Heart of a Punk Soul of a Rasta

Bamboozled by Moz

Below is a statement by Morrissey cut and pasted from the wonderful TRUE TO YOU Fansite. Its' an enjoyable read and nice to hear MOZ has still got about his person a goodly supply of spit and bile - I'll see you at the end.

Message from Morrissey - 4 December 2010

I would like to, if I may, offer support to Johnny Marr who has spoken out to the media this week against David Cameron. To those who have expressed concern over Johnny's words in view of the fact that David Cameron has pledged immense allegiance to the music of the Smiths, I would like to try to explain why I think Johnny is right not to be flattered.

It is true that music is a universal language - the ONLY universal language, and belongs to all, one way or another. However, with fitting grimness I must report that David Cameron hunts and shoots and kills stags - apparently for pleasure. It was not for such people that either "Meat is Murder" or "The Queen is Dead" were recorded; in fact, they were made as a reaction against such violence.

I recall some years ago a party political broadcast on behalf of the Conservative Party where David Cameron spoke directly to camera as an LP copy of "The Queen is Dead" proudly displayed itself on the wall behind his right shoulder. It is, of course, a fantastic thrill when the music you make is acknowledged by virtually anyone at all. But David Cameron is not just anyone. Some months ago, as the long-beaked amongst you might recall, I was due to appear on the Andrew Marr Show alongside David Cameron, and however much I worship the words of Andrew Marr, I could not go through with the invitation. This was because I knew, then, that David wanted to repeal the Hunting Act, which would mean the brutal killing of foxes, hares, deer, badgers, otters - just about anything that moves.

Often the excuse of 'culling' is tagged on to the argument of legalized killing of beings, yet as we all know, motorized vehicles manage the business of 'culling' foxes and badgers quite well without messengers of death on horseback. Wildlife (that is, freelife) has its own methods of balancing nature - foxes and owls and birds of prey tending to help themselves to whatever crosses their path.

The countryside, quite remarkably, does not need the Hunting Act to be repealed. You would need to be mindless to believe that it does. People who hunt are under delusions of possession and property and divine right, and their debasement of human standards is always evident in their outrage at ever being questioned about their activities. Meanwhile, the Hunt Saboteurs (who are always termed 'extremists' by the Daily Bra - as if opposing brutal killing is an extreme emotion) are themselves symbols of freedom. Hunt Saboteurs do not kill. High Court judges on horseback, dressed in blood-red outfits, are the ones who kill.

As we all know, law in England is applied with partiality: the police are quick to nab the hunt saboteurs, but slow to catch up with the very visible Cheltenham Hunt. The hunt saboteurs are jailed for up to 12 years (for what? attempting to prevent mindless violence?), whereas the unmanly reflex of fox hunting receives a rap on the knuckles (Odious Ferry.)

I beg you to notice the unbearable dimension of sorrow that David Cameron is attempting to inflict upon British wildlife/freelife (an animal is not 'wild' simply because it is uncaged.) If you can find the time, would you please write to the MP of your choice - if you can think of one that you half-trust - at The House of Commons, St Margaret's Street, London SW1P, urging them to vote against the repeal. It is not the hunt saboteurs who menace social order, but the Hunters themselves, and the moral climate of 2010 seeping into 2011 surely tells all intelligent people that the key to the extent of any person's humanity is in their relationship to - and protection of - animals. Politicians only care about the public as electorate, and once the victory vote has been seized there is no place for debate between The Prime Minister and the people who elected him. (I cannot use the him/her term in relation to a Prime Minister because, as we all know, Margaret Thatcher has ensured that a female Prime Minister would never again be risked.) However, please do not feel powerless against the views of politicians or, for that matter, so-called royalty, because it is they who are powerless against the collective spirit of the British people. I mention so-called royalty because Prince William - who has never made the faintest imprint on the English soul, is also a hunter of deer, as is his fiasco (fiancée) Kate Middleton. Although William and Kate are so dull as people that it is actually impossible to discuss them, it is worth recalling Prince Harry's thumbs-up as he sat beside a giant water buffalo, cowardly shot from a safe distance by the ignoble Prince some years back. Intellectually, it is true that the so-called Royal Family are not worth very much when it comes to moral standards. The Queen annually signs-off on the terrorizing slaughter of adult Canadian brown bears in order that her Guards are supplied with fancy hats. The babies of the adult bears who witness their own mothers' slaughter, are left to die slowly, and alone. The sober and bitter truth is that the Queen of England is indifferent to this barbarism, for she has never once expressed concern by it (although, let us speak quite plainly, there is not one person in the whole of England who can remember or repeat a single word ever spoken by the Queen, such is her command of communication.)

