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The Smiths: Songs That Saved Your Life
One of the seminal groups of the 80s, The Smiths� career was as brilliant as it was brief. Here, drawing on interviews with band members, producers, and colleagues, Simon Goddard presents a chronological survey of the group’s musical evolution, from their first demos in 1982 to their final studio session five years on. Investigating the stories behind the songs, he also offers an analysis of each track’s concert life. Granted unprecedented access to The Smiths� studio archives and to the private collection of outtakes and rehearsals retained by drummer Mike Joyce, the author looks at unreleased materials as well as the lost songs and alternative versions that have remained secret until now.
351 pages, Paperback
First published December 1, 2002
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1,635 people want to read
About the author
Simon Goddard
23books30followersSimon Goddard was born in Cardiff in 1971.
He is the author of ten books about pop music.
agent: thenorthlitagency.com
He is the author of ten books about pop music.
agent: thenorthlitagency.com
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 62 reviews
February 10, 2012
This is the perfect book for fans of the Smiths and Morrissey. Every song, concert or TV appearance is listed and it's a great history of The Smiths from the beginning to the bitter end with the royalty disputes, court cases and the beginning of Morrissey and Marr's solo careers.
I loved it so much that I have started to listen to the complete collection on Spotify "reissue! repackage! repackage!" (Paint a Vulgar Picture).
I loved it so much that I have started to listen to the complete collection on Spotify "reissue! repackage! repackage!" (Paint a Vulgar Picture).
February 26, 2016
A MUST FOR EVERY "THE SMITHS" FAN ..... DEFINETELY
September 6, 2021
Morrissey, Marr, Rourke, and Joyce were great. The Smiths were one of the best alt bands.
June 28, 2020
Ik beschouw mezelf als een heel grote Smiths-fan. Al van toen ik voor het eerst de intro hoorde van This Charming Man. Ik had al hun officiële LP’s en kocht nadien ook nog eens de CD’s. Plus diverse verzamelalbums, songbooks en gitaartabs. En ook nu nog luister ik regelmatig naar hun muziek die volgens mijn bescheiden mening nog even sterk is als 35 jaar geleden.
In dit boek wordt het verhaal verteld achter hun songs en hoe ze tot stand kwamen.
Maar dat is zo gedetailleerd dat het zelfs voor mij al gauw saai werd. Ik denk dat het fout was om dit boek trachten te lezen als een roman. Maar ik heb het nu en als ik ooit nog eens wat meer achtergrond wil weten over een song van The Smiths weet ik waar het te vinden is.
In dit boek wordt het verhaal verteld achter hun songs en hoe ze tot stand kwamen.
Maar dat is zo gedetailleerd dat het zelfs voor mij al gauw saai werd. Ik denk dat het fout was om dit boek trachten te lezen als een roman. Maar ik heb het nu en als ik ooit nog eens wat meer achtergrond wil weten over een song van The Smiths weet ik waar het te vinden is.
February 1, 2025
La cronologia d’una història gairebé mítica a partir de cada una de les cançons i feta des d’una passió abassegadora (més Marr que Mozz). Imprecindible per tots aquells que sabem que un món sense els Smiths seria un món perdut.
January 24, 2025
oh so nice
April 19, 2023
never read such a comprehensive and detailed book on music ever
March 3, 2021
I bought this book after seeing it as a reference used on the Wikipedia page for "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" I was browsing while wallowing one day, and I knew I had to have it based on the information it provided. What I thought was just another detailed history of this immaculate band ended up being so much more.
To say this book is thorough is an understatement. Goddard is a literal font of knowledge on this band. This book takes you through a brief origin of The Smiths, the context surrounding the recording of LITERALLY EVERY SMITHS TRACK, a brief summary of their demise, and then not one but FOUR appendices detailing every physical record put out by the group, radio and television appearances, live setlists, etc. While this book is relatively light on overall band history, it is overflowing with context.
I think this is probably as sacred a text as Smiths fans will get (I still need to get a copy of Goddard's Mozipedia), and it has totally reinvigorated my love for this timeless group. Now I go back to wallowing to the sweet, sweet melancholia of Morrissey's lyrics and Marr's instrumentation, while knowing that I could now absolutely crush a Jeopardy! category on the mighty Mancunians.
