This song was very likely written at some point in 1989. It was recorded during the "Bona Drag" sessions at Hook End Manor in the winter of 1989 into 1990, with producers Clive Langer and Alan Winstanley. Musicians on this recording were Kevin Armstrong (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Andrew Paresi (drums). Mary Margaret O'Hara provided the 'screams' heard in the song's bridge.

Soon after being recorded, the song was remixed, presumably by producers Langer and Winstanley (at Hook End Manor?). Many mixes were done, one was selected to be released under the title "November The Second". Test pressings were printed, but the remix ended up being shelved until 2010 when it was finally made available on a reissued single (see below).

single version {5:28}

• "November Spawned A Monster" single, all formats

• "Hulmerist", a video compilation

• "Bona Drag" album

• Australia cd-single of "Certain People I Know"

• "Suedehead - The Best Of" album

• "¡Oye Esteban!", a DVD video retrospective

• "¡The Best Of!" album

• "The HMV/Parlophone Singles '88-'95" album

• "Bona Drag" - redesigned edition [remastered 2010] {5:21}

• "Very Best Of Morrissey" [remastered 2010; audio and video]

November The Second [remix] {5:28}

• "Everyday Is Like Sunday" - 2010 re-release [remastered 2010]

Top Of The Pops 3 May 1990 [tv]

This is commonly found on bootleg video compilations of Morrissey television appearances. The audio from this broadcast is not circulated on bootlegs because the performance was lipsynched.

This song has been done in concert a total of 285 times by Morrissey, very likely up to 289 times if we take into account the fact that setlist information is missing for 4 concerts from the 1991 Kill Uncle tour. This places it in the top 10 of his 'live hall of fame'. The song got its live introduction on the latter 1991 tour and it appears to have been played every single night that year. Morrissey sang it as assiduously on the 1992 Your Arsenal tour, at every concert bar one. After a break of a few years, it returned to the set on the 1999-2000 Oye Esteban tour when it was rarely absent from the setlist (played 67 times out of 75 concerts). It was also off the setlist barely more than a handful of times on the subsequent 2002 tour with no name. The 2004 You Are The Quarry tour started without it, but after its return to the set at the end of August, it was only skipped twice between then and the end of the year. After an extensive 8-year break, Morrissey sang it at every one of the 6 shows he gave in Australia and New Zealand at the end of 2012 and then at every one of the 15 shows he gave in the USA in early 2013.

live Dallas 17 June 1991 {5:18}

• "Live In Dallas", a live concert on video

live Mountain View Shoreline Amphitheatre 31 October 1991 {?:??}

• "Your Arsenal" album, redesigned edition bonus DVD

live Paris 22 December 1992 {5:19}

• "Beethoven Was Deaf" live album

live Coachella 9 October 1999 {3:07}

• "Coachella" a film/documentary about the legendary California festival

live England December 2004 {5:15}

• "Live At Earls Court" live album

live Hollywood High School 2 March 2013 {:}

• "25Live", a live concert on video

November The Second [remix; demo] {5:21}

Pre-remastering version of the officially released version listed above; leaked on the internet in 2006

Quotes

"She's the oddest, most eccentric person I've ever met, I went into the vocal booth and said 'Just simply give birth', which she most expertly did, while I stood behind with a mop and a bucket."
- Morrissey on Mary Margaret O'Hara who supplied the screaming voice heard in this song's bridge, in Vox, November 1990

"November spawned a monster [is] a pivotal allegro of agitation whose sumptuousness frees me from the recent past."
- Morrissey, "Autobiography"