Tim Booth mentions Morrissey and references forum post during the James concert in Los Angeles (September 25, 2024)

Summing up info posted in the forum thread James and Johnny Marr US Tour:

Thanks again to @Famous when dead for finding the video with the actual quote.

At about the 24:30 mark:



"The lyric to that song was put up in a Morrissey forum as an example of how awful my lyrics are. 'Life's A f***ing Miracle'... doesn't quite tally, maybe, with Morrissey's message."

The forum post referenced is by @Lucifer Sam posted on May 7, 2024 in the thread.

Yes, I'm well aware. But so far Morrissey hasn't done anything as cheesy, gimmicky, and washed-up as performing with a full orchestra like Johnny Marr and James have done. Plus I was listening to the new James album the other day ("their first no. 1 in 40 years!" cheer the dads) and I couldn't even make it past the first two songs. The second song was so bad I thought, "what is this shit?" and the answer is: Life's a F*cking Miracle. Musically it's as awful as Knockabout World, but lyrically it's fathoms worse. I will reproduce the lyrics. I am confident that Morrissey, no matter how lazy he gets, will never write anything so gooey. You can just picture the suburbanites shaking their asses and singing along.

LIFE'S A F*CKING MIRACLE

I'm another dumb fish in another dumb bowl (oh)
Screaming in an echo chamber
Waste so much time, sucked online (oh)
Waste so much time, review my life
How sharp's my knife
Raise your glass
Life's a f*cking miracle
We're made of light
Our form is physical
If we love life
Life loves reciprocal
Celebrate
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)
What shapes our lives is our mind
Thoughts become material
Power lies with those who control (oh)
Our storylines
This body's mine
And love's no crime
Raise your glass
Life's a f*cking miracle
We're made of light
Our form is physical
If we love life
Life loves reciprocal
Celebrate
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, they, we
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, they, we
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, they, we
(She, he, they, we)
Raise your glass
Life's a f*cking miracle
We're made of light
Our form is physical
If we love life
Life loves reciprocal
Celebrate
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)
She, he, we, they
Welcome sign
(She, he, they, we)

 

[jammy]

I'll grant you that. In this day and age charts don't carry the weight they once did. What DOES matter is that JAMES did indeed since 2020 somehow manage to release FOUR studio LPS. While Mozzer despite have two finished recordings has released nothing in the last four years. Here is a news flash for those unfamiliar with the trainwreck that is Morrissey 2024, He'll release NOTHING this year- JAMES are a vibrant, relevant band - Morrissey is fast becoming the answer to a trivia question nobody will ever ask

I love James, but they haven’t released four studio albums since 2020. They have released two studio albums of new material (All The Colours of You in 2021 and Yummy in 2024), and an album of old songs (and one new song) recorded with an orchestra. A live album was released in 2020, but that, by definition, isn’t a studio album.

Their two preceding original albums were released in 2016 and 2018, so really it’s four studio albums since 2016, during which time Morrissey has released two original studio albums and one studio album of covers, and written and recorded two further albums - yet to be released, as we all know.

 

[gonzax]

James are absolutely fantastic, they're not The Smiths, no one is, but they're great. I'm not particularly keen on their latest more electronic-oriented albums of this decade but the last one is a brilliant record from start to finish and they're a very special thing live.

He didn't say anything nasty about Morrissey and even if he did criticism when done with respect is not necessarily bad. Some people are just too quick to attack anyone who says something bad about their heroes and that's a very childish attitude.

Anyway, as I said, James is an incredible band and nobody's perfect, no matter how much you love them. Morrissey is not an exception, you just have to see all the drama about Marr getting the rights to the Smiths name and other things to realise that. And I'll love him forever, mind you, but don't take it out on other bands just because they said something about him you don't agree with.

 

[Surface]

One of the good things about James is that they mix their sets up every night, LA is a good example. On their 2 nights only 7 of the songs were the same each night. Overall on their 2024 UK/European and North/South American dates they've played 54 different songs.

 

[klaus]

hi tim!

 

[bored]

I am a huge James fan but their last 2 albums are not good at all. They are too woke. There are a lot of good things about the woke movement but they cross the line into insomnia.

They used to be dark and I felt like they saw the world the way I do. Now they do not. Life's a Fn Miracle is not a good song. Yummy is not a good album. I actually couldn't bring myself to listen to Yummy for months because I knew it was going to be cringy pandering shit.

I have met Tim and spent a long time talking with him and I do like him. I have no ill-will toward him or anything he has said or done but I don't think much of the artist he has become.

I think it's a little try-hard to call out Morrissey fans dissing his work because I have no doubt plenty of people don't like his work but he gets a bigger rise out of the audience by tying it to Morrissey fans rather than Taylor Swift fans.

I will be seeing them with Johnny Marr next month and I do think I will have a good time at the show. I've seen them a few times and they are good live and so is Johnny so it's a good night out in Boston with my best friend, my wife and my son.. and no, they are not all the same person.. life is never that simple.

