"How Can Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel"
(Morrissey/Alain Whyte)

 

These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in Morrissey's "You Are The Quarry" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

She told me she loved me 1
which means
she must be insane
I've had my face dragged in
fifteen miles of shit
and I do not / and I do not
and I do not like it
so how can anybody say
they know how I feel?
the only one around here who is me
is me

They said they respect me 1
which means
their judgment is crazy
I've had my face dragged in
fifteen miles of shit
and I do not / and I do not
and I do not like it
so how can anybody say
they know how I feel?
when they are they
and only I am I

He says said he wants to befriend me 1
which means
he can't possibly know me
the voices of the real
and the imagined cry:
"the future is passing you by 2
the future is passing you by."
so how can anybody possibly think they
know how I feel?
everybody look / see pain / and walk away 3
and as for you in your uniform
your smelly uniform 4
and so you think you can be rude to me
because you wear a uniform 5
a smelly uniform 4
and so you think you can be rude to me
but even I / as sick as I am
I would never be you
even I / as sick as I am
I would never be you 6
even I / sick and depraved
a traveler to the grave
I would never be you 6
I would never be you

 

1 On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey sometimes added emphasis to these lines by singing "she told me she loved me, me!", "they said they respect me, me!" or "he says he wants to befriend me, me!".

2 By the second and third legs of the 2009 tour of Refusal Morrissey often sang "the future is passing you by, I'm sorry but the future is passing you by" or variations such as "the future is passing you by, my friend the future is passing you by".

3 On the 2004 You Are The Quarry tour Morrissey sometimes sang "everybody look, see pain and turn away", or very slight variations such as "everybody look, see pain and cycle away", "...scuttle away" or "...run away". On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey alternated between the latter change and the original lyrics.

4 In live performances of this song this line sounds like "as for you in your uniform, your totally smelly uniform", but Morrissey doesn't sing the word "totally". A sample of a man saying "we told you" is actually played over his words.

5 On the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey often added emphasis to this line by singing "why? because you wear a uniform".

6 On the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey sometimes added emphasis to this line by singing "I would never be you, officer". The change became standard by that tour's second leg and throughout the third one.