Paint A Vulgar Picture

Cover art

THE SMITHS song
Name	Paint A Vulgar Picture
Album/single	Strangeways, Here We Come
Length	5:35 5:40 (Monitor Mix) 5:38 (Studio Outtake)
Writer/composer	Morrissey / Johnny Marr
Producer	Stephen Street Assisted by Morrissey / Johnny Marr
Release	September 1987
Recorded	Spring 1987

Information

An alternate take of this song appears on The Smiths – Unreleased Demos & Instrumentals bootleg LP.

Morrissey stated in the February 13-20, 1988 issue of NME that the song wasn't about Geoff Travis:

"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..."

Lyrics

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
"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 deceived
climber-new entry, re-entry
World tour! ("media whore")
"Please the Press in Belgium!"
(THIS was your life...)
and when it fails to recoup?
Well, maybe:
You just haven't earned it yet, baby
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
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
on their hands-at last!-a dead star!
but they cannot taint you in my eyes
no, they cannot touch you now
No, they cannot hurt you my darling
they cannot touch you now
but me and my 'true love'
will never meet again