Independent.ie: Lloyd Cole Interview - with Morrissey anecdotes (July 2, 2023)

Lloyd Cole interview Sunday Independent (Ireland) 2nd July - Morrissey references

Morrissey became a fan. He said Cole was the sort of person who gets "erotic about blotting paper". To which Cole replied: "I do. I am a real stationery fetishist."
When Lloyd Cole and the Commotions played their first gig in London at the Dominion Theatre, they came offstage and went to their dressing room to find Morrissey "drinking a cup of tea. We were friends for a few years." Does he despair for his old friend's right-wing politics now? "Oh, I couldn't possibly be friends with Morrissey now. But that's the lovely thing about art, those Smiths records and those Morrissey records are yours now. You can remove the author. In fact, the author is necessarily removed when the record is released."
In 1985, he and Morrissey met up a few times. "We had tea at Fortnum & Mason. That was his idea. We would play each other songs that we were working on. I got to hear 'Meat is Murder' before it came out."
Was that a bit like Alan Bennett and Dennis Potter having lunch together?"It absolutely wasn't," he says with a laugh, "because we were both still young and immature and still finding our way, in terms of finding our voices.
"I think Morrissey probably found his voice on The Queen is Dead and I found mine on my first solo record. I think I was trying to be less worthy from Rattlesnakes onwards. I love Rattlesnakes to death but it is hard for me to listen to the singing now. I don't en- joy the sound of my voice on that record. It's overly mannered.

https://archive.is/pVhnY

 

[Amy]

Heard from Morrissey in interviews. What else?

Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, even before she was head of that party.
Without her leadership of that party he wouldn’t have cared for them.

What buck passing drivel.

 

[Thewlis]

What buck passing drivel.

Just facts that you don’t like apparantly.
Strange.

 

[Surface]

Heard from Morrissey in interviews. What else?

Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, even before she was head of that party.
Without her leadership of that party he wouldn’t have cared for them.

When asked about whether he supports For Britain, Morrissey replied, "Absolutely, yes", and goes on to explain his reasons, "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

 

[Thewlis]

Wrong yet again.

When asked about whether he supports For Britain, Morrissey replied, "Absolutely, yes", and goes on to explain his reasons, "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

Exactly what I was saying, thanks.

He supported them because of AMW, whom he already supported before For Britain existed.

 

[Surface]

Exactly what I was saying, thanks.

He supported them because of AMW, whom he already supported before For Britain existed.

When asked about whether he supports For Britain, Morrissey replied, "Absolutely, yes",

 

[Thewlis]

When asked about whether he supports For Britain, Morrissey replied, "Absolutely, yes",

and goes on to explain his reasons, "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

 

[Surface]

and goes on to explain his reasons, "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

You said - Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, even before she was head of that party.Without her leadership of that party he wouldn’t have cared for them

You are wrong - he was asked if he supported For Britain and he said - Absolutely Yes

Not sure why you are always trying to twist the truth, its a very strange trait you have.

 

[Thewlis]

You said - Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, even before she was head of that party.Without her leadership of that party he wouldn’t have cared for them

You are wrong - he was asked if he supported For Britain and he said - Absolutely Yes

Not sure why you are always trying to twist the truth, its a very strange trait you have.

No that’s what you are doing!

I’m saying Morrissey supported For Britain only because he felt a kinship to AMW, whom he already admired before she was head of FB.

Your quote supports that: "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

He is not talking about or praising the party or its policies, but only expresses admiration for AMW.

 

[Surface]

No that’s what you are doing!

I’m saying Morrissey supported For Britain only because he felt a kinship to AMW, whom he already admired before she was head of FB.

Your quote supports that: "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

Your post is there for all to see - You said - Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, that's clearly incorrect, when he was asked if he supported For Britain, he replied absolutely, yes

So answer this question and we can put this debate to bed - When asked if he supported For Britain did he say absolutely yes or did he say no but I like Anne Marie Waters?

 

[Amy]

Just facts that you don’t like apparantly.
Strange.

Here are some facts.

Morrissey has spent five years and counting boycotting the mainstream media as a result of the fall-out from the Der Spiegel interview and For Britain fiasco. When Sam asked him to clarify his thoughts about FB, he came out with vague comments about how Anne-Marie could ‘put a stop to the lunacy’ and ‘keep British society together’. The truth is that he has never fully clarified his reasons for supporting them and what he has said is confused and inconsistent. Clinging to this baseless idea that he was lured in / it was all Anne-Marie etc etc is an insult to Morrissey’s intelligence, yet you state it as fact.

Even if it were true and he just saw the whole thing as showing solidarity for a friend - a huge stretch - what do you think that changes? Do you think anyone in their right mind would kill their career and show public support for a fringe party like that just because their mate was in it, without even reading page 1 of their manifesto?

Nobody really knows why he got involved with FB because he runs away from those questions. We’re not likely to know either because the party is now defunct - but trying to pass the blame to Anne-Marie as though she corrupted some innocent child is ridiculous.

 

[Thewlis]

Your post is there for all to see - You said - Morrissey has only ever expressed admiration for Waters, that's clearly incorrect, when he was asked if he supported For Britain, he replied absolutely, yes

So answer this question and we can put this debate to bed - When asked if he supported For Britain did he say absolutely yes or did he say no but I like Anne Marie Waters?

He said: Yes, because I like Anne Marie Waters.

Can you read? That’s exactly what I was saying an hour ago.

