Morrissey began his career with cantankerous letters to the editor, and has indeed stayed true to himself in a recent rant on True-to-You, this time focusing on his label, politicians, and television producers neglecting to ask him to perform in support of his recent album World Peace Is None of Your Business.
In the first portion of his post, Morrissey describes how his record label has not funded any music videos for the album’s title track, which makes you wonder where those spoken word videos were coming from. (The “harvested by the record label” line is a witty reference to his label is Harvest Records.)
[pullquote]I am indebted to three sources that have placed their own well-crafted videos on You Tube for the song World peace is none of your business. The three individual sources are named as Sharon Jheeta, Héctor González and wpeace123456. These videos fully understand the intent of the song, and I am relieved that these films exist. Yes, a similar document ought to have been harvested by the record label, but please understand that the pop or rock industry can be as dedicated to perpetuating public deception as the world of politics itself. God bless social media! Liberty, equality and fraternity are the essence of the song; no monarchic rule, no political hierarchies, no bought-and-paid-for government thugs, security forces no longer beyond prosecution, and an end to megalomania, repression and corruption.[/pullquote]
Part two of this this tirade focuses on Bush, the Royals, and other issues that seem dated from a decade ago back in 2004, but nevertheless are still relevant. It’s interesting that Morrissey claims that he has not been invited unto television lately, as the last time I recall saw Morrissey on television is when his publicist booked him on The Colbert Report (see below), which did not seem to go over well, as Mozz’s PR was no longer handled by that particular agency after the awkward interview.
[pullquote]Meat consumption is climate change, and if ever there were a self-evident lost cause it is the British so-called “royal family”. Societies have never been so nervous; Pan Am Flight 103 differs not a jot from Malaysian Flight 17. The United Nations failure to imprison Tony Blair and George W. Bush for war crimes against Iraq has told us all that there can never be enough bloodshed, and the world is suffering its worst nervous breakdown. Do not feel powerless!
Many apparently powerless causes have succeeded in shifting political stupidity and greed. You are intellectual sanity. It is possible for nonviolent change; there are more people than there are aging despots; there are more people than there are world leaders. In truth, the world is leaderless. Please stop watching Fox News; anti-monarchial Britain has given up on the BBC – we know that every slot is paid for. We know that the number 1 position on the pop charts is “bought”; this is not 1955.
Thank you to all of my friends in Israel, Chile, Sweden, Poland, Argentina, Hungary, Romania, Finland and Italy who bought World peace is none of your business. It is 30 years on since The Smiths album entered the UK chart at number 2 with zero airplay and zero promotion, and the struggle for the airwaves remains difficult. Yet, I am writing this to you now, and you are reading it. In answer to many people who have asked, I should like to finally make it clear that I have not received any television invitations – worldwide! – to either discuss World peace is none of your business, or even to sing any songs from the album.
All we have is each other.
[/pullquote]
for the animals, for intellectual sanity …
Morrissey has confirmed at least one European tour date, in Lisbon, Portugal on October 6. A entry on True-to-You notes that dates are in the works for Dublin, Ireland, Athens, Greece; Istanbul, Turkey; Rome, Italy; Bucharest, Romania, and Budapest, Hungary. These would be the first shows since Morrissey canceled the remainder of his US tourdates.
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