Paint a Vulgar Picture by The Smiths Lyrics Meaning – Unraveling the Cynicism Behind the Music Industry
Lyrics
On their hands – a dead star
And oh, the plans they weave
And oh, the sickening greed
At the record company party
On their hands – a dead star
The sycophantic slags all say :
“I knew him first, and I knew him well”
Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!
Re-evaluate the songs
Double-pack with a photograph
Extra track (and a tacky badge)
A-list, playlist
“Please them , please them !”
“Please them !”
(sadly, this was your life)
But you could have said no
If you’d wanted to
You could have said no
If you’d wanted to
BPI, MTV, BBC
“Please them ! Please then!”
(sadly this was your life)
But you could have said no
If you’d wanted to
You could have walked away
…Couldn’t you?
I touched you at the soundcheck
You had no real way of knowing
In my heart I begged “Take me with you …
I don’t care where you’re going…”
But to you I was faceless
I was fawning, I was boring
Just a child from those ugly new houses
Who could never begin to know
Who could never really know
Oh…
Best of! Most of!
Satiate the need
Slip them into different sleeves!
Buy both, and feel deceived
Climber – new entry, re-entry
World tour! (“media whore”)
“Please the Press in Belgium!”
(This was your life…)
And when it fails to recoup ?
Well, maybe :
You just haven’t earned it yet, baby
I walked a pace behind you at the soundcheck
You’re just the same as I am
What makes most people feel happy
Leads us headlong into harm
So, in my bedroom in those ‘ugly new houses’
I danced my legs down to the knees
But me and my ‘true love’
Will never meet again…
At the record company meeting
On their hands – at last! – A dead star !
But they can never taint you in my eyes
No, they can never touch you now
No, they cannot hurt you, my darling
They cannot touch you now
But me and my ‘true love’
Will never meet again
The yearning strings and lamenting vocals that open The Smiths’ ‘Paint a Vulgar Picture’ soon give way to a lyrical onslaught, a savage critique of the music industry’s merciless machinery. Dissecting the lyrics reveals the raw exposure of a system where artistry is supplanted by avarice, empathy eclipsed by exploitation.
The track, nestled within the eclectic sounds of ‘Strangeways, Here We Come,’ their final studio album, resonates as a swansong not only for the band itself but for the integrity of an era’s artistic ethos. As we peel back the layers of this haunting anthem, we confront the unadorned realities of an industry often shrouded in glamour and false pretense.
A Sardonic Ode to a Fallen Icon
In ‘Paint a Vulgar Picture,’ The Smiths delve into a narrative as timeless as the music industry itself—the posthumous exploitation of artists. They paint a gruesome tableau where record executives grieve not for a lost life, but for a lost revenue stream, circling like vultures eager to profit off the legacy of a ‘dead star.’
Morrisey’s distinct vocals couple with the melodic guitar work to offer more than sorrow; they serve an accusatory sneer towards the manipulations and ‘sickening greed’ driving the industry’s reaction to death. The song is a mirror held up to the blatant commercialism that often follows an artist’s demise, a practice all too prevalent today.
The Lure of Deluxe Editions and Superficial Sentiments
The refrain ‘Re-issue! Re-package! Re-package!’ cuts to the core of the record industry’s opportunistic heart. The Smiths call out the insincerity of re-releasing music with hollow additions, like ‘a tacky badge,’ catering to consumerism instead of honoring the artist’s creative intent.
The biting critique extends to the artificial flattery offered by the ‘sycophantic slags’—the industry insiders who feign closeness to the deceased for their own benefit. The song’s unflinching honesty calls out this charade in a way that remains chillingly observant of music’s commodification.
An Unshakeable Gaze at Artistic Integrity
Decoding ‘Paint a Vulgar Picture’ reveals the band’s profound discomfort with the pressure to ‘Please them, please them!’ Morrisey’s lament is not only for the artists who fall prey to external forces, but also for their own lost autonomy.
The repeated assertion ‘You could have said no’ pounds like a gavel, a stark call to action or, perhaps more aptly, a call to inaction—to refuse collaboration with an industry whose ethics are in stark contrast with the artistic purity that The Smiths embodied.
Mercenary Commercialism: Unveiling the Hidden Meaning
Beyond the overt narrative, ‘Paint a Vulgar Picture’ speaks to the commodification of art and the role of the artist within it. The Smiths poetically articulate the disillusionment felt by many artists entrenched in a system that prizes profit over genuine artistic expression.
The heartrending admission, ‘in my heart, I begged “Take me with you… I don’t care where you’re going,”’ is a soulful reveal of vulnerability, a desire for real connection amidst an industry that is indifferent to such sentimentality.
‘Best of! Most of!’: The Memorable Lines that Define an Era
‘Slip them into different sleeves! Buy both, and feel deceived.’ These words effectively encapsulate the era’s cynical view of music merchandising—a strategy of repurposing content in a guise of novelty to extract further wealth at the consumer’s ignorance.
The track remains a powerful, relevant critique insulated from ‘tainting’ by time, a declaration of the insurmountable gap between creative purity and the pressures of commercial success. It ultimately serves as a record of one band’s struggle with the paradox of an industry built around art, but often blind to its true essence.
