I Keep Mine Hidden
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| "I Keep Mine Hidden" | ||
|---|---|---|
 |
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| The sleeve of the "Girlfriend in a Coma" single | ||
| Song by The Smiths | ||
| Released | August, 1987 | |
| Format | B-Side to "Girlfriend in a Coma" and "Sweet and Tender Hooligan" singles | |
| Recorded | May, 1987 | |
| Genre | Indie rock | |
| Length | 1:57 | |
| Label | Rough Trade | |
| Producer(s) | Grant Showbiz | |
| Chronology | ||
| "Sheila Take a Bow" 1987 |
"I Keep Mine Hidden" | "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" 1987 |
"I Keep Mine Hidden" is a song written by Morrissey/Marr in May 1987. It was recorded by their band, The Smiths, as a B-side for the twelve inch edition of their August 1987 single "Girlfriend in a Coma" and is the last song the two ever wrote or recorded together.
Contents |
[edit] History
After completing work on The Smiths' fourth album, Strangeways, Here We Come, in early 1987, band members Johnny Marr, Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce wanted to take a break. Singer Morrissey, however, insisted they record new tracks to serve as B-sides for the upcoming lead single, "Girlfriend in a Coma", even though there was little or no material at hand to turn into songs.
The band duly reconvened in May at the studio of their soundman, Grant Showbiz (ps. of Grant Cunliffe) in Streatham, but work did not go off well. The atmosphere was tense due to strained intra-band relationships and external pressure (the band had no manager and Morrissey and Marr handled all business affairs).
Attempts were made at two cover versions: "(Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I", a song made famous by Elvis Presley, and "Work Is a Four-Letter Word", a Cilla Black song. Both were finished, but apart from Morrissey, no-one was particularly pleased with the results, with Marr going as far as expressly denouncing the latter song. "I didn't form The Smiths to do Cilla Black covers," he asserted. The song was still released, however, as the B-side to "Girlfriend in a Coma" and remains unique in the Smiths' canon for featuring drummer Joyce as a backing vocalist. The Smiths’ version of "A Fool Such as I" reputedly remains unreleased because of a technical error that ruined the beginning of the master tape.
As yet another song was needed for the 12" single, Morrissey urged Marr to transform some sketchy ideas he had into a complete song, and Marr complied, albeit unenthusiastically. Once the framework of the song was knocked into shape, Morrissey lay down a vocal and left; the band spent another day recording additional parts for the song.
This was the last time Morrissey and Marr ever worked together. Showbiz has said on several occasions that as soon as the band entered his studio, he knew the end for The Smiths was near. Everybody looked seriously depressed and there was little communication. Showbiz felt physically intimidated by Morrissey's intense presence.
[edit] The song
[edit] Music
The song's structure is rather simple. "I Keep Mine Hidden" starts with a descending scale reminiscent of Roger Glover's "Love Is All" before transforming into a music hall-influenced glam rock stomp in the vein of their previous hit, "Sheila Take a Bow". Morrissey whistles a George Formby-esque intro, after which Marr's guitars and piano make standard glam/rockabilly gestures.
[edit] Words
Lyrically, Morrissey stresses the contrast between himself, "Yellow and green, a stumbling block / I'm a twenty-digit combination to unlock" and an unnamed foil, generally presumed to be Johnny Marr, with a modicum of sexual double entendre (the song's title plus lyrics like "but you let yours slide into public view") obscuring the true meaning of "mine" and "yours": emotions and the (lack of) means to express them.
More ambiguity surrounds the words "yellow and green", which are variously and/or simultaneously taken to mean a kind of anti-depressant prescription drug, a pair of loons that Morrissey is said to have owned, or metaphors for 'scared and unexperienced'[citation needed]. Finally, the song ends in the exhortation, "Use your loaf!" (with 'loaf' meaning 'head' in Cockney rhyming slang i.e. 'loaf of bread', 'head'); nearly inaudible as it is low in the mix), which adds yet more ambiguity to an at first sight straightforward lyric.
[edit] The recording
"I Keep Mine Hidden" was included as the second B-side of "Girlfriend in a Coma", restricted to the 12" version. The single, which was released on August 14, 1987, went to No. 13 in the British charts, spurred on no doubt by the news in the week prior to its release that Marr had left The Smiths, effectively ending the band (the curtain officially fell in September).
The song was not included on Strangeways, Here We Come, nor any subsequent Smiths compilation. This scarceness adds to the aura of the last song The Smiths ever recorded. It was, however, included as a supporting track on the American 1995 single "Sweet and Tender Hooligan", which was issued to promote the release of the compilation album Singles (even though none of the tracks on the single actually were included on the album it was promoting).
