The story in the song – The Smiths – There Is A Light That Never Goes Out

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Morrissey and his group, The Smiths were sometimes criticized for the depressing downbeat tone of some of their lyrics, so in 1992 they released this exaggerated death and despair parody of their own work as a way of silencing their critics. It is a certainly still a song about depression and misery, with romantic dreams seen as a way of breaking free of the sheer awfulness of being homeless. It is done with a streak of humour while maintaining a realistic look at someone in a very desperate frame of mind. Here, the narrator tells his lover that even getting crushed in a serious traffic crash involving a bus or a lorry will be OK as long as she dies by his side in the same disaster. As the car goes through a tunnel, he wants to tell her how he feels about her and explain his plans to live with her, but he can’t bring himself to say it. He is clearly depressed, as his parents have thrown him out of the house, presumably forever. He seems torn between wanting to be with his girlfriend, partying, and hoping to move in with her, and his death fantasies. The light is that at the end of the tunnel – the eternal hope that the mess his life is in will straighten itself out, or possibly the light of eternity if he does end it all. Arthur Chappell