Shakespeare's Sister (Smiths song)

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"Shakespeare's Sister"
"Shakespeare's Sister" cover
Single by The Smiths
from the album Louder Than Bombs
Released 1985
Genre Alternative rock
Length 2:09
Label Rough Trade
Writer(s) Johnny Marr
Morrissey
Chart positions
  • #26 (UK)
The Smiths singles chronology
"How Soon Is Now?"
(1985)
"Shakespeare's Sister"
(1985)
"That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore"
(1985)

"Shakespeare's Sister" is a non-album single by British band The Smiths, released in 1985. It first appeared on albums in 1987 via the Louder Than Bombs and The World Won't Listen compilations.

Its title refers to a section of Virginia Woolf's feminist essay "A Room of One's Own" in which Woolf argues that if William Shakespeare had had a sister of equal genius, as a woman she would not have had the opportunity to make use of it.

Another interpretation of the title is that it is refers to the Tennessee Williams play "The Glass Menagerie" - the Gentleman Caller, who is courting Tom Wingfield's sister, refers to Tom as "Shakespeare" in the play - and there are other allusions to the play in the song's lyric.

The original single's sleeve featured Pat Phoenix, best-known for her long-running role in the UK TV series Coronation Street.

[edit] Track listing

[edit] 7": Rough Trade / RT181 (UK)

  1. "Shakespeare's Sister"
  2. "What She Said"

[edit] 12": Rough Trade / RTT181 (UK)

  1. "Shakespeare's Sister"
  2. "What She Said"
  3. "Stretch Out and Wait"
The Smiths
Morrissey - Johnny Marr - Andy Rourke - Mike Joyce
Craig Gannon - Dale Hibbert
Discography
Albums: The Smiths | Meat Is Murder | The Queen Is Dead | Strangeways, Here We Come | Rank (live)
Singles: Hand in Glove | This Charming Man | What Difference Does It Make? | Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now | William, It Was Really Nothing | How Soon Is Now? | Shakespeare's Sister | That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore | The Boy with the Thorn in His Side | Bigmouth Strikes Again | Panic | Ask | Shoplifters of the World Unite | Sheila Take a Bow | Girlfriend in a Coma | I Started Something I Couldn't Finish | Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me | There Is a Light That Never Goes Out
Band-assembled compilations: Hatful of Hollow | The World Won't Listen | Louder Than Bombs
Other compilations: Stop Me |Best...I | ...Best II | Singles | The Very Best of The Smiths
Related
Rough Trade Records