"Work Is A Four-Letter Word"
(Woolfenden/Black)
These lyrics are transcribed in light blue as they appear in the German "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" cd-single 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.
Loving you is driving me crazy
People say that you were born lazy
'Cause you say that work is a four-letter word
So change your life
There is so much I know that you can do
Come and see me wide awake
And take on this world all of this love that is waiting for you
If you stay I'll stay right beside you
And my love may help to remind you
To forget that work is a four letter word
I don't need a house that's a show place
I just feel that we're going no place
While you say that work is a four-letter word
So change your life
There is so much I know that you can do
Come and see me wide awake
And take on this world all of this love that is waiting for you
If you stay I'll stay right beside you
And my love might help to remind you
To forget that work is a four letter word
I don't need a house that's a show place
I just feel that we're going no place
While you say that work is a four letter word
So change your life
There is so much I know that you can do
Please come and see me wide awake
And take on this world all of this love that is waiting for you
These lyrics are transcribed here as they were originally sung by Cilla Black. Parts that Morrissey sang differently are indicated in darker text. The whole first paragraph was dropped by Morrissey, and he sang the "So change your life" verse an extra time at the very end.
There are girls that some men will slay for
To provide the things that they pay for
Why do you think work is a four-letter word?
Loving you is driving me crazy
People say that you were born lazy
'Cause you think that work is a four-letter word
Don't waste your life
There is so much I know you can do
Let me see you wide awake
And take on the world that is waiting for you
If you cry I'll be right behind you
And my love will help to remind you
To forget that work is a four letter word
I don't want a house that's a show place
I just feel that we're getting no place
While you say that work is a four-letter word
Don't waste your life
There is so much I know you can do
Let me see you wide awake
And take on the world that is waiting for you
If you cry I'll be right behind you
And my love will help to remind you
To forget that work is a four letter word
I don't want a house that's a show place
I just feel that we're getting no place
While you say that work is a four-letter word
Four-letter word!
Quotes:
In an interview for the Brit Girls documentary first broadcast in November 1997 (UK, Channel 4), Morrissey said of this cover: "I thought it was an amusing song. I think I was the only member of the Smiths who actually did. I thought it was quite funny and very throwaway, and a bit of a tease really. I wasn't attempting to produce a great piece of Gothic Art, it was just a taunting little number. I even got the words wrong, accidentally. (...) It was very instrumental in breaking up the Smiths but what care I? Cilla Black, unbeknown to herself, actually broke the Smiths up... which is pretty much to her credit.
Morrissey, in a Q&A session on True To You in June 2007: "Everything has its place and its reason. Certainly, the early Smiths covers, for example 'Work is a four-letter word' and 'Golden lights' were done as acts of playful perversity - they weren't meant to be groundbreaking miracles of sound. And that's usually how it is, just a matter of throwing something unexpected into the mix."