Album: The Queen Is Dead (1986)Produced by Morrissey and Johnny Marr
Label: Rough Trade Records
Track 7: The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Words by Morrissey
Music by Johnny Marr
Video: The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
Lyrics: The Smiths - The Boy With The Thorn In His Side
The boy with the thorn in his side
behind the hatred there lies
a murderous desire for love
how can they look into my eyes
and still they dont believe me?
how can they hear me say those words
and still they dont believe me?
and if they dont believe me now
will they ever believe me?
and if they dont believe me now
will they ever believe me?
The boy with the thorn in his side
behind the hatred there lies
a plundering desire for love
how can they see the Love in our eyes
and still they dont believe us?
and after all this time
they dont want to believe us
and if they dont believe us now
will they ever believe us?
and when you want to Live
how do you start?
where do you go?
who do you need to know?
"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" is a song by The Smiths. It appears on their third album The Queen Is Dead but was released as a single (albeit in a different mix) several months before the album, reaching #23 in the UK Singles Chart in Autumn 1985.This was the first Smiths single to be accompanied by a promotional video, something the band had previously resisted. Some of the Smiths' more purist fans at the time derided this as a sell-out.
The following year, the New Musical Express greeted the news that the band had signed a contract with EMI with the headline "The Boy With The Thorn-EMI On His Side".
The jumping man on the cover of the single release is a young Truman Capote.
The song was covered by Scottish band Bis on the tribute album The Smiths is dead. Music reviewer, Stephen Thomas Erlewine, trashed the cover, stating: "In particular, the Bis utterly disembowel 'The Boy with the Thorn in His Side' with a single-minded stupidity that is just bewildering."
The song has also been covered by Jeff Buckley, Belle & Sebastian and Dinosaur Jr's J Mascis in live performances. This song also shares its name with a book written by Pete Wentz, bassist of the band Fall Out Boy.
The song was featured in the third episode of the British drama musical series Blackpool.
Margi Clarke asked Morrissey if this song was inspired by Oscar Wilde and Morrissey replied: "No that's not true. The thorn is the music industry and all those people who never believed anything I said, tried to get rid of me and wouldn't play the records. So I think we've reached a stage where we feel: if they don't believe me now, will they ever believe me? What more can a poor boy do?
Source: Wikipedia
