All The Lazy Dykes
The Palms is a lesbian bar on Santa Monica Boulevard in Los Angeles
Alma Matters
"Anyway, it's your life, ruin it your own way."
A Taste Of Honey, by Shelagh Delaney.
Alma might be the Coronation Street character or 50s chanteuse Alma Coogan
Alsatian Cousin
The title of the song is from the Alan Bennett play Forty Years On.
Angel, Angel, Down We Go Together
Angel, Angel, Down We Go, 1970s film
Bona Drag
Palare/polari: "lovely clothes". See more on palare/polari in the entry on "Piccadilly Palare".
Billy Budd
"...because of what was in our eyes."
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept, by Elizabeth Smart
Billy Budd is a novel by Herman Melville, who also wrote "John Marr, Sailor", further adding to the suggestion that the song might be about Johnny Marr
Black-Eyed Susan
Apparently this is based upon The Buckingham's "Susan".
"I am a born-again atheist."
Attributed to Gore Vidal.
Come Back To Camden
Camden is an area in north-west London. Morrissey used to live nearby. Boz Boorer used to run a stall in the market.
Dagenham Dave
"Dagenham Dave" is the title of song by The Stranglers.
"He's Got The Whole World in His Hands" is a children's hymn
Do Your Best And Don't Worry
"...unnoticed in my drab dress."
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept by Elizabeth Smart
"You're watching yourself but you're too unfair."
"Rock 'n' Roll Suicide", David Bowie
Every Day is Like Sunday
"Come, friendly bombs, and fal on Slough
It isn't fit for humans now,
There isn't grass to graze a cow
Swarm over, Death!
Come, bombs, and blow to smithereens
Those air-conditioned, bright canteens,
Tinned fruit, tinned meat, tinned milk, tinned beans
Tinned minds, tinned breath."
From "Slough" by John Betjeman
Found, Found, Found
"...I do believe that the more you give your love, and I do believe
that the more you offer trust ... the more you're bound to lose".
"If Love Were All", Noel Coward
Viv Nicholson's book is called Spend, Spend, Spend - "Found, Found, Found" is perhaps a play on this.
Glamorous Glue
"...I am too much in love."
The Picture Of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde
"Glamorous glue" is apparently a euphemism for masculine ejaculate
Hairdresser On Fire
Rumoured to be based on the play The Boy Hairdresser by Orton/Halliwell
"Busy Scissors" was apparently a hairdressers in Sloane Square, where appointments were written one to a page. A Google search throws up several hairdressers called Busy Scissors. And a photo set by a Suicide Girl.
He Cried
"He Cried" is a song by 60's girl group The Shangri-La's.
Hulmerist
Derived from area of Manchester (Hulme, pronounced "Hume")
In The Future When All's Well
F. Lee Bailey, showbiz defence lawyer, who defended OJ Simpson and Patty Hearst, and was involved in the "Boston Strangler" case. Now disbarred.
Kill Uncle
Let's Kill Uncle, sixties film.
King Leer
King Lear is of course by William Shakespeare
The Last Of The Famous International Playboys
The Playboy of the Western World by Irish playwright J. M. Synge
"The Last Of The Secret Agents", song by Nancy Sinatra.
Late Night, Maudlin Street
"They are taking me away in a police car..."
"Are you not convinced, inspector ? Do you not believe in love ?"
By Grand Central Station I Sat Down And Wept by Elizabeth Smart
Late Night On Watling Street, book of short stories by Bill Naughton
Maudlin Street is the name of the secondary school in Carry On Teaching
Also, whilst recording Viva Hate in Bath, Moz often visited Bristol, which as Upper/Lower Maudlin Street in the city centre.
The Lazy Sunbathers
George Formby accused contemporary performers of being "lazy sunbathers" for not being more active in the war effort. It probably also refers to the days after Germany invaded Poland, where crowds of Berlin sunbathers went to the Wahnsee lake, in a state of denial about the forthcoming war.
Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning
"Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning."
"Not Waving, But Drowning" by Stevie Smith
(There is perhaps some irony in the poet's name as well when seen in the context of a bloke called Steven who was in a band called The Smiths)
Little Man, What Now?
Little Man, What Now?, a German film released in 1934, based on a book written by Hans Fallada.
Lucky Lisp
Pun on Cliff Richard's "Lucky Lips"
Maladjusted
"In a low-cut blouse she brings the beer."
"They'll eat a working girl like her alive."
Joni Mitchell, "The Jungle Line".
The Malady Lingers On
"...But the melody lingers on."
Ziegfeld Follies, by Irving Berlin
Malady Lingers On & Other Great Groaners, book by British northern comedian Les Dawson
National Front Disco, The
From Among The Thugs by Bill Buford.
