"This Night Has Opened My Eyes"

Cafe Society
1

In your opinion, what has happened to the baby in this song?
Poll coming.

Probably-dodgy lyrics here.

The Smiths performing the song here.

2

I had always thought it was clear that the baby was drowned by its parent(s) shortly after birth. The narrator of the song is a friend of the parent(s) who witnessed it, and is ruminating on the killing.

However, per the dodgy lyrics sheet I linked to, quite a few people think otherwise.

Morrissey has said that the song was inspired by the play A Taste of Honey, but that play ends right before the baby in question is born, so that’s no help…

What do you think?

(This is one of my favorite songs by this band.)

3

The fact that Morrissey is a wanker makes it hard to decide.

4

Huh. Thought this would get more interest.

For some reason this song was on my mind last night during a pretty bad bout of insomnia - it was all I could think about. This song, and Caylee Anthony, and the girls who leave babies in dumpsters, and what sort of mental state a person must be in to do this sort of thing.

It was a less than pleasant evening.

5

I’d say she was given up - left on a doorstep. I think the “In a river the colour of lead
immerse a baby’s head” refers to an *ersatz *baptism by the mother, or washing it, before placing the baby on the doorstep. I don’t think the baby was drowned (or else why place it on a doorstep - unless it was the doorstep of the father!)

6

I never actually studied the lyrics word-for-word, but every time I would listen to the song in the background I had the mental image of someone throwing a live baby into the river.

7

This song has been on my mind since the News of the World is being shut down.

But I have the same interpretation as the OP–the mother drowned the baby and left it on a doorstep. Note: the child COULD’VE been a poet or COULD’VE been a fool. I think it’s clear the baby is dead.

I wish I hadn’t stored my copy of Mozipedia. There is an entry for every Smiths and Morrissey song and I’d like to read what the author makes of this song.

8

I interpret that as “if you’d raised her, you’d have seen what she was like. But now you’ll never know because she doesn’t exist - for you”

I mean, if you’re going to drown a baby, you leave it in a river, you don’t then wrap it up and leave it on a doorstep, do you?

9

Well, every time I’ve had to… um, nevermind.