Meaning of “Late Night, Maudlin Street” by Morrissey

Late Night, Maudlin Street is the sixth track from singer Morrissey‘s 1988 debut solo album entitled Viva Hate. The song, which is extremely self-pitying and to a certain degree humorous, talks about a number of ugly events that took place in the life of the narrator in the early 1970s. Some of these ugly things the narrator talks about in the song include deaths, pining for love, frequent house moves, and his battles with certain health issues.

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for Morrissey's Late Night, Maudlin Street at Lyrics.org.

Despite Morrissey never revealing whether the song is autobiographical or not, many fans believe the song contains some lyrics that are autobiographical because the song has a scene which takes place in 1972, which was around the beginning of Morrissey’s adolescent age, which according to Morrissey himself was a time in his life full of loneliness and depression. Morrissey once stated that as a teenager his battle with depression got so severe that he had to employ the use of prescription drugs to cope with it.

Despite Late Night, Maudlin Street containing very self-pitying lyrics, it also contains certain very humorous lyrics.

Our Favorite Line from the Song

Here is our favorite line from the song Late Night, Maudlin Street: I could list the detail Of everything you ever wore or said.

Facts about “Late Night, Maudlin Street”

  • The song was written by both Morrissey and Stephen Street with production being handled by the latter.
  • The song has a length of approximately 7 minutes and 40 seconds, which makes it one of the longest songs ever recorded by Morrissey.
  • Morrissey got the song’s title from Irish-born author and playwright Bill Naughton’s book of short stories titled Late Night on Watling Street and the fictional secondary school Maudlin Street Secondary Modern School from the English film Carry On Teacher.
  • The song contains some of Morrissey’s most self-pitying lyrics of his career.
  • According to the song’s co-writer Street, the song is inspired by the works of Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell.

1 Response

  1. July 27, 2017

    […] Late Night, Maudlin Street […]

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