This song must have been written shortly before or during the recording sessions for the "Years Of Refusal" album which happened in August or December 2007 at Conway Studios in Los Angeles with producer Jerry Finn. Further mixing may have been done in the spring of 2008 (the album is actually credited as having been recorded in Los Angeles in 2008; accurate info is needed). The musicians on this recording were Boz Boorer (guitar), Jesse Tobias (guitar), Solomon Walker (bass), Matt Walker (drums) and Roger Manning Jr. (piano, keyboards), with of course a special appearance by Jeff Beck on guitar.

album version {2:48}

• "Years Of Refusal" album

Jimmy Kimmel Live 5 February 2009 [tv]

This performance is part of a 5-song set recorded by Morrissey for this programme. Unfortunately, only "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" and the first few seconds of "Mama Lay Softly On The Riverbed" were broadcast and are circulated on video and audio bootlegs. The three other songs, including this one, remain unseen (except by those who attended the taping).

Late Night With Jimmy Fallon 23 March 2009 [tv]

This is circulated on bootleg video and the audio can be found in digital format on the internet.

The song has been performed live 163 times by Morrissey, which is quite a lot for a song still reasonably young. It was played on each and every one of the 68 dates of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal, and on 25 of the 26 concerts on the Swords tour later that year. It was done 18 times in 2011, introduced halfway into that tour then done almost regularly until the end of the year. It returned on 45 of the 56 concerts Morrissey gave in 2012, and on 7 of the 15 concerts from early 2013.

live Warsaw 7 July 2009 {3:08}

• limited 2-cd edition of the "Swords" album

No demos or studio outtakes of this song have leaked to the general public at this point in time.

Quotes

In an interview published in the June 2009 issue of Mogo magazine, Jeff Beck said: "Chrissie Hynde was the catalyst between us. I met them at the bar in the Sunset Marquis during cocktail hour: they were shitfaced. Morrissey leaned over to Chrissie and I thought he wanted to leave. Chrissie turned to me and said 'he's too shy to say it but he would like you to play on a track on his album'. The next day I found a cd under my door with a note from Morrisey saying 'It was really nice to meet you - would you play on this track?'. He was charming and I never thought he would give me the time of day."