I apologize very deeply for my support over the years for the group Roxy Music. I had no idea until very recently that their singer Bryan Ferret is also an avid hunter, and is now managed by his Lord of the Hunt son, Odious Ferry.

Some are brutally indifferent to the feelings of animals. Many are not. Politically, I long for the day when it is finally acknowledged in the House of Lords that the indigestible business of the meat industry corrupts and destroys the planet more than any other profit organization. We continually hear of disappearing rainforests but the cause is never explained, for this would then force concerned world leaders to 'cull' meat production, and rather the world sizzle than it be admitted that the meat industry is the root of climate change. It was Sir Paul McCartney who said: "Save the planet - stop eating animals." It is the genius of Stella McCartney who has produced footwear made entirely of non-animal materials. As a glowing owner of such shoes, I can confirm to anyone interested that they appear - even on detailed examination - to be no different to shoes made from animals.
Refusing to eat animals remains a political gesture. The world apparently loves the simple, whether it be professional killers such as Jamie Horrible, or the dim-witted and good-natured David Peckham, both as certain of knighthoods as their mediocrity is bona-fide. David Peckham is so dull that he is yet to master his first words.
However, people like me exist, also, and by close of this piece I return to the opening issue of David Cameron and I remind him that the world loves a man who loves to listen. But we can't believe what you say when we know what you do.
MORRISSEY.

After reading this statement I must confess I've been bamboozled by Moz. OK so there is no escaping the fact that Moz is a strange man (aren't we all) and perhaps I shouldn't try to understand him. After all my father always used to say "there's no point trying to understand people you'll just waste a lot of time and get lost yourself in the process" - Very sound advice I reckon, and a mindset that held him in good stead whilst working at the foreign office. Still I'm confounded by most of this statement from Morrissey, generally I agree with the net result of his arguments, it's just I don't understand how he got there. I mean take the Cameron being a Smiths fan thing, why does Moz give a fuck, no one really believes this utter crapola, do they?

MUSIC IS POWER?
Taking ownership, because that's what it is when the grabbing grubby hands of the politicians take hold of a band or more often a particular piece of music to use for their own ends, is pretty thin at the best of times. Tony Blair and his all NEW Red Party liked miss using music for their own ends. They hailed forth a NEW glorious epoch changing political era in '987 with "Things Can Only Get Better" by D:REAM. Shit! A trite 1 dimensional piece of pop pap with a message as thin as a hand baked chive flavoured water biscuit to herald a new era of British politics? Mmm hardly music is power more a case of same old same old.

Then for his entrance at the Labour Party Conference in 2005 Blair plumped for "If the Kids are United" by Sham 69. Again it was a case of whimsy rather than than music is power. But it did highlight the inherent lack of understanding for music by both politicians and their underlings. For them music is all just simple sound bites and slogans; the fact that back in the day a large element of Sham 69 fans were NF loving Skins was completely lost on them.

Across the pond in the US of A using music to promote simple political rhetoric has become the bludgeoning blunt weapon of choice. Whether used as part of the obscenely gargantuan political rallies or the multi million dollar ad campaigns there is no escaping the fact that over there MUSIC IS POWER. But even though the influence of music is greater in the US it is matched by greater stupidity and ignorance of the subject. The most infamous musical miscalculation of all time was when the Republican Party used "Born in the USA" by Bruce Springsteen during the Presidential Election of 1984, and tried to make out the 73 year old Reagan was Springsteen's biggest fan. It was never going to stick. And this is very much in the same vein of Cameron purporting to be a Smiths fan. We know that 99% of what a politician does or says is pure eye wash, and is done purely to enhance their image, and has no basis in fact whatsoever. Politicians are generally as shallow as a puddle of piss but David Cameron has refined his lack of depth into his main attribute; he is the unopposed King of Shallowness. Selecting The Smiths as his band of choice is just something someone told him to do - it's annoying and offensive yes, but totally unbelievable.