Now I Am A Was
"I started at the top, and then I worked down".
Orson Welles
Now My Heart Is Full
Dallow, Spicer, Pinkie, Cubitt: characters in Brighton Rock by Grahame Greene, made into a film starring Richard Attenborough.
Papa Jack
It is possible the title of this song refers to a boxer called Jack Johnson.
The American writer Joel Chandler Harris wrote a series of stories in the
creole language Gullah, based around a character called Daddy Jack.
Piccadilly Palare
Piccadilly Circus in London is in Soho, centre of "Theatreland" where all the West End theatres are located, and also a gay village of sorts. "Piccadilly Palare" is about rent boys who worked around Piccadilly Circus. Also, Piccadilly Gardens and Piccadilly Station are in Manchester.
Words from Round The Horne, 1960s radio show. Palare/polari was a slang/code used by gay men as well as theatre types and with its Italian elements, may have been a sailor lingua franca. Round The Horne "outed" it. Palare/polari had elements of Italian (bona to vada - lovely to see), and double-speak: "riah" = "hair"; "she" meaning "he" when referring to a gay man, eg. "She's trolling about with sharpies round the cottages". ("sharpy": policeman, "cottage" = public toilet, hence "cottaging", "trolling" = walking/wandering). Bona Drag means "lovely clothes".
"Your lovely eke and your lovely riah" = "Your lovely face and your lovely hair". Julian and Sandy, the palare-speaking characters on Round The Horne, frequently greeted Kenneth Horne by saying "How bona to vada your dolly old eke." (How lovely to see your beautiful old face).
"On the rack I was, easy meat": On Piccadilly Circus there is a Burger King - this has been selling meat-related products for years, and at one point was a pick-up joint where renters would gather looking for business. It was known as "the meat rack" (on Denman St behind Piccadilly Circus is the New Piccadilly Cafe - famous for still having its 50s decor and a 50s menu featuring spotted dick and custard - should you be on a vintage kick).
Ringleader of the Tormentors
Apparently how a journalist once referred to Morrissey.
Roy's Keen
Probably a pun on Manchester United footballer Roy Keane.
Satan Rejected My Soul
"I was only going to say that heaven did not seem to be my home; and I broke my heart with weeping to come back to earth; and the angels were so angry that they flung me out into the middle of the heath on the top of Wuthering Heights; where I woke sobbing for joy."
Wuthering Heights, Emily Bronte
Sing Your Life
"Can you look at the truth?"
James Dean in East Of Eden
Speedway
Speedway is a 1968 film starring Elvis Presley and Nancy Sinatra
Speedways are also mentioned in "Rusholme Ruffians": "the grease in the hair /Of a speedway operator / Is all a tremulous heart requires "
Suedehead
Suedehead, a book by cult skinhead author Richard Allen
"Why do you come here, when you know I've got troubles enough?"
"Weakness In Me" by Joan Armatrading
This Is Not Your Country
The title is spoken near the beginning of the Australian skinhead film Romper Stomper.
Tomorrow
"Put your arms around me, Geoff."
A Taste Of Honey by Shelagh Delaney
"Put your arms around me."
"I won't tell anybody."
Samantha Eggar in The Collector.
"Tomorrow" is the title of a song by Sandie Shaw
Used To Be A Sweet Boy
"Used To Be A Playboy", single by The Marvelettes
Vauxhall And I
Possibly a play on the title of the film Withnail And I
Johnny Rogan and the mysterious "Jake" live/lived in Vauxhall (an area of south London)
We Hate It When Our Friends Become Successful
"Anybody can sympathise with the sufferings of a friend, but it
requires a very fine nature to sympathise with a friend's success." Oscar Wilde
Will Never Marry
Folk band The Morrisseys apparently have a song called "I Will Never Marry".
You Have Killed Me
"You have killed me - and thriven on it, I think."
"I forgive you. Forgive me!"
Catherine Earnshaw in Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, chapter XV.
"Pagliacci - that's me."
The Lion in Love, Shelagh Delaney
Pasolini: Pier Paolo Pasolini - philosopher, linguist, novelist, playwright, filmmaker, newspaper and magazine columnist, actor, painter and political figure. His films often had sex as a central theme and he was accused of obscenity.
Accattone: 1961 film by Pasolini about a pimp, set in Rome. "Accatone" means "rags".
Visconti: Luchino Visconti - film, theatre and opera director. His film The Leopard (Il Gattopardo) starred Alain Delon, who appears on the cover of The Queen is Dead.
Tony Visconti - produced Ringleader of the Tormentors
Piazza Cavour: A square in Rome, named after Camillo Benso Cavour, who played an important part in Italy's unification in the 19th century.
