I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish by The Smiths Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Enigma of Regret and Resolve
Lyrics
There was nothing, no one, nothing around for miles
I doused our friendly venture
With a hard-faced
Three-word gesture
I started something
I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
And now I’m not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that’s what tradition means
And I doused another venture
With a gesture
That was absolutely vile
I started something
I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
And now I’m not too sure
I grabbed you by the guilded beams
Uh, that’s what tradition means
And now eighteen months’ hard labor
Seems fair enough
I started something
And I forced you to a zone
And you were clearly
Never meant to go
Hair brushed and parted
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
And now I’m not too sure
I started something
I started something
Typical me, typical me
Typical me, typical me
Typical me, typical me
Typical me
I started something
And now I’m not too sure
OK Stephen, do that again?
The Smiths have long enchanted the music world with their ability to blend melancholic introspection with a jangly pop sensibility. ‘I Started Something I Couldn’t Finish’, a track from their 1987 album ‘Strangeways, Here We Come’, is a quintessential example of their craft. The song’s enigmatic storytelling cloaks a narrative woven with threads of personal reckoning and hesitant audacity.
The persona Morrissey adopts in this track becomes a complex character study, providing listeners with a potent mix of bravado and vulnerability. It’s in this dichotomy that we begin to understand the track’s nuanced exploration of the human spirit grappling with the consequences of its actions.
The Spector of Regret Casts a Long Shadow
The silent lanes and the stark absence of company at the song’s outset paint an eerie tableau; we’re drawn into a narrative punctuated by action and its chilling aftereffects. Morrissey’s unique vocal delivery imbues the lyrics with a haunting sense of remorse—a sentiment that’s all too familiar in the realm of personal growth and the stumbles that come with it.
This chilling regret is more than just a nod to past mistakes; it’s emblematic of The Smiths’ wider ethos. The band has a knack for capturing the essence of youthful audacity being met with the sobering force of reality—a powerful motif that recurs throughout their discography.
Dissecting the ‘Hard-Faced Three-Word Gesture’
This track masterfully employs ambiguity, leaving listeners to ponder the specifics of the ‘hard-faced, three-word gesture’ that douses our protagonist’s ‘friendly venture.’ Could this be an allusion to an ill-fated love affair, a botched artistic endeavor, or even a broader comment on societal norms?
While the lyric is cryptic, it universally symbolizes a turning point—a moment of no return—that resonates with the listener’s own experiences of self-inflicted disillusionment or rejection.
Nostalgia Wrapped in Cynicism: The Crux of ‘Typical Me’
Repetition of ‘typical me’ is a stroke of self-deprecating genius. In these two words, Morrissey captures the essence of human nature’s frustrating predictability. It’s as if the song itself is an acknowledgement of one’s own pattern of behavior, the oft-tread path that leads to familiar woes.
This revelation strikes a chord—reflecting the cyclical nature of personal blunders. Herein lies the mix of nostalgia and cynicism, a reflective yearning for times when the patterns were not yet recognized, juxtaposed with the irony of knowing better yet falling into the same traps.
A Subtle Rebellion: Examining the Hidden Meaning Beneath the Melody
The Smiths are revered not just for lyrical content but also for their subliminal storytelling within the music itself. Johnny Marr’s guitar jangles are purposefully discordant at times—mirroring the lyrical theme of ventures gone astray and actions taken despite better judgement.
Is there a deeper rebellion against tradition hinted at in the line ‘Uh, that’s what tradition means’? The Smiths often obscured their societal critique beneath layers of poetic expression, leaving listeners to decode the resistance hidden amidst the harmonies.
Memorable Lines that Echo with Poignancy
‘I forced you to a zone / And you were clearly / Never meant to go’—in these lines, Morrissey encapsulates the sometimes destructive nature of human interaction. It’s a powerful admission of forcing change, of shaping environments and relationships, that sometimes leads to harrowing personal epiphanies.
‘And now eighteen months’ hard labor / Seems fair enough’—here too, The Smiths capture the willingness to accept consequences for the sake of personal integrity or perhaps redemption. It is this acceptance of penance that imbues the song with its melancholic fortitude.
