I learned to write plot and dialogue from Stephen King, whom I started reading at an unconscionably young age.
Then I learned to write music and poetry from Morrissey of The Smiths and his prolific solo career. My love for the man goes beyond nostalgia. He is such an amazing lyricist. (I've come to realize, however, that Johnny Marr speaks as many volumes with his guitar.)
He taught me that you can use words to create momentum, or a mood. That rhymes are good, but rhythm is equally important. That you can be sad and angry at the same time. That I wasn't the only disaffected person who found the world nearly as confusing as myself.
Some of the lines that are forever branded bond into my mind are not even from my favorite Smiths songs and they're not always charming and pretty. But that cadence. That self-deprecating wit. The hatred and the empathy.
Here's a small list. I could go on for hours but I don't want to reveal the depth of my monomania.
*The numbers don't represent rank. They just lend a sense of order to my inner wanderings.)
1) "Nowhere Fast"
"I'd like to drop my trousers to the queen.I am a man of means—of slender means. Each household appliance is like a new science in my town. And when a train goes by it's such a sad sound."
2) "Frankly, Mr. Shankly" (Basically a gleeful and capering resignation letter.)
Frankly, Mr. Shankly, this position I've held
It pays my way and it corrodes my soul
I want to leave, you will not miss me
I want to go down in musical history
3) "Still Ill"
"I decree today that life is simply taking and not giving. England is mine, and it owes me a living."
4) "How Soon Is Now?"
"I am the son and the heir
of a shyness that is criminally vulgar.
I am the son and heir of nothing in particular.
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."
Sometimes Morrissey employs words with euphony, so they come out of your mouth easily and trippingly. Other times, he uses cacophony, where words are better spat than sung.
More than anything, I love the way Morrissey shows that you can write about tragic things with perspective and wit. Take the positively joyous "Cemetry Gates."
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