The Smiths song that will last forever: “Our most enduring record”
Morrissey was reading Marjorie Rosen’s feminist book Popcorn Venus when he realised there was an expression for his own insufferable shyness. “How soon is ‘now’?” Rosen challenged. What ensued was what Johnny Marr described as The Smiths’ “most enduring record” ever.
The band’s B-side ‘How Soon Is Now?’ became a favourite not just because it seemed like a special gem to be discovered, but because it spotlights everything the band became known for, with timeless guitar work by Marr and classically macabre lyrics from Morrissey that yearned for respite in a world that’s not built for those with crippling anxiety.
In the beginning, Marr started working on a basic guitar riff without any idea that it would eventually morph into the version you hear on the record. It was only when Marr and the band’s producer, John Porter, played the riff through their Fender amps at different speeds that it exploded into something more commanding, which Morrissey then took away to write some suitable lyrics to.
According to Marr, it was the layering that gave it its “tension”, which was the ultimate aim when working on getting it to sound heavier and “swampier”. He’d also called upon his blues rock influences and channelled The Rolling Stones’ take on Bo Diddley into the guitar work, giving it that subtle bouncy groove that makes the sonic dynamic feel more like a push and pull.
He’d also wanted something people would immediately recognise when sticking on the track, something that immediately grabs your attention from the opening note, and when Morrissey penned the lyrics, he used Popcorn Venus as a conduit for exploring his own emotions and experiences, writing in a way that matched the heady dreariness of the arrangement and pushed its tension to new heights.
Funnily enough, when Morrissey first sang the initial lyric, “I am the son and the heir of a shyness that is criminally vulgar,” Porter knew immediately that it would be a hit. As Marr recalled to The Guardian, “I remember when Morrissey first sang, ‘I am the son and the heir…’ John Porter went, ‘Ah, great, the elements!’ Morrissey continued, ‘…of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.’ I knew he’d hit the bullseye there and then.”
In the song, Morrissey also creates tension with comedic undertones by asking for human understanding to no one in particular, saying, “You shut your mouth, how can you say / I go about things the wrong way? / I am human and I need to be loved / Just like everybody else does.”
When you look at all of these elements, it’s easy to see why Marr once called it their most “enduring record”. It sounds great, as we’ve established, but it also has just the right amount of mystique – the kind that makes you wonder whether it’s merely Morrissey’s usual antics in self-depracation and self-pity, or whether there’s something deeper there about how we process criticism and scrutiny when, at the crux of it all, we just want to be “loved” and understood.
‘How Soon Is Now?’, as the title suggests and considering its references to Rosen’s study, naturally beckons deeper analysis of misery and connection. But those are all nestled beneath the more simplistic features of what makes the song so good and enduring – its style and melody are what pull you in, and then when you get to the passion in the lyric, you almost feel that connection has already been built for you, making it an easy one to revisit time and time again.
