Girlfriend
In A Coma "His
girlfriend may be hovering between life and death, but
Morrissey's catch vocal seems non-commital about the whole thing,
while the overall feel evokes shadows of The Beach Boys and other
early '60's teen vocal groups." Smiths-Speak: "The very last Smiths' sessions at Streatham we recorded
two songs that turned up as B-sides: 'Work Is A Four Letter Word' (a cover
of a Cilla Black song), and one called 'I Keep Mine Hidden' which was the
last song Johnny and I wrote together and the last song The Smiths
recorded together. Now when I play The Smiths - which I do a lot - that
song is always the first I play. And it's the one that makes me feel the
happiest." What are you memories of the final Smiths session in Streatham? "Morrissey had this song, 'I Keep Mine Hidden', which was basically Morrissey saying, 'I'm sorry, Johnny. I'm a complete fuck up but please forgive me.' With lots of specific references, it was a very direct song."
Girlfriend
In A Coma
Work
Is A Four-Letter WordI
Keep Mine Hidden
Released
in August 1987
- Jay Strongman,
New Musical Express, August 15, 1987
- Morrissey, The Face, March
1990
"It was utter misery. The group were really falling to pieces. We'd finished making the record and I thought, 'Right, now for the first time, I can have a couple of weeks way from
the group'. That's all it was. I wanted to get away and I felt we should all have taken a holiday. I told Morrissey he needed a holiday. The band put what I thought was really unfair pressure to come up with two B-sides for 'Girlfriend In A Coma'. I fought against it. I felt I'd worked far too hard to be put in that
position, coupled with the fact that Morrissey had decided he didn't want to work with Ken. That was OK. That was a problem I could have dealt with. I just felt round the corner it was
never ending. It was like I was never going to be allowed to come up for air.
What did you think of the songs you recorded then?
"I wrote 'I Keep Mine Hidden', but 'Work Is A Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That's the main thing."
- Johnny Marr, Record Collector, November/December 1992
- Grant Showbiz, Uncut, 1998
