"Alma Matters"
(Morrissey/Alain Whyte)

 

These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the original edition of the "Maladjusted" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

So, the choice I have made
may seem strange to you 1
but who asked you anyway?
it's my life
to wreck
my own way
You see, to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
in part and in hole
Because to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
in part and in hole
So, the life I have made 2
may seem wrong to you 3
but I've never been surer
it's my life
to ruin 4
my own way
You see to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
in part and in hole
Because to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
in part and in hole
to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
part and in hole
So to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Alma matters in mind
body and soul
part and in hole
to someone somewhere
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah
Oh yeah

 

1 On the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey sometimes sang "So, the choice I have made may seem wrong to you".

2 On the Oye Esteban tour Morrissey usually changed this line to "So, the life I have blown away" or "So, the life I have thrown away"

3 Although it was correctly transcribed in the booklet of the "Maladjusted" album where the song first appeared, this line is incorrectly given as "may seem strange to you" in the lyrics in the "¡Very Best Of!" compilation. On the 1997 Maladjusted tour Morrissey sometimes sang "So, the choice I have made may seem strange to you". He has also been known to sing "So, the choice I have made may seem shit to you".

4 On the 1997 Maladjusted tour as well as on the 1997 performance of this song on USA television late night programme "Late Show With David Letterman", Morrissey changed this line to "It's my life to wreck my own way". Now and then on the Oye Esteban tour he sang the latter or "it's my life to end my own way" or "it's my life to destroy my own way".

 

Quotes

Morrissey, in an interview to KROQ (Los Angeles radio station) in 1997 was asked about the meaning of the song: "Well... it really does mean something specific. I think it means that we should be pleased and proud of the female side of our character, of our nature. Or if we're female, we should be proud of the male side of our character and give it just as much import as the other side. So, everything's fine, it doesn't matter how you behave." (Note: in a later interview he said he wasn't really honest and this was just something he felt like saying at the time).