UK 7" [Rough Trade RT181]
UK 7" [Rhino UK RT181; 2008 reissue]
Holland 7" [Megadisc MD5297]
Sweden 7" [MNW RT181]

Shakespeare's Sister
What She Said
Stretch Out And Wait

UK 12" [Rough Trade RTT181]
Greece 12" [Virgin VG2035Z]
Holland 12" [Megadisc MD125297/MD125298]
Portugal 12" [Transmedia RTT181.30]
Spain 12" [Nuevos Medios 41-136M]
Sweden 12" [NMW RTT181]

Additional information:
"Shakespeare's Sister" was also released as a double a-side with "How Soon Is Now?" in the USA and as a double a-side with "Barbarism Begins At Home" in other countries.

The 2008 reissue of the 7" single by Rhino UK was also included in the "Smiths Singles box" which compiled the band's first 10 UK singles (plus two bonuses). On each of the five weeks leading to the release of the latter box, two singles from it were put up for sale individually. Collectors could therefore buy two single reissues every week, or wait at the end of the programme to get all of them in the box, alongside the two bonus 7"s.

Artwork information:
Pat Phoenix from the UK television programme "Coronation Street". The photo is not a still from the programme. The image is repeated in a light blue tint on one side of the 12" single's inner bag (view in left frame). The other side of the inner bag features an illustrated discography of the Smiths at that point in time (view in left frame).

Etchings on vinyl:
UK 7" and 12": HOME IS WHERE THE ART IS / none
Holland: HOLLAND CUTTING / none

Additional release date information:
UK: 18 March 1985
UK 2008 reissue: 1 December 2008

Chart peak information:
UK: 26

Promotion:
UK: White label copies of the 12" single, in full artwork, were sent to media for promotion. Stock copies of the 7" were also dispatched, paired with a press release. It should be noted that this is the first single to be promoted with a white label 12". This would be the main means of promotion until the band's split in 1987. Before this single, white labels used for promotion were always of the 7" format.

Quotes:
Morrissey, June 1985: "I know for a fact 'Shakespeare's Sister' wasn't played on the radio. The record's merits are irrelevant here. With our status it should have automatically had a high profile, but it was blacklisted by the BBC because I denounced the BPI Awards. The sinner must be punished..."

Morrissey, August 1985: "But 'Shakespeare's Sister', regardless of what many people feel, was the song of my life. I put everything into that song and I wanted it more than anything else to be a huge success, and - as it happens - it wasn't."

Johnny Marr, in Uncut January 2006, about the lack of success of this single: "It didn't surprise me that a song like 'Shakespeare's Sister' didn't get in the charts. It was a very arch record to release at that time. Quite audacious, a bit mad. That's why I loved it. (...) [Morrissey] certainly drew my attention to some problems with Rough Trade that weren't just about getting us in the charts. They did take their eye off the ball several times for whatever reason. It wasn't sinister; it was a fair bit of incompetence, bad business, bad planning, distribution cock-ups. It was very important that we had presence, that each record was an event. If 'Shakespeare's Sister' was out there with a big presence it would have made us happy. It wasn't actually the number next to the chart placing in the Guinness Book Of Hit Singles. Well, it wasn't to me, anyway. I was more concerned with what my mates thought of the B-sides."