The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
The Smiths
“This Charming Man” is The Smiths' second single of 1983, depicting the story of a poor boy coming in contact with an upper class man and feeling unwelcome due to his lack of material wealth
The ambiguity of the characters' sexuality leaves the song very open to debate and speculation about the tru...
[Verse 1]
Punctured bicycle on a hillside desolate
Will nature make a man of me yet?
When in this charming car, this charming man
Why pamper life's complexity
When the leather runs smooth on the passenger seat?
I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said, "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"
[Chorus]
Ah, a jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said, "Return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
[Verse 2]
I would go out tonight but I haven't got a stitch to wear
This man said, "It's gruesome that someone so handsome should care"
[Bridge]
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na
This charming man
Na, na-na, na-na, na-na
This charming man
[Chorus]
Ah, a jumped-up pantry boy
Who never knew his place
He said, "Return the ring"
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
He knows so much about these things
This Charming Man was written by Morrissey & Johnny Marr.
This Charming Man was produced by John Porter.
The Smiths released This Charming Man on Mon Oct 31 1983.
In a December 1993 interview with Guitar Player, guitarist Johnny Marr explained the overdubbing of his guitar that are consistent throughout “This Charming Man.”
I’ll try any trick. With the Smiths, I’d take this really loud Telecaster of mine, lay it on top of a Fender Twin Reverb with the vibrat...
On the album cover, that’s French actor Jean Marais in a still from the film Orpheus (1950) but in the video that’s Morrissey.
“I think maybe the world wasn’t quite ready for it. It (Hand in Glove) didn’t make quite the dent in the charts that we thought it would. So we sort of regrouped and rethink and we came up with ‘This Charming Man’. We thought we can’t fail with this one, and as it turns out – We didn’t”