To say this book is thorough is an understatement. Goddard is a literal font of knowledge on this band. This book takes you through a brief origin of The Smiths, the context surrounding the recording of LITERALLY EVERY SMITHS TRACK, a brief summary of their demise, and then not one but FOUR appendices detailing every physical record put out by the group, radio and television appearances, live setlists, etc. While this book is relatively light on overall band history, it is overflowing with context.
I think this is probably as sacred a text as Smiths fans will get (I still need to get a copy of Goddard's Mozipedia), and it has totally reinvigorated my love for this timeless group. Now I go back to wallowing to the sweet, sweet melancholia of Morrissey's lyrics and Marr's instrumentation, while knowing that I could now absolutely crush a Jeopardy! category on the mighty Mancunians.
December 7, 2015
Being a middle-aged dude and a Smiths fan since I was 15, it was a fun read.
Interesting to hear the stories behind the songs and I like how it's laid out chronologically. It made me think about how important it is to listen to an album in its entirety as laid out by the artist. I don't do that like I used to now that I use digital media. Also made me miss liner notes. I wish I hadn't sold all my vinyl in 1993.
All in all, I appreciate the book as a fan. The whole thing is like reading a DIY zine from back in the day. I got a kick out of reading it and am listening to the "Meat is Murder" album as I type.
Interesting to hear the stories behind the songs and I like how it's laid out chronologically. It made me think about how important it is to listen to an album in its entirety as laid out by the artist. I don't do that like I used to now that I use digital media. Also made me miss liner notes. I wish I hadn't sold all my vinyl in 1993.
All in all, I appreciate the book as a fan. The whole thing is like reading a DIY zine from back in the day. I got a kick out of reading it and am listening to the "Meat is Murder" album as I type.
June 12, 2008
A start-to-finish index of all the songs The Smiths ever played or performed. While you can look up individual songs and just read about your favorites, the book read cover-to-cover provides an overarching look of the band's history. Don't expect a narrative, though; each song listing is a separate entry.
September 12, 2007
Definitely geared towards the hardcore Smiths fan, this book has all the info & stats on every song they ever recorded/performed... We're not getting any new music out of them, so a deeper knowledge of what we have is the next best thing. For the misunderstood teenager in all of us...
June 25, 2013
The only thing that could make this any better is complete lyrics, but you can't have everything. For a band who have survived, through legend, for so long it is pitiful how much is genuinely written about them. A good and concise reference guide.
August 5, 2018
I really liked listening to each song while reading about the circumstances under which it came to life. All the details about the relationships between group members were also much appreciated! Great read
August 6, 2020
Astonishingly well researched but I suspect that pinning down every single morrissey allusion and plagarism misses why his lyrics are so special even if it illuminates the creative process behind them.
September 23, 2011
, its was really nothing!
August 5, 2013
Still excellent. New edition is worth it, some extra info in there.
March 21, 2015
Magnificent! Goddard used Revolution in the Head, (the best book about The Beatles in my opinion,) as his blueprint.
Well done!
Well done!
March 29, 2013
A fantastic, well-written stroll through every song every written by The Smiths - told in chronological order.
November 26, 2013
A chronology of the songs that did indeed save my life & taught me about British humour. A must-read for all Smiths fans on the greatest songwriting duo since Lennon & McCartney.
December 23, 2016
This book is fun. It's become a sort of diary for me, I scribble my favorite lyrics to each song on the pages that song is written about. I pull it out a lot when I'm listening to my Smiths records.
July 10, 2020
Heaven knows how good they were for a few years in the 1980s.
December 17, 2023
what can i say? it's a good book, well researched. probably best read as an encyclopedia of sorts rather than as a book, and in hindsight probably the worst way to read it is how i read it, (1.5 days) in a state of feverish absorption: but that's probably how everyone will read it, since only people a bit mad about the smiths would pick this up in the first place. but if you can, pick it up when you listen to a song, and just follow the song's course throughout the book. there isn't really a narrative, the story of the band is interspersed throughout. it's a great format, like the beatles book 'revolution in the head'.
i think the best thing about the book is that it brings a lot of characters who, in my mind through disconnected references on the internet just sort of flit in and out about the smiths. now i know when they come in and when they exit [pursued by a bear/morrisey]. and the smiths discography is falls into place in my head more clearly, tate sessions, peel sessions, the bbc recordings etc.
although the book doesn't really dwell on it much, it also brings into real focus the exhaustion that johnny marr would have felt by the end of strangeways.