 

[bored]

One of the good things about James is that they mix their sets up every night, LA is a good example. On their 2 nights only 7 of the songs were the same each night. Overall on their 2024 UK/European and North/South American dates they've played 54 different songs.

That is something I really do like about them.

I told TimBooth back in 2008-ish that they could stop playing Laid. People who come to the show feel that song is not that important to them. He agreed to a point but said he knows some people would be disappointed and he knows that song was their break-through so it is still good to play. I wonder how he feels 16 year later.

Also, I never need to hear Everyday is Like Sunday by Morrissey ever again. There was a time where I was done with November but it's been so long I think I'd enjoy it again. Jack the Ripper is getting old. Half a Person needs to be put on the shelf for a long while. The one song I managed to miss due to timing that I wish he would bring back is Hand in Glove.

 

[Was I ever any good]

What’s your thoughts on the classic
Our Frank???

 

[bored]

What’s your thoughts on the classic
Our Frank???

I thought it was good to see it make a brief re-appearance live. I enjoyed it but I am also glad it was dropped recently as it doesn't have a lot of staying power after a few live shows.

Of course, for those who don't see shows very often and didn't get to see it live you might have a very different opinion.

 

[Surface]

That is something I really do like about them.

I told TimBooth back in 2008-ish that they could stop playing Laid. People who come to the show feel that song is not that important to them. He agreed to a point but said he knows some people would be disappointed and he knows that song was their break-through so it is still good to play. I wonder how he feels 16 year later.

Also, I never need to hear Everyday is Like Sunday by Morrissey ever again. There was a time where I was done with November but it's been so long I think I'd enjoy it again. Jack the Ripper is getting old. Half a Person needs to be put on the shelf for a long while. The one song I managed to miss due to timing that I wish he would bring back is Hand in Glove.

I think they’re playing it again for a couple of reasons Like a lot of older bands they are drawing a lot of youngsters to their gigs who wouldn’t have heard it live before, also the venues they are playing are larger too, the UK tour earlier this year attracted over a 100k attendees so I assume it would be new to a number of them as well from a live perspective.

 

[Was I ever any good]

I thought it was good to see it make a brief re-appearance live. I enjoyed it but I am also glad it was dropped recently as it doesn't have a lot of staying power after a few live shows.

Of course, for those who don't see shows very often and didn't get to see it live you might have a very different opinion.

When seeing him twice in 2022
Blackpool and Doncaster … he paraded
About with a cigarette in his chops….
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen at his gigs….

 

[Ashley_TakeABow]

It sounds really spiteful and sarcastic to me. I get what you’re saying, though, and I appreciate your opinion.

Reading what he said and then listening to it, he (to me) sounded very-- errrrrr.. sort of sarcastic.
Either way.. I lol'd.

 

[bored]

When seeing him twice in 2022
Blackpool and Doncaster … he paraded
About with a cigarette in his chops….
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen at his gigs….

He caught one backhanded in Dec 2022 in Boston. Good video on YouTube. He's got skills.

 

[The Alchemist]

I get what he's saying. Bad lyrics or not, at least it's a song with a positive message.

 

[The Alchemist]

I've just read the lyrics again.

To me it's a song celebrating oneness; beyond the veil of illusion and ignorance. Regardless of the lyrical content, I applaud anyone writing from that level of consciousness - rather than repeatedly wallowing in the separateness of the ego.

 

[Roman Holiday]

I've just read the lyrics again.

To me it's a song celebrating oneness; beyond the veil of illusion and ignorance. Regardless of the lyrical content, I applaud anyone writing from that level of consciousness - rather than repeatedly wallowing in the separateness of the ego.

I don't know about that. "Oneness" seems pretty masturbatory to me. As Nietzsche put it (and I'm merely paraphrasing here), that navel-gazing Vedanta shit is for wealthy people in nice climates with a ton of free time. Anyone who thinks suffering is merely illusory is welcome to have their toenails pulled out and see if they think so then.

The true poet, I think, does in fact step fact step out of his ego. He or she doesn't necessarily want to party and sing life's praises (or oneness's praises) just because they as an individual had a good LSD trip or a spiritual reverie. He or she can put themselves in other's shoes, and unflinchingly examine life's sad truth, and its refuse.

 

[The Alchemist]

I don't know about that. "Oneness" seems pretty masturbatory to me. As Nietzsche put it (and I'm merely paraphrasing here), that navel-gazing Vedanta shit is for wealthy people in nice climates with a ton of free time. Anyone who thinks suffering is merely illusory is welcome to have their toenails pulled out and see if they think so then.

The true poet, I think, does in fact step fact step out of his ego. He or she doesn't necessarily want to party and sing life's praises (or oneness's praises) just because they as an individual had a good LSD trip or a spiritual reverie. He or she can put themselves in other's shoes, and unflinchingly examine life's sad truth, and its refuse.

