My Top 30 Songs By The Smiths

Throughout June I took part in a Bluesky music challenge #TheSmithsTop30. I've loved the band's music since 1984 and looking back from 41 years into the future reminded me for the umpteenth time that they remain one of the bands of my life. Here is that top 30 with some words about what the songs still mean to me.

Number 30

This will be the only selection from Strangeways Here We Come it's my least favourite album by The Smiths by some distance. This though is straight out of the classic Morrissey song book.

Last Night I Dreamt Somebody Loved Me

Number 29

Meat Is Murder

The title track of their best album. Great vocal from the cows. Nearly turned me vegetarian but I didn't love it that much so it only makes number 29

Number 28

Girl Afraid

The first of several from Hatful Of Hollow. Joy in the music. Pain in the lyrics. A heady mix for us shy teenagers in 1984.

Number 27

Nowhere Fast

The band cooks up a storm. Meanwhile, Morrissey...

"And when I'm lying in my bed

I think about life

And I think about death

And neither one particularly appeals to me"

Number 26

The Hand That Rocks The Cradle

My first but not last choice from the first album. I don't care about production or any other supposed faults with the recording. I don't want it different, it felt like this. Unique and compelling.

Number 25

That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore

A line that's remained in my daily vocabulary.

The crescendo as Morrissey sings "I've seen it happen.." with Marrs guitar is spine tingling.

Number 24

Cemetry Gates

I've only got 4 from The Queen Is Dead and this is the first. Joy in the music, magic in the words, set among the dead. Only The Smiths.

Number 23

Bigmouth Strikes Again

Literature yesterday in Cemetry Gates, history today.

"As the flames rose to her Roman nose and her hearing aids started to melt...."

Genius or his he trying too hard now? Great song either way.

Number 22

Rusholme Ruffians

A rock'n'roll rampage through a night at the carnival. Full of couplets that put you right there while the band recreate the feeling of the whirling waltzer. Relentless and exhilarating.

Number 21

Suffer Little Children

Brady and Hindley's monstrous crimes committed 20 years earlier were still very much in the media such was the fascination around them. Morrissey's ode to the Moors Murders is bleak and brutal "Oh Manchester...."

Number 20

The Headmaster Ritual

Went to school in the late 70s early 80s? This is so familiar. The belligerent ghouls running Manchester schools existed across the country. Morrissey had an ability to talk to us few have before or since.

Number 19

Ask

Released at the end of 1986 for me it Marks a Smiths watershed moment. Marr's guitar has a joy not found in anything that came next. This is the last moment of The Smiths I grew up with. What a song it is to go out on

Number 18

Barbarism Begins At Home

Another track that would concern social services and safeguarding were the lyrics found in a teenagers diary. I must try again with Morrissey's autobiography. The song? Of course it's all about the bass

Number 17

Hand In Glove

I remember trying to mix this with Sandie Shaw's version using a cassette recorder and a C60.

Such a "Smiths" song and Morrissey's lyrics made us think. Probably over think. "This one is different because it's ours..."

Number 16

Handsome Devil

From Hatful Of Hollow a live version that captures perfectly the early sprirt, freedom and sheer skill contained in four special musicians.

Number 15

The Queen Is Dead

As it's the anniversary of the album's release I've dropped this in. It's place justified for the intro alone.

Number 14

These Things Take Time

Each couplet from the first to the last from a writer at his peak.

The whole song i.e. "And I know that I'm the most inept that ever stepped" Aimed directly at 18 year old me. Obviously...

Number 13

What Difference Does It Make?

Another gem from the brilliant first album. I love the relentlessness of this. There's no let up as Rourke and Joyce drive it on. I can't believe I only have it at number 13. What a song it is.

Number 12

Back To The Old House

"Morrissey can't sing" they say. Yes he can and does beautifully on this. All while Johnny Marr creates a music box style swirling background. Imagine instead of a ballerina or fairy a gently spinning Morrissey....

Number 11

Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want

For many years this song was a hard listen. The lyrics were a constant gut punch and reminder of where I was. Only great songwriters can do that.

"Haven't had a dream in a long time" 😔

Number 10

Reel Around The Fountain

Morrissey's most provocative, controversial, ambiguous lyric. It certainly stirred the red tops back in 1984. I don't believe it to be sinister but a song about sex between a young man and an older lover.

Number 9

Still Ill

Always been one of my favourites. A fantastic sing-along-a-Smiths song.

🎶 Ohhh am I still ill? 🎶

Number 8

I Want The One I Can't Have

The first of two more from Meat Is Murder that have to be played as they are on the album. The segue from this into What She Said is just magnificent.

Number 7

What She Said

No surprises here. The next track after I Want The One I Can't Have on Meat Is Murder. There's something about the sheer energy if these songs and that album that I adore. Play loud.

Number 6

This Charming Man

Great bands have a moment where they introduce themselves to an unsuspecting world. From the guitar to the gladioli this was it. We're here. You might not like us but you can't ignore us.

Number 5

William It Was Really Nothing

Short and sweet. Possibly about Billy Mackenzie. A worthy number 5

Number 4

Well I Wonder

The highest placed track from Meat Is Murder only beaten by three stone cold classics. It's such a gorgeous song musically and lyrically and seemingly under rated. I love it.

"Please keep me in mind..."

Number 3

There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

I'm sure this will be in most top 3's, many number 1's. It's a fabulous, heart wrenching song full of imagery. A little Play For Today wrapped up in stunning musicality.

Number 2

How Soon Is Now

All about Johnny Marr showing off his influences to create an incredible soundscape for Morrissey to encapsulate a big night out for the shy and lonely. When they got this stuff right they were the greatest.

Number 1

Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now

The ultimate Smiths song.

Misunderstood as are the band by so many.

It will be my funeral song

This my epitaph

"In my life oh why did I give valuable time to people who don't care if I live or die?"

So there it is. My top 30 songs by The Smiths.

9 from Meat Is Murder

7 from The Smiths

6 from Hatful Of Hollow

4 from The Queen Is Dead

3 from Louder Than Bombs

1 from Strangeways Here We Come

Let me know what you think.