This song is written from the perspective of a cheating drunkard who tells his wife increasingly absurd lies in an attempt to answer for his absence.
This was banned by the BBC because of the lyric, "And the pain was enough to make a shy, bald Buddhist reflect and plan a mass murder." It was deemed insensitive as it came out not long after the Hungerford massacre, when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot and killed 16 people in Berkshire, England. The Smiths subsequently decided to not release the song in the UK.
The promotional video features front man, Morrissey and a cluster of young men in Smiths shirts cycling around Manchester. One of the buildings that the cyclists pass is Salford Lads Club, a youth recreational club located in the Ordsall area of Manchester. Allan Clarke, front man of The Hollies, and Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills and Nash, both attended this club as boys. In 1986, The Smiths were photographed standing in front of the building for the inside gatefold of their album, The Queen Is Dead. The club has since become a place of pilgrimage for Smiths fans seeking to recreate the legendary image.
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