Song and
album by
The Smiths that was released on
Sire Records in the US and
Canada and
WEA in
Europe and
Japan.
"The music critics' favourite, this 1986 album caught The Smiths, in many ways, at their peak. The songwriting duo Morrissey and Johnny Marr seemed to be able to produce nothing but quality - be it heart-breaking anthems like I Know It's Over or the breezy jangle-pop which was The Smiths' trademark, such as Cemetry Gates.
One of the most memorable album starts ever begins with a sample from the film The L-Shaped Room, leading incongrously into howling feedback which settles into the supreme rhythm of The Queen Is Dead. The album displays a wide variety of both musical and lyrical styles, from music hall (Frankly Mr. Shankly) to orchestrated balladry (There Is A Light That Never Goes Out).
The Queen Is Dead deserves (and usually receives in polls) a place as one of the (best) albums of all-time.
Marr said of working on the album : "There was perfect musical unity between myself, Mike, and Andy. Mike really learned to play with me like no one else. I really felt I turned him on to the Charlie Watts ethic. It was a dream for me to play on..."
The Hated Salford Ensemble is, of course, Johnny Marr, who arranged the synth strings on this album, and later credited himself as "Orchestrazia Ardwick" on Strangeways, Here We Come, after another area of Manchester."
Analysis by John Levon at moz@compsoc.man.ac.uk republished with kind permission
The Queen Is Dead was voted Best Album Of All Times by British rock critics from magazine Melody Maker, in 1999.
Everything Musical Tablature Database
Home :: S :: Smiths, The :: The Queen Is Dead
This is how you play and sing it:
INTRO: G A G#m G
B
Farewell to this land's cheerless marches
hemmed in like a boar between arches
her very Lowness with her head in a sling
D E
I'm truly sorry but it sounds like a wonderful thing
B
I say Charles don't you ever crave
to appear on the front of the Daily Mail
D E G A G#m G
dressed in your Mother's bridal veil?
B
And so I checked all the registered historical facts
and I was shocked into shame to discover
how I'm the 18th pale descendent
D E
of some old queen or other
B
Oh has the world changed, or have I changed?
oh has the world changed, or have I changed?
some nine year old tough who peddles drugs
D E G A G#m G
I swear to God, I swear I never even knew what drugs were
B
So I broke into the Palace
with a sponge and a rusty spanner
she said: "Eh, I know you, and you cannot sing"
D E
I said: "that's nothing - you should hear me play piano"
B
We can go for a walk where it's quiet and dry
and talk about precious things
but when you are tied to your mother's apron
D E G A G#m G
no-one talks about castration
B
We can go for a walk where it's quiet and dry
and talk about precious things
like love and law and poverty
D E
these are the things that kill me
(same as above)
We can go for a walk where it's quiet and dry
and talk about precious things
but the rain that flattens my hair
these are the things that kill me
B
Passed the pub that saps your body
and the church who'll snatch your money
D
the Queen is dead, boys
E
and it's so lonely on a limb
Pass the pub that wrecks your body
and the church, all they want is your money
the Queen is dead, boys
and it's so lonely on a limb
B D E
Life is very long, when you're lonely
life is very long, when you're lonely
life is very long, when you're lonely
life is very long, when you're lonely