mp3 : Morrissey – I Have Forgiven Jesus
Released just before Xmas 2004, the song title clearly rattled the controllers at the BBC for they didn’t allow it to be playlisted on either Radio 1 or Radio 2. Other radio stations weren’t so concerned, nor were various music video channels, and so this became the fourth highly succesful single to be taken from You Are The Quarry, hitting #10 on its week of release.
Last week I mentioned that, between 1989 and 1997, only one out of the twenty of the great man’s singles released during that period got as high in as the Top Ten in the UK. Fast forward seven years to the comeback…and all four singles released in 2007 go Top 10. The only other act to enjoy such chart success in the UK that year was boy band McFly…..
The single came out on 7″ and on two CD formats. The b-side on the 7″ and the widely available CD1 is probably the weakest of the three previously unavailable songs – and its a cover of a record released back in 1987 by Raymonde, a band that featured James Maker who appeared as a dancer/backing vocalist with The Smiths at a handful of their very early gigs – but that in some ways is a bit of a harsh criticism as they all have something to offer:-
mp3 : Morrissey – No One Can Hold A Candle To You
mp3 : Morrissey – Slum Mums
mp3 : Morrissey – The Public Image
No One…is the cover version. Slum Mums and The Public Image surely deserved to be on something other than CD2 of the fourth single taken from an LP, for they are among some of the best things he has released since embarking on the comeback. Particularly ‘The Public Image’ which I think is a rather wonderful song….
The cover photo is a still taken from the promo video
THE NEW VINYL VILLAIN 
One of my favourites. At the time, this song meant so much to me.