This song is assumed to have been written at some point between the year 2000 and its live debut in August 2002. It was first recorded on 3 October 2002 for Morrissey's appearance on Janice Long's BBC2 programme, alongside 2 other numbers. Musicians for this radio session were Boz Boorer (guitars), Alain Whyte (guitars), Gary Day (bass) and Dean Butterworth (drums).

The definitive album version is credited as having been recorded in Los Angeles in 2004, but the "You Are The Quarry" sessions were actually split between Sarm Hook End in Berkshire in the autumn of 2003 and Conway Studios in Los Angeles in late 2003 or January 2004, with producer Jerry Finn. Musicians on this recording were Boz Boorer (guitar), Alain Whyte (guitar), Gary Day (bass), Dean Butterworth (drums) and Roger Manning (piano).

album version {4:11}

• "You Are The Quarry" album

Janice Long radio session 3 October 2002 {4:15}

Nothing from this 3-song radio session (also including "The World Is Full Of Crashing Bores" and "Irish Blood, English Heart") has ever been given an official release, but good sounding recordings of the tracks as well as the Morrissey interview can be found on various manufactured bootlegs as well as in digital format on the internet.

Reading Session@AOL 27 August 2004 [web video] {5:12}

• official USA iTunes download as "Sessions@AOL" EP

Because this official release in only in audio form, the web video footage is being circulated in bootleg video.

This song has been performed a total of 109 times by Morrissey. It was introduced on the 2002 tour without a name, two years ahead of getting officially released, while Morrissey was in limbo between record deals. It was done at every show of that tour with the exception of the very first one. It wasn't done as assiduously after being released on the 2004 "You Are The Quarry" album. Morrissey sang it 43 times on the tour promoting the latter album, only a handful of times until the end of August, after which it was done almost every night. It returned to the set in Oslo on the Tour Of The Tormentors MMVI, but for some reason this would end up being the song's only airing that year. It was last heard in 2007 on the Greatest Hits tour when it was played on and off a further 19 times between late September and early November.

live England December 2004 {4:36}

• "Live At Earls Court" live album

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