Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning
| MORRISSEY song | |
|---|---|
| Name | Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning |
| Album/single | Vauxhall And I |
| Length | 3:42 |
| Writer/composer | Morrissey / Boz Boorer |
| Producer | Steve Lillywhite |
| Recorded | Summer 1993 |
Information
The song features a sample of the line "what's your name?" by actress Kay Walsh from the 1942 film "In Which We Serve." Posted by ALLIE WALLS in the forum: "it comes in around 42.11 and currently on BBC I Player" (also YouTube).
The title is asserted by Simon Goddard in Mozipedia to be derived from a poem by Stevie Smith entitled: "Not Waving, But Drowning" (1957). Excerpt:
‘Inspired by real facts’, or so Morrissey teased, this sinister if blackly comic vignette was strongly reminiscent of Stevie Smith’s famous 1957 poem ‘Not Waving, But Drowning’. Whereas in Smith’s tale a man drowns out at sea watched by oblivious bystanders who mistake his flailing arms for playful ‘larking’, in Morrissey’s version an exhausted lifeguard calmly and maliciously allows a girl in similar peril to drown so he can sleep in peace.
Lyrics
Always looking for attention
Always needs to be mentioned
Who does she think she should be?
The shrill cry through darkening air
Doesn't she know he's
Had such a busy day?
Tell her...shh
Somebody tell her...shh
No way, no way
There's no movement, no
Hooray
It was only a test
But she swam too far against the tide
She deserves all she gets
The sky became mad with stars
As an out-stretched arm slowly disappears
Hooray
Oh, hooray
No, there's no movement, no
Hooray, hooray
Please don't worry there'll be no fuss
She was...nobody's nothing
When he awoke the sea was calm
And another day passes like a dream
There's no, no way
Live History
Play count (Morrissey concert): 0
Appears On
Related Forum Threads
- Morrissey A-Z: "Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning" - Morrissey-solo (May 27, 2021)