The Smiths song that left both Johnny Marr and Morrissey furious: “Hiding it away on a B-side was sinful”
There are several instances in the history of The Smiths were the band had grievances with how their own music was handled. In 1986, they launched an attack at their label boss on ‘Frankly, Mr Shankly’, daring to call him a “flatulent pain in the arse” on a song that they’d then give to him to release. So the band weren’t shy about laying it out. But in one instance, both Morrissey and Johnny Marr were left frustrated by the treatment of a song, even decades apart.
There is a long history of an artist’s best song not getting the flowers it deserves at the moment. Retrospect often proves 20/20 when it comes to seeing a song’s worth or noticing a certain track for the anthem that it is. In the blinding light of the present moment, it’s easy for an incredible song to slip between the cracks and land as a mere album track or, worse still, a b-side.
That was a common occurrence for The Smiths. ‘Asleep’ was a b-side, so was ‘Half A Person’. Iconic tracks like ‘This Charming Man’ and ‘Hand In Glove’ were originally non-album singles, untethered to any real collection. Plenty of their fan’s favourite tracks were never even released as a single, existing simply in the depths of a tracklist or in a compilation record. One of the most shocking events of this was the handling of ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’, a track that is now one of their most beloved but started out as an overlooked addition.
That’s what annoyed Morrissey first. “Hiding it away on a B-side was sinful,” he told Melody Maker back in 1987 after it was released as only the flip side to ‘William, It Was Really Nothing’. “ I feel sad about it now, although we did include it on Hatful Of Hollow by way of semi-repentance,” he added.
But at the time, their label didn’t seem to see the worth in the track, as the singer explained, “When we first played it to Rough Trade, they kept asking, ‘Where’s the rest of the song?’ But to me, it’s like a very brief punch in the face. Lengthening the song would, to my mind, have simply been explaining the blindingly obvious.” That was the first upset the track caused the band.
The second came decades later, in 2023. The world is very different, and the band are long gone, but still, the song remains a beloved track speaking to tender feelings of longing and desperation. From the beginning, it was one that Marr loved, stating, “Writing ‘Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want’ one Friday in ’84 is one of the best memories of my life.” So when a man he hated tried to put his grubby fingertips on the song, the guitarist wouldn’t have it.
In 2023, Donald Trump played the track at a Republican rally. The guitarist reacted with rage, stating, “Consider this shit shut right down right now.” The combination of Trump and The Smiths was unexpected even to the musician himself, who said, “I never in a million years would’ve thought this could come to pass.’ But once again, the track caused the men that made it some trouble.
