# "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [July 12, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744 "2011-07-12T14:39:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/1 "2011-07-12T14:39:05Z")
In your opinion, what has happened to the baby in this song? Poll coming. Probably-dodgy lyrics [here.](http://www.songmeanings.net/songs/view/13095/) The Smiths performing the song [here.](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3bCWRLS6Eo) ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/2 "2011-07-12T14:44:32Z")
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](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.) ---
**Author:** ![don\_t\_ask](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e68b1a/32.png) [@don\_t\_ask](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/don_t_ask)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2011, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/3 "2011-07-12T14:52:02Z")
The fact that Morrissey is a wanker makes it hard to decide. ---
**Author:** ![Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df705f/32.png) [@Maggie\_the\_Ocelot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maggie_the_Ocelot)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/4 "2011-07-13T06:55:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/5 "2011-07-13T09:18:51Z")
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!) ---
**Author:** ![phantom\_lamb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@phantom\_lamb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phantom_lamb)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 9:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/6 "2011-07-13T09:34:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Erdosain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/erdosain/32/7284_2.png) [@Erdosain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Erdosain)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2011, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/7 "2011-07-13T11:28:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/8 "2011-07-14T15:27:52Z")
> [@Erdosain](#): > > Note: the child COULD’VE been a poet or COULD’VE been a fool. I think it’s clear the baby is dead. 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? ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2011, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/this-night-has-opened-my-eyes/588744/9 "2011-07-14T16:36:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > 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? Well, every time I’ve had to… um, nevermind.