‘The Headmaster Ritual’: The Smiths classic that took Johnny Marr two years to complete
Johnny Marr and Morrissey were a songwriting duo to be reckoned with. While the latter carted bouquets around with him on tour and strung sad sentences together for tote bag-wielding audiences to laud over, Marr forged one of the most distinctive guitar-playing styles of all time, gorgeously melodic and often at odds with the words they accompanied.
Despite the disconnect between Morrissey’s melancholic musings and Marr’s jangly riffs, The Smiths would become one of the most iconic indie bands of all time. In fact, they seemed to thrive on this juxtaposition. While Morrissey delved into his feelings of despair, Marr offset the lyrical depth with light-hearted, sunny soundscapes.
‘The Headmaster Ritual’ serves as a prime example of this sonic contrast. Forming the opener to the band’s second record, Meat Is Murder, the song finds Morrissey critiquing physical punishment in the school system. He deems headmasters “belligerent ghouls” and “spineless swines” more than willing to “thwack you on the knees”.
“I want to go home,” Morrissey laments, “I don’t want to stay,” charting the hostility of abuse within schools. Despite the weight of his words, Marr soundtracks his bandmate’s distinctive vocals with easy-going guitars, soft twangs and atmospheric echoes. Though they may sound calm and uncomplicated, particularly compared to the violence in Morrissey’s words, the guitar parts took Marr years to write.
As the guitarist recalled during a conversation with Guitar magazine, the idea for the song spawned while the band were still working on their self-titled debut, but it would take him two years to complete it. “I just carried on playing around with it,” Marr remembered, comparing early versions of the track to the guitar stylings of Joni Mitchell. “I played it to Morrissey, but we never took it further,” he explained.
But Marr couldn’t keep himself away from the piece, explaining that as his life got “more and more intense,” so, too, did ‘The Headmaster Ritual’. Eventually, he stepped out of his writing comfort zone and pulled from a bridge and chorus he had penned for something else, amalgamating writings to create the track.
It may have taken him several years to lock in the final song, in all of its jangly glory, but it was well worth it. Working against the brutality and belligerence in Morrissey’s work, the soft guitars bring a sense of innocence to the piece. Youthful and curious, they seem to emulate the kind of atmosphere schools should be promoting instead of violence and fear.
The amalgamation of ideas formed the perfect hopeful yet uncertain soundtrack for Morrissey’s words, and it also served as further proof that the beauty of The Smiths is in their juxtaposition. Just like other classic works, like ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ and ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, the excellence of ‘The Headmaster Ritual’ came from its apparent sonic conflict. This would continue to define The Smiths’ sound for years to come.
Almost four decades after the release of ‘The Headmaster Ritual’, The Smiths’ catalogue still holds up. Marr’s guitar stylings have continued to endear themselves to indie kids and have inspired countless budding musicians to pick up the instrument and emulate his carefree strums.
Listen to ‘The Headmaster Ritual’, the Smiths classic that took Johnny Marr two years to complete, below.