the endless references to novels, songs, and myriad influences are all A +.
i am taking a star off because of my complaint about indie music and writing in general really. right after i finished the early chapters, i got this whiff of straight white boy writing. its not so much a relegation of the band's gayness in anyway, but rather, i don't know. a subtle downplaying which can be attributed to not being queer, and not getting it? james maker in drag in the live shows is just a natural consequence of the kind of band the smiths were rather than an oddity, you know. i felt like there was an acknowledgment of gayness in the writing but it was in the inner sleeves rather than the record, if that makes sense. i will tell you what, i also read an interview of simon goddard, and he says when in high school, he met a kid called chris, who was 'even bigger Smiths fan' and was openly gay, and he helped him understand the Smiths lyrics better, and that 'homosexuality was more than just sex'. i hope you get what i am saying here.
and of course some of it was hagiographic, but that is okay, being a fan is allowed, even good, but maybe i just want teenage girls to write the NME, i don't know. they bring in a lack of reverence to the whole thing where they think morrissey is a mixture of their uncle and irascible internet friend. nobody can tell a story like the tumblr girlies i guess.
and again, no complaints to simon, but i wanted to know more about Johnny. he is the one that i love. whenever he was mentioned i was like, but what was he wearing? what did he look like? but apparently set the boy free is half about clothes, so i will just look forwards to that.
i think the best thing about the book is that it brings a lot of characters who, in my mind through disconnected references on the internet just sort of flit in and out about the smiths. now i know when they come in and when they exit [pursued by a bear/morrisey]. and the smiths discography is falls into place in my head more clearly, tate sessions, peel sessions, the bbc recordings etc.
although the book doesn't really dwell on it much, it also brings into real focus the exhaustion that johnny marr would have felt by the end of strangeways.
the endless references to novels, songs, and myriad influences are all A +.
i am taking a star off because of my complaint about indie music and writing in general really. right after i finished the early chapters, i got this whiff of straight white boy writing. its not so much a relegation of the band's gayness in anyway, but rather, i don't know. a subtle downplaying which can be attributed to not being queer, and not getting it? james maker in drag in the live shows is just a natural consequence of the kind of band the smiths were rather than an oddity, you know. i felt like there was an acknowledgment of gayness in the writing but it was in the inner sleeves rather than the record, if that makes sense. i will tell you what, i also read an interview of simon goddard, and he says when in high school, he met a kid called chris, who was 'even bigger Smiths fan' and was openly gay, and he helped him understand the Smiths lyrics better, and that 'homosexuality was more than just sex'. i hope you get what i am saying here.
and of course some of it was hagiographic, but that is okay, being a fan is allowed, even good, but maybe i just want teenage girls to write the NME, i don't know. they bring in a lack of reverence to the whole thing where they think morrissey is a mixture of their uncle and irascible internet friend. nobody can tell a story like the tumblr girlies i guess.
and again, no complaints to simon, but i wanted to know more about Johnny. he is the one that i love. whenever he was mentioned i was like, but what was he wearing? what did he look like? but apparently set the boy free is half about clothes, so i will just look forwards to that.
May 13, 2017
This one's different from what I expected. I can't really say exactly what I expected, but this isn't it, but that's not a bad thing.
Anyhow! This is a precise catalogue of all the Smiths recordings that ever existed, listed in chronological order, with the band's history described sketchily, sort of as a backdrop. There are some anecdotes, but not that many, which just underlines the main message of the book: it's the songs that are important; everything else is secondary.
Goddard is a fan, but his tone is fairly subdued and meausured, and he's often critical of the band, which is cool. While he occasionally touches on the origin and meaning of the lyrics, he does not engage in idle speculation, which was ultimately a relief to me.
Ultimately, the book accomplished its goal: I listen to familiar songs with, ah, new ears, I sought out recordings previously unknown to me, and so on. (And I'd like to use the book as a reference book too, but I dunno if I'll have the determination)
Oh and, awesome title. Though reputedly it was chosen by the publisher, and the author himself disliked it.
Anyhow! This is a precise catalogue of all the Smiths recordings that ever existed, listed in chronological order, with the band's history described sketchily, sort of as a backdrop. There are some anecdotes, but not that many, which just underlines the main message of the book: it's the songs that are important; everything else is secondary.
