"Paint A Vulgar Picture"
(Morrissey/Marr)
These lyrics are transcribed in light blue as they appear in the "Strangeways Here We Come" album and are reproduced here without permission. Variations between the printed lyrics and what is sung by Morrissey are indicated in darker text for additions and omissions are deleted.
At the record company meeting
On their hands - a dead star
and ooh, the plans that they weave
and ooh, the sickening greed
At the record company party
on their hands - a dead star
the sycophantic slags all say:
"I knew him first, and I knew him well"
Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!
Re-evaluate the songs
double-pack with a photograph
Extra Track (and a tacky badge)
A-list, playlist
"Please them, please them!"
"Please them! please them!"
(sadly, THIS was your life)
but you could have said no
if you'd wanted to
you could have said no
if you'd wanted to
BPI, MTV, BBC 1
"Please them! Please them!"
(sadly this was your life)
but you could have said no
if you'd wanted to
you could have walked away
...couldn't you?
I touched you at the soundcheck
you had no real way of knowing
in my heart I begged "please, take
me with you...
I don't care where you're going..."
But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
just a child from those ugly new houses
who could never begin to know
who could never really know
Best of! Most of!
Satiate the need
slip them into different sleeves!
Buy both, and be feel deceived
climber - new entry, re-entry
World tour! ("media whore")
"Please the Press in Belgium!" 2
(THIS was your life...)
and when it fails to recoup?
Well, maybe:
You just haven't earned it yet, baby 3
I walked a pace behind you at the soundcheck
you're just the same as I am
what makes most people feel happy
leads us headlong into harm 4
so, in my bedroom in those 'ugly new houses'
I dance my legs down to the knees
but me and my 'true love'
we will never meet again...
At the record company meeting 5
on their hands - at last! - a dead star! 5
but they cannot can never taint you in my eyes 5
no, they cannot can never touch you now 5
No, they cannot hurt you my darling 5
they cannot touch you now 5
but me and my 'true love' 5
will never meet again 5
1 When performing this song on the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey introduced the change to "BPI, MTV, BBC, kiss their arses" and later moved to "MTV, MTV, MTV, kiss their arses".
2 When performing this song on the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey almost always changed this line to "please depressing Belgians". Sometimes he took it even further and sang "please the bloody Belgians".
3 When performing this song on the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey sometimes sang "I just haven't earned it yet, baby", particularly during the second American leg.
4 When performing this song on the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey sometimes sang "still leads me headlong into harm", particularly during the second American leg.
5 When performing this song on the 1997 Maladjusted tour, Morrissey never sang these lines.
Quote:
Answering journalist Len Brown's question "So was 'Paint A Vulgar Picture' an attack on Rough Trade?" in the 13 February 1988 issue of the NME, Morrissey said "No, it wasn't about Rough Trade at all. So I was a bit confused when Geoff Travis, the Rough Trade big boy, despised it and stamped on it. It was about the music industry in general, about practically anybody who's died and left behind that frenetic fanatical legacy which sends people scrambling. Billy Fury, Marc Bolan..."
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