‘America is not the World’: Did Morrissey release the worst protest song ever written?
In a world filled with false optimism and unnecessary half-truths, Morrissey emerged as a cutting presence that disavowed the veneer of societal niceties. Like a blade through silk, his words exposed the aching core of existence with sardonic wit and open vulnerability. Within The Smiths, Morrissey viewed melancholy as an art form where poetic pessimism could thrive, while his defiance criticised the staleness of modern music and offered solace to fellow cynics.
There are many songs by The Smiths to choose from which provide examples of his mastery at work, like the satirical and humours lines within ‘Girlfriend In A Coma’, the unexpected darkness underscoring ‘I Know It’s Over’, or the heady contemplation of ‘Last Night I Dreamt’. Disillusionment was a liberal practice of his within the band and often a centrepiece within wider notions of the struggles of everyday existence.
As a solo artist, however, Morrissey more frequently leaned into his political views, touching upon themes like national and local identity, alongside disillusionment with society but with more weight than in The Smiths. His biting wit remained, of course, but many of his songs became darker in tone, appearing directly confrontational and, at times, more melancholic.
While many of Morrissey’s solo songs continued to resonate with fans who first appreciated his work with The Smiths, some of his later songs drifted into more inaccessible territory. This shift made even his more socially critical songs feel harder to connect with. With ‘America Is Not the World’, for example, it’s clear what Morrissey wanted to achieve, but the combination of blunt lyrics with complex arrangements makes it difficult to engage, let alone enjoy, on a simpler, more basic level.
Like many of Morrissey’s songs, ‘America Is not the World’ expresses his disenchantment with culture, particularly with America and its unrelenting global dominance. It criticises the narrow worldview placed on America’s monopoly and how its values and news affairs are often seen as global in importance, even if there are other, more pressing matters happening elsewhere across the globe.
In that respect, the general message of the song is easy to get on board with—he tears down America’s tendency to veer away from people of diverse backgrounds, especially in positions of power, and emphasises the fact that, as a general rule, America opts for traditional choices when piecing together those in a position of political power. As a result, he argues, these roles will never filled by anyone who is “black, female or gay”.
While it’s easy to commend Morrissey’s boldness and directness here and side with his views about America needing to catch up with the times, the song generally feels like a failure as far as hard-hitting, anti-America protest songs go. For starters, the lyrics and arrangements are clumsy, and the words end up appearing too half-baked ever to be taken with the heady seriousness Morrissey intended them to convey.
With culturally critical or general protest songs, directness often yields power, but in the case of ‘America is not the World’, all attempts to say it as it is come across as musically incompetent and lacking in meaning. “America, your head’s too big,” Morrissey sings—this is the opening line—”Your belly’s too big,” he continues, before reassuring he still “loves” it, but until it becomes more accepting, “You’ve got nothing to say to me.”
Following a boring, predictably simplistic attempt at delivering an interesting initial verse, the song becomes more bland as the seconds go by, as it becomes clear that not even someone as scathing as Morrissey could sing the words “you fat pig” and make it sound like it carries any essence of satire or deeper meaning whatsoever.
For some reason, wrapping up the song by endlessly repeating the phrase “I love you” also renders the entire message redundant. Anyone’s relationship with America might be an ambiguous one, particularly when art is involved, but something about Morrissey’s soft approach after listing a series of simplistic reasons to hate the country makes the whole song feel like something that would be created in a school music project.
In a broader sense, therefore, the entire song feels a little too unfocused to be anything resembling a critique, making it seem a little superficial, almost as though Morrissey needed a filler track for You Are The Quarry. Unlike many of his songs within The Smiths and in his solo work, ‘America is Not the World’ feels entirely emotionally distant, making it appear more like a straightforward political statement than a nuanced piece of Morrissey-esque commentary.
