Pretty Girls Make Graves by The Smiths

Pretty Girls Make Graves is a song from the Smiths 1984 critically acclaimed debut album titled The Smiths. Pretty Girls Make Graves, as the name implies is a song warning men to stay away from beautiful females since that can lead to disastrous consequences. In the song, the singer (Morrissey) talks about a young man who is in a relationship with a very pretty girl and how this girl constantly keeps pressurizing him to engage in intercourse with her. The young man’s constant refusal to do what his girlfriend wants him to do makes her to quickly dump him and go in for another man. Left thoroughly heartbroken and sad, the young man then vows never to trust womanhood again uttering the classic line “I lost my faith in womanhood”, which is one of the most famous lines from the song.

All in all, the song is advising men to be very careful when dealing with pretty girls since they can lead them to their early graves.

Our Favorite Line from the Song

There are a number of interesting lines in the song, but we have picked the following as our favorite:

“Give up to lust, oh heaven knows we’ll soon be dust”

Facts about Pretty Girls Make Graves by The Smiths

• The lyrics of Pretty Girls Make Graves were written solely by singer Morrissey, whereas the music was written by guitarist Johnny Marr.
• The song was produced by English musician and producer John Porter.
• The title of the song was taken from a quote from the American novelist and poet Jack Kerouac’s popular novel The Dharma Bums, which was published in 1958.
• No music video was ever made for the song.
• Morrissey often sings all the vocals on the Smiths’ songs, however, on this song a woman named Annalisa Jablonska provided backing vocals. Many believe that Annalisa was at some point Morrissey’s girlfriend.
• The post-punk band from Seattle, Washington Pretty Girls Make Graves was named after this song. The band was active from 2001 to 2007.