William, It Was Really Nothing Yea-Sayers: "Not only is this a good record but it's good on the 7" (shock,
horror). I haven't got a clue what it's all about, but suffice to say the
voice sounds as dextrous as ever and thirty words go where twenty belong.
This ambles along nicely but is this guy sane? What's the betting the next
one is called 'Mum I'm Just Going Down the Shops'?" Nay-Sayers: "The Smiths are impossible to love unless you wish to mother
Morrissey. There is a wistful optimism about the music they make that is very
easy to like a whole lot but the main man-child's self-adoring ennui sticks
in the craw once you realise that this is what he is going to be doing on
his death bed. Ennui gets a little boring after a while." "A simple cross-pollination of their earler singles brings us this short
burst of nothing much. Clifford T. Ward with his new haircut still handles
the vocals (with a different script to the rest of us) and the guitars wobble
about. I shall probably play it for weeks, unless I die (because when you're
dead you can't play many records really)." Smiths-Speak: Morrissey, when asked if he thought "Please, Please, Please
Let Me Get What I Want" was the perfect Smiths song: "I think it was very
close indeed, and hiding it away on a B-side was sinful. I feel sad about
it now although we did include it on Hatful Of Hollow by way of semi-repentance.
When we first played it to Rough Trade, they kept asking, "where's the rest
of the song?" But to me, it's like a very brief punch in the face. Lengthening
the song would, to my mind, have simply been explaining the blindingly obvious." "I haven't managed to work out his exact angle on that one yet. Usually his
lyrics are very much black and white to me, but this one is taking a little
bit longer. 'William' is quite a whimsical song really. I don't think it's
broken all the rules in pop music, but to start a song with a short verse
and then follow it with three choruses is quite good." "I recall that The Smiths made a record called 'William, It Was Really Nothing,'
which was only two minutes nine. And we were heavily chastised by the record
company for doing such a short song because Bronski Beat had released a record
that same week which was 13 minutes long. There's so much to fight against.
It's a terrible, terrible business. I have the bruises..." "I did 'How Soon Is Now?' on a portastudio. That, 'William, It Was Really
Nothing' and 'Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want', I did in a period
of about four to five days when I was living in a flat in Earls Court. That
was done when we needed a follow-up to 'Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now'. 'How
Soon Is Now?' was really a good one. Musically it was a perfect cross between
a sweaty swamp backing track and an intense, wired shock every few bars. I
knew what I was doing with those tracks. The priority was to do 'Please Please
Please' and 'William'. Then we needed the extra track and just nailed that
one."
"...a short burst of nothing much." - British Critic
William, It Was Really
Nothing
Please Please Please
Let Me Get What I WantHow Soon Is Now?
Released in August, 1984
- Unknown Reviewer
"Although
he's written a lot of great solo songs, this song is nostalgic because it reminds
me of the time when we played with The Smiths, especially in Inverness, 1984.""
- Justin Currie (Del Amitri) on "Please Please Please Let Me Get What
I Want", Q, September 1992
- Tony Parsons, New Musical Express, August 25, 1984
- Unknown Reviewer
- Morrissey, Melody Maker, September 26, 1987
- Johnny Marr, on the gay implications of 'William,' Earsay,
1984.
- Morrissey, Select, July 1991
- Johnny Marr, Record Collector, November/December 1992