Just as unbelievable and offensive were the blurtings of ex-Tory tosser Matthew Parris on his woefully ridiculous Radio 4 Great Lives programme; the one that featured Malcolm Mclaren. On it he said that he and (the current Tory tosser) Boris Johnson were both PUNKS. Firstly Matthew YOU WERE TOO OLD TO BE A PUNK in '76, and also, even though my memory is not what it used to be I can say without fear of contradiction I never saw YOU or anything like YOU (or Boris) at any gigs in the late seventies and neither did my monkey boots. And Mr Cameron I can't remember seeing YOU or anything as shiny faced as YOU at any Smiths gigs. In fact the only politicians I've seen at a gig in 33 years of gigging were the EAGLE (Maria & Angela) women at the Shepherds Bush Empire for The Pretenders in 2009. And as I said at the time they were the most wonderful politicians to have standing in front of me because they were so wonderfully, wonderfully diminutive (or as we say in Bilston thry were "of average height"). So in conclusion, Johnny, Moz, don't get miffed by Cameron and his Smiths product placement nonsense. You only need to look at him to know he can only be one thing, and that's a KEANE fan - look at their shiny little faces they were made for each other.

And so to bamboozlement number two. Now I know Morrissey is passionate about animal rights and wrongs but surely there's a massive imbalance, Moz seems to take a dislike to folk simply for where they stand on these grounds. Surely Cameron can be loathed for many reasons: for being a shallow puddle of piss, for being an opportunist aristocrat who swims on every transient populist tide that passes, for being totally under qualified to hold office of any kind (other than a used car salesman), for transforming superciliousness into an art form, for having the shiniest face on the planet, for being an embarrassed looking twerp and oh yes I nearly forgot for implementing with fascistic gusto an economic strategy that will benefit only his kind whilst irreparably damaging the country and the people I love. The fact that he hunts Stag - which of course is abhorrent - seems quite small beer in comparison to the ruination of a nation. Evil people will always do evil things Moz it should be expected. These people are SCUM. And while I'm on the subject SCUM is a word that is so often misused today it must be reclaimed. SCUM is a foul impurity that settles at the top - These people are SCUM.

And ditto as far as the ROYALS are concerned, there are many reasons for disliking the Royal Family - I've not enough paper or ink - but unlike Cameron the Royals are usually best ignored, which can be difficult, especially when we are bombarded by sycophantic drivel from the BBC. Someone please tell them, it doesn't matter how many times they say it, William and Kate are not a young couple! 29 is not young, except in the intuitionally insular, liberal, middle class deluded world of the BBC.

And then there's Bryan Ferry and his dick of a son. There are many reasons to dislike these people too. Roxy Music were, are, and will always be one of the most overrated English bands of all time and have produced offal a plenty for far too long. I can forgive (only slightly), those folk of a certain age, the likes of Moz and Steve Jones and Johnny who worked with Ferry, who have cited Roxy Music as a musical inspiration. Maybe they were deluded at the time by Roxy Music's arty flim flam bollocks and glitter paint; after all they were spewed up in a time of musical nothingness. But if today you are under 45 and like the music of Roxy Music you are a DICK, pure and simple. The main reason for my disliking Ferry (the artist with a capital F) is for his obscene piece of opportunism releasing John Lennon's "Jealous Guy" three months after his death - A tribute? Like f***!

So what am I trying to say? Well it's this. Moz I agree with you I don't like these people either. But you can't go around milli vanilli taking a dislike to folk just because they eat meat and like blood sports. Why not? Well because if you turn this equation upside down you'd only like folk who are vegetarian and want to ban blood sports. And there's only one politician that I know of who was vegetarian and banned blood sports in his country, and that was that geezer who only had one ball coz the other was in the Albert Hall. "Morrissey in Nazi link" I can see it in the NME now, retract, retract, retract……oh shit too late.

Finally, if you are of a nervous disposition or Morrissey, please look away now.