| "Everyday Is Like Sunday" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Morrissey | ||||
| from the album Viva Hate | ||||
| Released | May 31, 1988 | |||
| Format | 7", 12", CD, cassette | |||
| Length | 3:33 | |||
| Label | HMV (UK original release) Major Minor (UK 2010 reissue) Sire/Reprise (U.S.) |
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| Morrissey singles chronology | ||||
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"Everyday Is Like Sunday" is the third track of Morrissey's debut solo album, Viva Hate, and the second single to be released by the artist. It made number nine in the UK Singles Chart and remains one of his best-known songs. "Everyday Is Like Sunday," as well as the single's B-sides "Disappointed" and "Will Never Marry," feature on the compilation album Bona Drag.
Morrissey has been quoted as saying that there is 'something strangely depressing about a seaside town out-of-season'. The lyrics are inspired by Nevil Shute's novel On the Beach, about a group of people waiting for nuclear devastation in Melbourne, a beachside city in Australia. Also, according to Morrissey, the song was originally inspired after visiting the Welsh sea-side resort of Borth.[1]
The track has been covered by a number of other bands, including The Pretenders (on the Original Motion Picture soundtrack Boys on the Side), by 10,000 Maniacs (on their Candy Everybody Wants EP), the Armageddon Dildos (on their "Come Armageddon" maxi-single), Estonian 1990s pop group Mr. Lawrence and Mikel Erentxun (on his album Acrobatas). Colin Meloy of The Decemberists also covers the track on his solo album Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey. Dave Couse (former lead singer of A House) has performed this live with his later band The Impossible and alternative rock band Fate or Trouble who released the song as their debut single. A mostly instrumental version (containing only the title lyric) was used in NFL Network's "When all you want is football" television ad campaign.
The single was re-issued on 27 September 2010, on CD and two 7"s, including the unreleased "November the Second"; an alternative mix of "November Spawned a Monster." This re-issue debuted at number 42 on the UK Singles Chart. It coincides with the 20th anniversary re-issue of his 1990 compilation, Bona Drag.[2]
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Notes: Although credited as being performed at Irvine Meadows, fans have pointed out that Morrissey did not perform at that venue in 1991, and that the live version of "Trash" is likely to have been recorded at the Pacific Amphitheatre in Costa Mesa, California on 1 June 1991.
Although Morrissey's debut "Suedehead" had received a positive review from the English music magazine NME, the follow-up received a cooler reaction. Alluding to the controversy that had arisen over Morrissey's "Bengali in Platforms", Reviewer Steven Wells warned the singer to not "attract a Sham Army style of following and end up like Jimmy Pursey" and to "Think on, lad." However praise for the single came in Q magazine in September 1992 when Chrissie Hynde (who would later record her own version of the song) said that the "lyric to Everyday Is Like Sunday is, to me, a masterful piece of prose" and Siobhan Fahey described it as her "all-time top song".[3]
The song was performed live by Morrissey on his 1991, 1992 (Festival Dates), 2002, 2004, 2006, 2007 and 2008 tours. In 2004 the song was played in a medley with the first verse of "Subway Train" by The New York Dolls.
The video features clips from the film Carry on Abroad.
Billie Whitelaw appears in a supporting role. Despite rumours, the music video did not feature actress Drew Barrymore as a young fan, but rather Lucette Henderson.
The seaside town used as the location was Southend-on-Sea.
| Country | Record label | Format | Catalogue number | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | HMV | 7" vinyl | POP1619 | |
| UK | HMV | 12" vinyl | 12POP1619 | |
| UK | HMV | Compact disc | CDPOP1619 | |
| UK | HMV | Cassette | TCPOP1619 |
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