Goddard is a fan, but his tone is fairly subdued and meausured, and he's often critical of the band, which is cool. While he occasionally touches on the origin and meaning of the lyrics, he does not engage in idle speculation, which was ultimately a relief to me.
Ultimately, the book accomplished its goal: I listen to familiar songs with, ah, new ears, I sought out recordings previously unknown to me, and so on. (And I'd like to use the book as a reference book too, but I dunno if I'll have the determination)
Oh and, awesome title. Though reputedly it was chosen by the publisher, and the author himself disliked it.
October 2, 2023
Comprehensive review of all the Smiths Songs - detailed in order - every single, b side and album track discussed in turn. The events that were affecting the band interwoven into narrative.
Unsure whether it should be read in one go - or used as an encyclopedia. Probably the latter.
Prompted me to re-listen to the albums for the first time in years - and to seek out visual references described. Youtube is a wonderful resource. You can see how good they were at their 3rd live gig at the hacienda.
Lots of references to the books, films and plays that inspired Morrisseys lyrics - so it leads to more entertainment.
Also incredible to think that Marr was only 23 after they split up - with four great studio albums and some very quotable interviews.
The book ends with Morrisseys first solo gig at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Free entry to those who turned up in a Smiths T-shirt. 3000 turned up. The capacity was 1500. A mini riot three days before Xmas took place.
I was in the last 50 counted in.
Unsure whether it should be read in one go - or used as an encyclopedia. Probably the latter.
Prompted me to re-listen to the albums for the first time in years - and to seek out visual references described. Youtube is a wonderful resource. You can see how good they were at their 3rd live gig at the hacienda.
Lots of references to the books, films and plays that inspired Morrisseys lyrics - so it leads to more entertainment.
Also incredible to think that Marr was only 23 after they split up - with four great studio albums and some very quotable interviews.
The book ends with Morrisseys first solo gig at Wolverhampton Civic Hall. Free entry to those who turned up in a Smiths T-shirt. 3000 turned up. The capacity was 1500. A mini riot three days before Xmas took place.
I was in the last 50 counted in.
September 10, 2023
This is a decent chronology of one of the most influential indie bands of all time, The Smiths, told through its catalogue of songs. It details the life of the group as it progressed through its short 5 year career, focusing on each individual track (complete with relevant information). It's an enjoyable way to see the evolution of its members and the songwriting craft of Morrissey and Marr.
Perhaps not one for everyone, this is probably aimed squarely at those obsessed fans rather than the casual listener, but it's lovingly written by Simon Goddard and, as well as focusing on all the tracks, also covers The Smiths' tours, radio & TV appearances.
Perhaps not one for everyone, this is probably aimed squarely at those obsessed fans rather than the casual listener, but it's lovingly written by Simon Goddard and, as well as focusing on all the tracks, also covers The Smiths' tours, radio & TV appearances.
July 22, 2021
Not much to say as the five stars above says it all. If you're a Smiths fan, this book is a must. The origins of every song and all the details are within. The most valuable aspect of this book was the discovery of the oldest known recording of Morrissey and Marr doing a cover of the Cookies, "I Want a Boy For My Birthday". It is currently in the hands of a private collector but the owner was kind enough to at least copy it for us and upload it on the Internet so we can all enjoy it. So again, this book is a must for Smiths fans.
November 19, 2018
A thoroughly researched book by someone who clearly loves this band a great deal. The story of The Smiths told through looking at each of their records in chronological order, providing great insight into finest band of their era and the process they went undertook as they achieved immortality. This book makes for great reading if you are a diehard Smiths fan. There is a light that never goes out, and that light shines throughout this book. Long live the genius of Morrissey and Marr!
December 16, 2019
While the book can be a bit repetitive with the information that it offers, it does serve as an excellent reference resource. I found myself reading about every third song or so that I was most interested in and wasn’t disappointed with what I discovered. This is so clearly a labour of love for the author and his efforts are a justly rewarding read for any fan of The Smiths.
June 21, 2020
Qué libro tan increíble. Esperaba algo bueno pero superó todas mis expectativas. No tengo mucho para decir porque no sé qué decir pero deben leer esto si están interesados en The Smiths o la música en general, no lo sé. Sigo encantada.
November 10, 2017
Great reference book on all the Smiths songs. Would need to be a hard core Smiths fan to truly enjoy it.
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