"All You Need Is Me"
(Morrissey/Jesse Tobias)

 

These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the "Years Of Refusal" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

You hiss and groan and you constantly moan
but you don't ever go away
and that's because all you need is me
you roll your eyes up to the skies
mock horrified - but you're still here 1
because all you need is me
there's so much destruction
all over the world
and all you can do is
complain about me
you bang your head against the wall and say you're sick of it all
yet you remain 2
'cause all you need is me
and then you offer your one-and-only
joke and you ask me what will I be
when I grow up to be a man
me? nothing...
there's a soft voice singing in your head
who can this be? 3
I do believe it's me
there's a naked man standing laughing in your dreams
you know who it is
but you don't like what it means
There's so much destruction
all over the world
and all you can do is 4
complain about me
I was a small fat child in a welfare house, 5
there was only one thing I ever dreamed about
and fate has just handed it to me, whoopee 6
You don't like me but you love me
either way, you're wrong
you're gonna miss me when I'm gone
you're gonna miss me when I'm gone
You don't like me but you love me
either way, you're wrong
you're gonna miss me when I'm gone
you're gonna miss me when I'm gone

 

1 On the third American leg of the Greatest Hits tour Morrissey often dumbed-down this line by changing it to "you roll your eyes up to the skies and pretend to be horrified". Then in the new year when he brought the tour back to Europe he did it a few times, then changed it again, this time to "you roll your eyes up to the skies and pretend that you're horrified". In the summer of 2008 this was changed again, this time to "you roll your eyes up to the skies absolutely horrified". On the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal he alternated between "and pretend that you're horrified", "trying to look horrified" and "absolutely horrified". On the latter tour's third leg he sang something that sounded like "you roll your eyes up to the skies, trans-horrified" or "you roll your eyes up to the skies, absolutely trans-horrified".

2 In many live performances of this number before 2009 Morrissey actually sang "yet you remain here 'cause all you need is me".

3 In many live performances of this number Morrissey actually sang "Who could this be?".

4 On the 2007-2008 Greatest Hits tour (with the exception of its first leg) Morrissey slightly extended this line to "all you can do is stand there and complain about me" (or sometimes "sit there..."). This remained valid on the 2009 Tour Of Refusal.

5 For the first few weeks after this song was introduced on the Greatest Hits tour Morrissey sang "...in a council house". Halfway into the tour's first leg he settled on "...welfare house" and this is what he would end up recording and releasing. By the time the tour reached Europe in early 2008 and again in the summer of 2008 he reverted to the more British "...council house" most of the time. In America at the beginning of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal he returned to "...welfare house", then back in England and Europe he reverted again to "...council house".

6 Now and then in early 2008 Morrissey followed the line "fate has just handed it to me" with a shout of "too late!" instead of "whoopee!". In the summer of 2008 he sometimes sang "look! fate has just handed it to me".