Meaning of “This Charming Man” by The Smiths

This Charming Man is a song by The Smiths – an indie rock band that hailed from England. Lyrically, the song sees the narrator talk about getting his bicycle tire punctured in a remote part of town and being given a lift by a Good Samaritan motorist (the charming man). As the cyclist and the motorist drive off together, they flirt. The flirtation leads to the motorist asking the cyclist out, but the cyclist rejects the offer. The cyclist rejects the offer not to go out with the motorist not because he doesn’t like the idea but simply because he doesn’t have clothes to wear (“a stitch to wear”). According to The Smiths’ singer Morrissey, the famous line in which he sings about not having a “stitch to wear” was autobiographical. In a 1984 interview with NME‘s short-lived Undress series, Morrissey said during his younger years, he constantly had no job and was therefore so broke that he couldn’t even afford to buy clothes. As a result of this, on many occasions he had to turn down invitations to attend parties simply because he had no clothes and shoes. It is worth noting that this wasn’t the first song in which Morrissey had talked about his real life personal experience of not having clothes to wear. He talked about this same subject in the single Hand in Glove, which came out some months before This Charming Man was released.  The song is one of a number of Smiths’ songs that talks ambiguously about the subject of gay relationship and lust. Talking about the lyrics of the song, Morrissey said of them as lyrics that make the “male voice” to become pretty “vulnerable” instead of the usual “heavy machismo” the male voice is often associated with.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for The Smiths's This Charming Man at Lyrics.org.

This Charming Man lyrics

Facts about “This Charming Man”

  • The music of This Charming Man was written by The Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr while the lyrics of the song were written by Morrissey.
  • In a 1990 interview Marr had with Guitar Player magazine, he said he wrote the music of This Charming Man on the same night he wrote the music of two other famous Smiths’ songs Still Ill and Pretty Girls Make Graves.
  • The line in the song which talks about a “jumped-up pantry boy” who didn’t know his place was derived from the 1972 mystery thriller film Sleuth, whose screenplay is based on English writer Anthony Sharrer’s 1970 Tony Award winning play Sleuth.
  • The single performed brilliantly on the charts in a number of countries. For example it peaked at number 1 in the UK Indie Chart and number 25 in the UK Singles Chart.
  • In 1992, several years after The Smiths disbanded, This Charming Man was re-issued and it peaked at the 8th position on the UK Singles Chart, making it The Smiths’ most successful single in terms of chart performance.
  • According to former British Prime Minister, David Cameron, This Charming Man happens to be one of his favorite songs of all time.
  • In a 2007 interview, singer and guitarist Noel Gallagher of Oasis said “everything made sense” to him the moment he heard the song. Gallagher went on to describe the lyrics of the song as “f****** amazing”.
  • The song was never featured on any of The Smiths’ four studio albums.
  • Despite the song being one of the most famous Smiths’ songs, Marr doesn’t find it to be one of his favorite Smiths’ songs. According to him, he winces a bit whenever he hears the song.
  • The song was voted number 1 on Mojo magazine’s 2008 list of the 50 greatest indie songs of all time in the United Kingdom.
  • This Charming Man was officially released as a single on October 31st, 1983.

 

1 Response

  1. July 11, 2017

    […] This Charming Man […]

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