 

[Crisstti]

When asked about whether he supports For Britain, Morrissey replied, "Absolutely, yes", and goes on to explain his reasons, "I think Anne Marie Waters is the only British party leader who can unite the left and right. I don’t know any other party leader who even WANTS to do this. The UK is a dangerously hateful place now, and I think we need someone to put a stop to the lunacy and to speak for everyone. I see Anne Marie Waters as this person. She is extremely intelligent, ferociously dedicated to this country, she is very engaging, and also very funny at times."

I think this quote mainly supports what Thewlis is saying? That he supported FB due to Waters? That's what he seems to indicate there.

 

[BookishBoy]

This is semantics, surely? It's obvious that his head was turned by AMW, but equally unless you're a complete idiot, you don't declare your love for the leader of a political party without understanding that people will then assume - quite fairly - that you also support their party.

 

[Thewlis]

Here are some facts.

Morrissey has spent five years and counting boycotting the mainstream media as a result of the fall-out from the Der Spiegel interview and For Britain fiasco. When Sam asked him to clarify his thoughts about FB, he came out with vague comments about how Anne-Marie could ‘put a stop to the lunacy’ and ‘keep British society together’. The truth is that he has never fully clarified his reasons for supporting them and what he has said is confused and inconsistent. Clinging to this delusion that he was lured in by Anne-Marie and didn't even like FB / was too stupid to know better is an insult to Morrissey’s intelligence, yet you state it as fact.

Even if it were true and he just saw the whole thing as showing solidarity for a friend - a huge stretch - what do you think that changes? Do you think anyone in their right mind would kill their career and show public support for a fringe party like that just because their mate was in it, without even reading page 1 of their manifesto?

Nobody really knows why he got involved with FB because he runs away from those questions. We’re not likely to know either because the party is now defunct - but trying to pass the blame to Anne-Marie as though she corrupted some innocent child is ridiculous.

You are completely missing the point,
Nobody lured Morrissey in. Morrissey was and always has been fed up with traditional British politics. ‘Sick to death of Labour or Tories’. You know all that.

In comes an anti-establishment party, UKIP, who challenge the traditional parties and are about to be lead by a woman who expresses great concern for animal welfare, lbgt-rights and is a lesbian agnostic. Morrissey likes this person and is devastated when she loses the contest to become leader of that party. She then moves on and starts her own party and Morrissey comes out in support of this party and is then crucified by the media for this support.

This is what happened and it’s there for all to see.

 

[Crisstti]

This is semantics, surely? It's obvious that his head was turned by AMW, but equally unless you're a complete idiot, you don't declare your love for the leader of a political party without understanding that people will then assume - quite fairly - that you also support their party.

I mean, he said he did. That he supported For Britain, due to Waters.

 

[BookishBoy]

You are completely missing the point,
Nobody lured Morrissey in. Morrissey was and always has been fed up with traditional British politics. ‘Sick to death of Labour or Tories’. You know all that.

In comes an anti-establishment party, UKIP, who challenge the traditional parties and are about to be lead by a woman who expresses great concern for animal welfare, lbgt-rights and is a lesbian agnostic. Morrissey likes this person and is devastated when she loses the contest to become leader of that party. She then moves on and starts her own party and Morrissey comes out in support of this party and is then crucified by the media for this support.

This is what happened and it’s there for all to see.

True, but you're leaving out the part that pretty much everybody who ever supported UKIP and For Britain was, on some level, racist.

 

[Thewlis]

True, but you're leaving out the part that pretty much everybody who ever supported UKIP and For Britain was, on some level, racist.

According to the press, yes. And according to that same press Morrissey is racist now, too.

So I do agree that it was naive of Morrissey to come out in support of Anne Marie Waters, but I can see the reasons for his support.

 

[Amy]

You are completely missing the point,
Nobody lured Morrissey in. Morrissey was and always has been fed up with traditional British politics. ‘Sick to death of Labour or Tories’. You know all that.

In comes an anti-establishment party, UKIP, who challenge the traditional parties and are about to be lead by a woman who expresses great concern for animal welfare, lbgt-rights and is a lesbian agnostic. Morrissey likes this person and is devastated when she loses the contest to become leader of that party. She then moves on and starts her own party and Morrissey comes out in support of this party and is then crucified by the media for this support.

This is what happened and it’s there for all to see.

Thewlis, you said that M:

"was only ever interested in this party because of its leader, a lesbian vegetarian who addressed halal slaughter. There’s really nothing more to it."

Something you cannot possibly know. Yes he has praised Anne-Marie and UKIP in the past, but nobody knows the full reasons why he supported Fb because he has moved heaven and earth to dodge answering those questions. And when you say "only ever interested because X", what you are implying is that he wasn't interested in the party itself or in anything else. A claim that is completely baseless. A transparent attempt to try and wash the stink off him by saying "Hey, Anne-Marie was the one who rolled in the shit, he was just standing nearby at the time." Like I said, drivel.

 

[Crisstti]

From what we’ve heard Morrissey was only ever interested in this party because of its leader, a lesbian vegetarian who addressed halal slaughter.

There’s really nothing more to it.

It appears to have been his main reason, but it seems unlikely he didn't support the party's position overall. He surely wouldn't have outright expressed support for them otherwise? And he has expressed opinions against high taxes and uncontrolled migration (hinted at issues with Islamism as well)
All of which are perfectly valid positions to have.

Who knows if his opinion on taxes is as "extreme" as FB's, but you're hardly going to agree in everything with a party you support anyway. And, he wasn't going to support the Tories.

 

[Kennethwilliamsunderstudy]

Its not bad Mike, quite laid back, a late night album. Needs a couple of listens but worth it. I think with the dismissive Moz reviews, apart from the usual criticisms you get now, people expect or once expected greatness with every Morrissey album so it was crushingly disappointing if he didn’t deliver, in my opinion

it's a headphones album , preferred guesswork