The Smiths’ “How Soon Is Now?” Lyrics Meaning

The narrator of “How Soon Is Now” is depicted as someone who is too shy for his own good. All lyrics considered, it appears as if he’s stuck in a cycle, i.e. his apprehensiveness fueling low self-esteem, while his low self-esteem also fuels apprehensiveness. 

You can view the lyrics, alternate interprations and sheet music for The Smiths's How Soon Is Now? at Lyrics.org.

That dynamic is illustrated in the bridge – where this character, who, as pointed out earlier in the story, possesses a “shyness that is criminally vulgar” – decides to visit a particular club where there’s the potential to “meet somebody who really loves you”. 

However, upon attending, he spends the entire time playing the role of a wallflower, goes home without making any new friends and feels even worse about himself than he did beforehand.

“I am the son
And the heir
Of a shyness that is criminally vulgar
I am the son and heir
Of nothing in particular”

Summary

The lyrics of the song tell the story of a person whose incredible shyness prevents them from finding a romantic partner. The song is apparently about Smiths’ singer Morrissey’s battle with severe shyness. As a result of the song’s theme, it has over the years become the soundtrack to the lives of people who feel they don’t fit into society.

Credits

The song was written by Morrissey and Smiths’ guitarist Johnny Marr. It was produced by English record producer John Porter and released on 28 January 1985.

Marr wrote this song along with two other famous Smiths songs “Please, Please, Please Let Me Get What I Want” and “William, It Was Really Nothing” in a span of just four days.

Marr once referred to “How Soon Is Now?” as the band’s “most enduring” song.

Morrissey got the title of the song from the 1973 book Popcorn Venus written by Marjorie Rosen.

The song’s famous line “the heir of nothing in particular” was lifted from English author George Eliot’s 19th century book Middlemarch, A Study of Provincial Life.

The song’s introduction is considered one of the most memorable song introductions in the entire history of music. According to Marr, in creating the song, he wanted to come up with an introduction that was very powerful and memorable. His aim was to create an introduction as  powerful as Eric Clapton’s hit song Layla. Layla was first released by Clapton’s blues band Derek and the Dominos in 1971.

The music video of How Soon Is Now? was made by Paula Greif with a budget of about $5,000. According to Morrissey, he strongly dislikes the clip.

More Interesting Facts about “How Soon is Now?”!

The song was used in the 1998 comedy film The Wedding Singer.

Over the years, the song has been used for a number of commercials, including the Nissan Maxima’s commercial in 1999.

Upon its release in 1985, the song charted very well, reaching the number 24 position on the UK Singles Chart. In 1992, after the song was re-issued, it again performed excellently on the charts, reaching the 16th position on that same chart.

Since it was released, this song has been covered several times by different artists, including t.A.T.u. and Love Spit Love. The latter group’s cover was used as as the theme song of the popular fantasy supernatural TV series Charmed.

The English band Soho sampled “How Soon Is Now?” in their 1990 hit single Hippychick.

The person on the artwork of the song is English actor Seán Barrett. The artwork was considered pretty offensive and was therefore banned in the United States.

The song has a total length of 3 minutes and 41 seconds.

“How Soon Is Now?” is a very complex song that is very difficult to play live. And as a result of that, The Smiths rarely played the song live during their concerts.

4 Responses

  1. Anonymous says:

    This love ‘ How soon is now,’ but I have bipolar and this song has the power to log too depressive.

    • OMGkawaiiangel says:

      me too, but for me it brings me back a lot of memories when i listen to “That Joke Isn’t Funny Anymore”

  2. Nic says:

    Do have any trauma in your history?

  3. Riot says:

    I love this song but it speaks to my condition waaay too much and gets a bit too sad when it relates.

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