"Meat Is Murder"
(Morrissey/Marr)

 

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

Heifer whines could be human cries
closer comes the screaming knife
this beautiful creature must die
this beautiful creature must die
a death for no reason
and death for reason is MURDER
and the flesh you so fancifully fry
is not succulent, tasty or nice kind
it's death for no reason
and death for no reason is MURDER
and the calf that you carve with a smile
is MURDER
and the turkey you festively slice
is MURDER
do you know how animals die?
kitchen aromas aren't very homely
it's not "comforting", "cheery" or kind
it's sizzling blood and the unholy stench
of MURDER
it's not "natural," "normal" or kind
the flesh you so fancifully fry
the meat in your mouth
as you savour the flavour
of MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
NO, NO, NO, IT'S MURDER
and who hears when animals cry? 1

 

1 In live performances of this song Morrissey occasionally sang this line as "Who hears when animals die?", "Who cares if animals die?" or "Who cares how animals die?". On the 1999/2000 Oye Esteban tour and the 2002 tour he always sang "Do you care how animals die?".

NOTE: In the live performance of this song on 8 February 1986 Morrissey mumbled unfamiliar lyrics in the outro to the song. Most of it is difficult to decipher but a recurring line anticipates a key lyric that would appear much later in the song "Unhappy Birthday": (approximately) "This is it, the dew in your eyes for the one that you left behind. In the car... with the trace of my hand. I'm the one that you left behind. It was not your mother, or father that you left behind. It's my heart... it's my heart... it's mine, the one that you left behind. It's my heart... I'm the one you left behind... it's mine... my heart... that you left behind... mine....that you left behind... tonight..."

 

Quotes

"It is a direct statement. Of all the political topics to be scrutinised people are still disturbingly vague about the treatment of animals. People still seem to believe that meat is a particular substance not at all connected to animals playing in the field over there. People don't realise how gruesomely and frighteningly the animal gets to the plate..."
- Morrissey, NME, 22/29 December 1984

"Well, you know what stopped me from eating [meat] were the lyrics for 'Meat Is Murder'. The actual lyrics. Not so much him saying, 'What're you eating there?'"
- Mike Joyce, Select, April 1993