Certain People I Know

For a man so often characterised as a loner, Morrissey does make an effort of presenting himself and his backing band, as a gang. It's there in the music videos, for "Tomorrow", "My Love Life", "I Have Forgiven Jesus" and "We Hate it when our Friends Become Successful" to name a few and while we're never in any doubt who the ringleader is, it does give a nice unity to Morrissey as an artist these days.

For the diehards, we've grown pretty attached to ever loyal Boz, we mourn the loss of Alain Whyte as a touring memebr of the band and I think bonds like this are important from a fans perspective. I'm not sure how many real friends Morrissey has in life and in regards to his work its unimportant. But I think we all know that Morrissey has a few enemies and if his pen can be dipped in pure magic sometimes, its more often than not dipped in comical venom.

This song is almost satire, awash with pithy turns of phrase and puns, it's eliptical enough that we can assign the digs (and the mild praise) to anyone, or any type of person. Morrissey could be addressing actual people or certain scenes he wishes to avoid but he does it with a wry, removed air.

The tune itself which has Mick Ronson playing on it (channeling some "...White Swan" era T-rex) is sprightly and dare I say the jauntiest piece of music connected to Morrissey since "Cemetry Gates". Like that past Smiths classic I believe this is Morrissey kicking back and having fun, self assured and gently mocking. This is evident in the video which has the band, in all honesty, looking the worse for wear messing around on a beach. The sound of "Your Arsenal" is rocky and chaotic so this song acts as a palette cleanser at the mid way mark, a romp through Morrisseys less explored "social side". Certain people I know may scoff at the idea that he has one but this is the man who told us to hold onto our friends, well unless their clothes are imitation George the 23rd that is.