Vedanta speaks to millions of people with very little wealth. They realise they have something infinitely more valuable within themselves than any materially wealthy person could ever amass. In fact, one might say they completely understand that the fundamental mistake lies in identifying as an external self in the first place.

 

[The Alchemist]

I don't know about that. "Oneness" seems pretty masturbatory to me. As Nietzsche put it (and I'm merely paraphrasing here), that navel-gazing Vedanta shit is for wealthy people in nice climates with a ton of free time. Anyone who thinks suffering is merely illusory is welcome to have their toenails pulled out and see if they think so then. The true poet, I think, does in fact step fact step out of his ego. He or she doesn't necessarily want to party and sing life's praises (or oneness's praises) just because they as an individual had a good LSD trip or a spiritual reverie. He or she can put themselves in other's shoes, and unflinchingly examine life's sad truth, and its refuse.

That's great, until you find that a person like M is actually just going around in the same old samsara wheel/cycle, in perpetuality. They are completely dominated by identification with the mind and with form.

Until they actually begin the process of releasing themselves from samsara, nothing changes - they will continue to know nothing of what lies beyond (or rather prior to) thought and form.

It all starts with the mind, and the most prevalent disease afflicting humanity: chronic thinking, and habitually reactive thinking and conditioning.

Vedanta speaks to millions of people with very little wealth. They realise they have something infinitely more valuable within themselves than any materially wealthy person could ever amass. In fact, one might say they completely understand that the fundamental mistake lies in identifying as an external self in the first place.

(I realise that this quote suggests my response might have been better as no response, but I believe there could be more value in leaving this here as a hopefully helpful insight for others, than in staying silent)

I may not respond any further; not through ignorance, but rather as an exercise of watching my own mind.

 

[ZOOM FROM GLOOM]

I don't know about that. "Oneness" seems pretty masturbatory to me.

I believe you may be thinking of ‘Onanism’, not Oneness.

As Nietzsche put it (and I'm merely paraphrasing here), that navel-gazing Vedanta shit is for wealthy people in nice climates with a ton of free time.

Then he obviously knew nothing about its practice and benefits, it seems. Poor guy.

Anyone who thinks suffering is merely illusory is welcome to have their toenails pulled out and see if they think so then.

Everything is an illusion, but the illusion is real. Life and its lessons, the joys and its pains is the perfect place of practice, the greatest teacher. And it’s free.

The true poet, I think, does in fact step fact step out of his ego. He or she doesn't necessarily want to party and sing life's praises (or oneness's praises) just because they as an individual had a good LSD trip or a spiritual reverie. He or she can put themselves in other's shoes, and unflinchingly examine life's sad truth, and its refuse.

But the artist doesn’t need to step out of the ego to do that, and usually doesn’t. In fact the ego usually drives the artist to use those tools and practices to express their ego, if that artist identifies with their ego, i.e., their imaginary story of who and what they are. Which isn’t always a negative. I mean, it’s not the worst action through ego, to be creative.

@The Alchemist yes.

 

[Roman Holiday]

Vedanta speaks to millions of people with very little wealth. They realise they have something infinitely more valuable within themselves than any materially wealthy person could ever amass. In fact, one might say they completely understand that the fundamental mistake lies in identifying as an external self in the first place.

That's interesting. The way I understand it, within Hinduism, Vedanta is the rarefied contemplative philosophy and bhakti yoga is the usual practice for the common people. Destitute Hindus like the untouchables didn't have literacy to read the sacred texts, they weren't allowed in the temples, and the priests were functionaries for the upper castes. It was a pretty grim life. I don't think they were particularly focused on the bliss of self-realization. They were too busy cleaning the latrines and picking up the corpses. They just burnt what meager sacrificial offerings they could muster to the gods, and hoped to be blessed with a better station of birth the next time around.

I think Vedanta, as well as Buddhism and other Eastern systems, is popular now in the West because it appeals to people who, compared to the rest of the world, are pretty well-off and have the spare time for hobbies, just like it was with the ancient Brahmins who developed it.

 

[Roman Holiday]

Life and its lessons, the joys and its pains is the perfect place of practice, the greatest teacher. And it’s free.

But how many sentient beings, of all the sentient beings who are born into this world, actually learn lessons from their suffering? Most of them are animals. The ones born into factory farms don't learn anything; they just suffer until their suffering is ended with slaughter. The animal in the wild might "learn" something like, if you can't run faster than your predator, you'll get mauled before you can get away. But that's not much of a lesson because once you're mauled, you're hobbled, and easy pickings for the next predator. Not to mention all the human babies who suffer and die from famine and disease before they even have the capacity to learn. For most of history the infant mortality rate for humans was very high.

It seems like the only creatures learning lessons are mostly a very fortunate and very recent upper caste of humans; these are the people who can say "life's a f*cking miracle." Nero could've said it while he enjoyed the sight of Christians being burned alive as his garden torches. Lesson: always offer your grain of incense to the emperor when asked to. Not a valuable lesson when you're dead though.