Alone On The Bedroom Floor

ALONE ON THE BEDROOM FLOOR

-Love and affection

“A sad fact widely known
The most impassionate song
To a lonely soul
Is so easily outgrown
...
But don´t forget the songs
That made you cry
And the songs that saved your life
Yes, you´re older now
And you´re a clever swine
But they were the only ones who ever stood by you”

-“Rubber Ring” Morrissey/Marr 1985

These are word from the gorgeous B-side on the single “The Boy With The Thorn In His Side” by The Smiths, but for millions around the world it is much more than that. For many a lonely soul lying alone on the bedroom floor it is the words and the sound of bitter resentment and pain shared by so many people.

Today music is blasted out in the face of everybody in an extreme amount that cannot be compared to other forms of arts like literature, movies e.g. It is used as background music in any kind of setting. This is why some people do not consider it great art and it is why many people will find it hard to believe that some music has had an extraordinary influence on lives.
In the 1950s beatnik poets like Jack Kerouac, William Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg spoke out the words of millions of restless young Americans, who used their novels as inspiration and comfort – an almost religious guidance for their lives. The very same affection exists in some music.

“Get me away from here, I´m dying” was Stuart Murdoch and Belle & Sebastian´s key track on their 1998 album “If you are feeling sinister”, and it yearns for a song “to set me free” in a world where the character is all alone and where the rain is “washing against the lonely tenement”. The main theme here is the loneliness but also how some songs are capable of transforming the rainy setting into a brighter world where there “is love in everything and everyone”. A more realistic perspective can be found in Morrissey´s lyrics where we are often taken through the rainy streets of Manchester, England. However, his dark humor can be extremely uplifting and sometimes floor- rolling funny:

“Spending warm Summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg!”
“Ask” Morrissey/Marr 1985

Mind you, this is a song about how shyness and kindness can destroy your life. But still we are left with lines that provides a smile and a brighter perspective on the subject. This enables many people to see the funny side of the darkest things. Not being able to show emotions was also the key issue in the final song The Smiths recorded together, “I Keep Mine Hidden”, B-side to “Girlfriend In A Coma”:

“Hate, love and war
Force emotions to the fore
But not for me, of course
Of course
I keep mine hidden
I keep mine hidden
But it's so easy for you
Because you let yours flail
Into public view”

“I Keep Mine Hidden” Morrissey/Marr 1987

If that inability makes you lonely, it is comforting to know that somebody else – or perhaps millions else, who knows? – feels that same. Whether you know any others like that or not, you don´t feel as lonely as before. The reason why fans goes to incredible amounts of pain and effort to touch Morrissey at his shows does not have to be sexual as many tries to simplify it to. It may actually be because they consider him the greatest of friends – one who has shared his most inner thoughts with you and one you can rely on and lean onto. There is always hope and even if it ends with death there is beauty:

“And if a double-decker bus
Crashes into us
To die by your side
Is such a heavenly way to die
And if a ten-ton truck
Kills the both of us
To die by your side
Well, the pleasure - the privilege is mine”

“There Is A Light That Never Goes Out” Morrissey/Marr 1986

Such words are comforting in times of despair and hopelessness, because it provides the light that never goes out in the darkest setting - death. The subject of death were also a main part of Arcade Fire´s album “Funeral” from 2004. The release from loneliness and despair were treated in the opening track “Neighboor #1(tunnels)” where the character in the midst of snow and crying parents digs a tunnel to the lover and ends up living in the middle of it.

“And if the snow buries my
my neighbourhood
And if my parents are crying
then I'll dig a tunnel
from my window to yours
yeah a tunnel from my window to yours
You climb out the chimney
and meet me in the middle
the middle of the town
And since there's no one else around
we let our hair grow long
and forget all we used to know
then our skin gets thicker
from living out in the snow”

“Neighboor #1(tunnels)” Arcade Fire/Deu 2004

The loneliness here is released by connection through a tunnel. The secret world of friends who have something in common that no one else knows about. A tunnel that connects. That tunnel could be physical or something else. Like music.

From the sonic outbursts of Dinosaur Jr. and Sonic Youth to the lonesome cries of Stuart Murdoch and Morrissey there is another level of understanding and love in music that grow seeds in people and affect lives. Through this essay I have tried to show how music can be much more than just a background in the traffic or the regular lame Saturday night dance floor sounds. It may connect in a spectacular way that nothing else in this world is capable of. It may bring people together without actually knowing each other. Does that include you?