“The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” by The Smiths

According to Morrissey’s explanation, “the boy” mentioned in this track’s title would be a personification of The Smiths. And who the lyrics are addressing is their naysayers. In other words, to say someone has a ‘thorn in their side’ is another way of putting forth that there is some aspect of their life which is proving persistently and painfully annoying. 

In this case that would be critics who, according to Morrissey, “never believed” in him and by extension The Smiths. So we can confidently say the song is about The Smiths’ frustration with the music industry’s continuous refusal to take them seriously and appreciate their work.

With this track being dropped in late-1985, by that point the band had already dropped a couple of successful projects, including the UK Albums Chart topper “Meat Is Murder” earlier that year. 

So on one hand, this song can be taken as an expression of angst against those who still doubted or hated The Smiths despite their proven success. But on the other it can also be deemed a taunt, as topping the aforementioned list is more or less the greatest critical accomplishment that a UK-based music artist can achieve anyway.

Morrissey talks about “The Boy with the Thorn in His side”

In an interview with British actress and radio presenter, Margi Clarke, Morrissey explained that the “thorn” in the lyrics of the song refers to the music industry and everyone who constantly doubted everything he said.

Morrissey told Clarke that these people refused playing his records and even went as far as attempting to eliminate him from the industry. He concluded his explanation of the song by telling Clarke that The Smiths had gotten to a point or level where if the critics still didn’t believe them, he wondered if they would ever.

“The boy with the thorn in his side
Behind the hatred there lies
A murderous desire for love
How can they look into my eyes
And still they don’t believe me?
How can they hear me say those words
And still they don’t believe me?”

Interesting Facts!

The lyrics of the song were written by Morrissey whereas Johnny Marr handled the writing of the music. According to Marr, writing the song was “effortless”. Marr also revealed that the writing process took place while the band was touring in the spring of 1985.

“The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” was recorded in August 1985 August and was released on September 23rd, 1985 as the first single from The Smiths legendary third studio album “The Queen Is Dead”.

In 1985, the song made history by becoming the first Smiths’ single to be released in the company of a promotional music video.

In a 2003 interview, Morrissey said of the song as his favorite Smiths’ song.

“The Boy with the Thorn in His Side” has over the years been covered by multiple artists and bands, including Xiu Xiu, Jeff Buckley and Bis.

The cover picture for the song is the photograph of the American novelist and actor Trauman Capote. The picture was taken when he was in his 20s by the legendary English painter, photographer and diarist Cecil Beaton.

The song did well on the charts, peaking at number 23 on the UK Singles Chart.

In the 2011 American fantasy action film Sucker Punch, the character Babydoll sings the song. Babydoll was played by Australian actress and singer Emily Browning.