murders.
Obviously, Morrissey liked music, too. He was a fan of more American bands like New York Dolls or the classic British glam set like David Bowie and T Rex. But his interest lay more in wanting to say something, to write poetry and perform it, to create art, while Marr cared more about a catchy vehicle to drive it home in. Two very different men, two very different approaches, but somehow, it worked, and no one really knows how or why.
‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ is a perfect example of their dichotomy. It’s one of many, as all of The Smiths’ songs, born out of this unique partnership and the brief infatuation between the creative minds of these two young men. But in the making of this 1985 track, their two sides shine through.
For Morrissey, this was a serious song purging his gripes with the industry. By now, the band were signed and had hit major success with their debut album the year before. They’d also already become somewhat controversial due to the content of their lyrics and the press’ obsession with Morrissey’s misery. At any chance they got, they seemed to taunt him about it or try desperately to crack what they saw as an act. The singer was sick of it.
“When I wrote the words for that, I was just so completely tired of all the same old journalistic questions and people trying, you know, this contest of wit, trying to drag me down and prove that I was a complete fake,” he said about the song. In his eyes, it was a rally cry for people to take this stuff more seriously, writing an ode for anyone struggling and against people who try to make light of it, accusing, “You kick them when they fall down”.
But again, as with any Smiths song, that heavy content comes in a catchy package as Marr’s guitar is as recognisable and unique as ever. And also, as with their songs written during this golden period when the duo were truly on fire, it came together with ease.
While Morrissey remembers the track as a serious one, Marr simply remembers it as a success. “‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’ was always one of my favourites,” he said, “It just fell through the roof. It was one of those lovely times when the feeling just falls down on you from the ceiling somewhere, and it almost plays itself. It gives an almost esoteric feeling.”
This was a common occurrence for the duo, who would regularly get together and write two or three hits in one day. But when it comes to ‘That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore’, the contrast in Morrissey’s issues and Marr’s celebration, along with the ease with which they wrote a song like this that stands with one foot in each man’s world, becoming a perfect encapsulation of the contradictions that made the band great.
