#1 Intro / I say hello!

Cemetry Gates

The Smiths

A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetry gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
A dreaded sunny day
So I meet you at the cemetry gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
While Wilde is on mine

So we go inside and we gravely read the stones
All those people, all those lives
Where are they now?
With loves, and hates
And passions just like mine
They were born
And then they lived
And then they died
It seems so unfair
I want to cry

You say: "'Ere thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn"
And you claim these words as your own
But I've read well, and I've heard them said
A hundred times (maybe less, maybe more)
If you must write prose/poems
The words you use should be your own
Don't plagiarise or take "on loan"
'Cause there's always someone, somewhere
With a big nose, who knows
And who trips you up and laughs
When you fall
Who'll trip you up and laugh
When you fall

You say : "'Ere long done do does did"
Words which could only be your own
And then produce the text
From whence was ripped
(Some dizzy whore, 1804)

A dreaded sunny day
So let's go where we're happy
And I meet you at the cemetry gates
Oh, Keats and Yeats are on your side
A dreaded sunny day
So let's go where we're wanted
And I meet you at the cemetry gates
Keats and Yeats are on your side
But you lose
'Cause weird lover Wilde is on mine
Sure!

---

   Although The Smiths were considered by the critics, one of the most important bands to emerge from the British independent music scene of the 1980´s. Inward tensions led to their break up in 1987. The Smiths were active for only 5 years but they've changed the British music scene forever. The Smiths was formed in Manchester in 1982; consisting of vocalist Steven Morrissey “Moz”, guitarist Johnny Marr, bassist Andy Rourke, and drummer Mike Joyce.

    I have been listening to The Smiths and Morrissey since I was about twelve years old. At that moment, I remember a school friend gave me the first audiotape and then, my view of life changed drastically, well, it could not be otherwise. You cannot remain indifferent to Morrissey´s lyrics and voice…Moz, as we fans call him, writes lyrics like no one else wrote before, somehow, he fits the words into music and lyrics can be long and poetic, actually, they read more like poems, plays or something bizarre. Moz created an incredibly and particular style.

   When Moz was with The Smiths, he was just a young guy from a poor part of Manchester which in itself is not a rich City. He described himself as a nervous, geeky, awkward guy, not confident at all, besides he felt very clumsy and shy. What Morrissey did have was an incredible capacity to absorb books, plays, television programs and films, he'd got the gist of pop and intellectual culture and sarcastic comments on society all. These references in his lyrics combined with his unique singing style, made him a complete character.

   The Smiths is important to me because their lyrics and music move me profoundly. The songs can change my bad mood into a good one very fast most of the time. I discovered I could be the whole day listening to them, I never get tired of their music. I could say The Smiths helped me  dig deeper into British culture, subculture and language of course, that´s why I find it so interesting…there is always more for further research on issues they suggest, above all, human nature and unbearable feelings…

  I consider “Cemetry Gates” my favourite Smiths’s song, a great song in many ways. To begin with, the misspelling of cemetery in the title "Cemetry Gates," was an unintentional error by Morrissey, who admits he always had trouble with the word. The song deals with the band contemplating mortality as the narrator walks through a cemetery and is saddened by all the people graves, with their loves, hates, and passions which have died within them. "It seems so unfair, I want to cry," Moz sings, irreverently. This setting was familiar for Morrissey, who often used to wander the Southern Cemetery in Manchester, England, when he was sixteen.

  The song begins with the singer and his friend meeting on “a dreaded sunny day.” Morrissey uses satire in many of his songs, and by calling the sunny day “dreaded” he’s possibly poking fun at the fact that many people consider him overly melancholic. Morrissey admits to have an obsession with death and a fascination with tragic figures, like James Dean, who died in a car crash at age 24, and Oscar Wilde, who was imprisoned for his homosexuality and later died destitute at age 46. He told one famous magazine in 1988: "I have a dramatic, unswayable, unavoidable obsession with death. If there was a magical, beautiful pill that would retire you from this world, I think I would take it." I completely agree with his words…scanning these topics is something that The Smiths do all the time and it has helped me to express my thoughts and feelings about leaving this world some day.

  While they walk this fictional “cemetry”, Moz and his soul mate/ lover notice that the gravestones of poets like John Keats, William Butler Yeats and Oscar Wilde are inside. I read into these lyrics a romantic perspective, there is a main purpose adding these three writers. It is my point of view, Morrissey doesn’t specify, but he could be at the cemetery with his weird lover, then, maybe their promenade inside the cemetery could be a nod to the romantic idea of everlasting love, or, “Til death do us part.”

  Keats was one of the more prominent Romantic poets, and Yeats was an important figure in 20th-century literature. Morrissey counts Oscar Wilde among his major influences. A Victorian era author, poet, playright, Wilde was known for works like the novel The Picture of Dorian Gray and The Importance of Being Earnest. Including Wilde in the lyrics, could be a reference to Morrissey’s own sexuality (He has never publicly identified as being gay or straight). Wilde himself was convicted in the Victorian era of “gross indecency” with men. In a Moz song called “Such a little thing” he sings: “Leave me alone / You have just proved (again) / Most people keep their brains / Between their legs”. Moz also chooses the Irish poet Yeats, he emphasizes mortality in his "Death" poem, which points out that humans are the only species that dreads death or is even aware of their own mortality: "Man has created death." So sad.

 The couple of lovers/ friends divide the group of poets and Moz picks out Wilde, they both read the graves and try to find catchy or funny epitaphs. Is interesting how in the third verse, Moz character calls out his friend for plagiarizing a modified line from Shakespeare's Richard III, "'Ere thrice the sun done salutation to the dawn." He scolds: "If you must write prose or poems, the words you use should be your own." Ashamed for this warning, the lover says: "'Ere long done do does did" while Moz mocks him for being a liar and pretentiously wordy. “Words which could only be your own/ And then produce the text / From whence was ripped (Some dizzy whore, 1804).

  Last but not least, the rhythm and time of the song cheers me up every time I listen to it. At a very short age “Cemetry gates” made me look at what these words mean because they were impossible for me to understand without a dictionary. I find tons of humour, word play and silliness in this song. English people define their northern sense of humour quick and dry, with double edged meanings, indeed Moz is very good playing with all that stuff. He can easily mix and match in a song; the unfairness of death, love, plagiarism, famous poets and spelling errors. Whatever, for me it will always sound like we are forever young, reading graves and laughing!