# What's the Smiths' best song? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 8, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539 "2010-10-08T22:15:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/1 "2010-10-08T22:15:58Z")
I chose the top songs from each of the Smiths’ album polls that I did, and present them now to you for your consideration. Opinions? As for me, it clearly is “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2010, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/2 "2010-10-08T22:34:38Z")
From this choice, I went for “There is a Light…”, but the top three are all great, and there’s loads from that era that are worthy. The Smiths were one of those bands that I got a bit disillusioned with during their career, towards the end they were essentially “Morrissey” rather than “The Smiths”. I’ve never liked much of Morrissey’s solo career. Hey, anyone want to see a video of Moz on terrible 1980’s British show “Pop Quiz” from about two weeks after the debut album came out? He stars along side the frankly gorgeous Kim Wylde and Phil Lynott, as well as some random Simple Minds and Kajagoogoo members. [![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_WmrC3VXg) . ---
**Author:** ![kidneyfailure](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9f8e36/32.png) [@kidneyfailure](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kidneyfailure)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/3 "2010-10-09T00:05:22Z")
Wow, I can’t believe “How Soon is Now?” is ranked so low! IMHO, that is their all-time classic song. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/4 "2010-10-09T03:43:28Z")
> [@kidneyfailure](#): > > Wow, I can’t believe “How Soon is Now?” is ranked so low! IMHO, that is their all-time classic song. Eh, to me, it’s the Smiths’ equivalent of “Enter Sandman”: the song that even people who wouldn’t know the Smiths from Three Dog Night can usually hum along with, and is consequently rather overplayed (though not as overplayed as fucking “Enter Sandman”; can _anything_ be as overplayed as that?). No, most Smiths fans (at least the ones I’ve known throughout my life) are (quite correctly) in awe of “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out”, especially as compared to “How Soon Is Now?” (though there’s not a thing wrong with that song, to be sure). ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/5 "2010-10-09T03:53:24Z")
None of these are my favorites (that might be “Reel Around the Fountain” or “Half a Person” for me.) But of that bunch, it’s no contest for me: “How Soon Is Now.” ---
**Author:** ![fusoya](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@fusoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fusoya)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/6 "2010-10-09T05:05:04Z")
I was never really much of a Smiths fan, but I loved the cover of Panic that OK Go does. ---
**Author:** ![multimediac17](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/839c29/32.png) [@multimediac17](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/multimediac17)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/7 "2010-10-09T05:37:38Z")
‘There Is A Light That Never Goes Out’ is just… words cannot express. It is untouchable. ‘How Soon Is Now?’ is the runner up but it really doesn’t even come close. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 12:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/8 "2010-10-09T12:32:06Z")
> [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0\_WmrC3VXg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_WmrC3VXg) > > . By the way, this is the YouTube clip of the month for me. As a Yank, who knew such an entity ever existed? Bravo, sir, for bringing it to my attention! ---
**Author:** ![LVBoPeep](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/858c86/32.png) [@LVBoPeep](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LVBoPeep)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/9 "2010-10-09T13:26:07Z")
None of those are my favorites, although I’m surprised “Hand in Glove” isn’t on there as that song is the one that most people I know that had just discovered the Smiths raved about. I always had a soft spot for “Rushholm Ruffians” but if I had to pick a favorite it would be “Rubber Ring”. From that list, it’s clearly “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” ---
**Author:** ![gallows\_fodder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8c91f0/32.png) [@gallows\_fodder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gallows_fodder)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/10 "2010-10-09T20:13:50Z")
There’s something exalted about “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” You can instantly put yourself in that song, riding in a car with someone you love, so happy you laugh in the face of death, “Take me anywhere I don’t care I don’t care I don’t _caaare_”… it’s just perfect, the end. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/11 "2010-10-09T20:20:44Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > > [@Baron\_Greenback](#): > > > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0\_WmrC3VXg](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0_WmrC3VXg) > > > > . > > By the way, this is the YouTube clip of the month for me. As a Yank, who knew such an entity ever existed? Bravo, sir, for bringing it to my attention! Heh, that was a TV highlight of the week when I were a lad. Ah, the '80s, so much to answer for… ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/12 "2010-10-09T20:32:10Z")
> [@gallows\_fodder](#): > > There’s something exalted about “There Is a Light That Never Goes Out.” You can instantly put yourself in that song, riding in a car with someone you love, so happy you laugh in the face of death, “Take me anywhere I don’t care I don’t care I don’t _caaare_”… it’s just perfect, the end. Exactly. I remember the first time I heard “How Soon is Now”. It was on the late-and-much-lamented John Peel’s BBC radio show and his intro was something like “You’re all going to need to brace yourselves for this”, and then this fantastic relentless wall of sound. Still miss that man, he was a dogged champion and promoter of bands that make up a very large proportion of my record collection. ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/13 "2010-10-09T20:40:24Z")
_How soon is now_ is the Daddy. _Panic_ and \*There is a light \*have lyrics that are equal or better, which is saying something, but _How soon is now_ has the best music IMO. The Smiths are the antithesis of most great rock bands, in that their lyrics are consistently awesome, but the tunes are sometimes pedestrian (most rock bands are doing well if their lyrics reach the level of ‘laughable’). So when The Smiths got it right with the tunes you’re talking about all time great tracks. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/14 "2010-10-09T21:07:36Z")
> [@Busy\_Scissors](#): > > _How soon is now_ is the Daddy. _Panic_ and \*There is a light \*have lyrics that are equal or better, which is saying something, but _How soon is now_ has the best music IMO. > > The Smiths are the antithesis of most great rock bands, in that their lyrics are consistently awesome, but the tunes are sometimes pedestrian (most rock bands are doing well if their lyrics reach the level of ‘laughable’). So when The Smiths got it right with the tunes you’re talking about all time great tracks. I’m trying to think of other rock bands\* with such consistently good lyrics. Joy Divison, certainly. Velvet Underground too. Ummm. \*excluding singer-songwriter types like Dylan and Neil Young ---
**Author:** ![Busy\_Scissors](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/d78d45/32.png) [@Busy\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Busy_Scissors)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/15 "2010-10-09T21:14:50Z")
You’d surely agree that The Fall are lyrically great, but in a very non-accessible way. Although Mark E. Smith is often seen as a very obscure and impenetrable lyricist, he’s often being very plain. \*And the man who pretends he knows it all is destined to a Mighty Fall. Gets into your house with cheer, then proceeds to take all you’ve got to offer. This is not an autobahn It’s an evil roundabout That leads to the Haywain And you’ll never see good trains again. \* Reasonably plain, anyhow. ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 9, 2010, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-smiths-best-song/556539/16 "2010-10-09T21:49:04Z")
Yes, The Fall. :smack: Nigel Blackwell off of Half Man Half Biscuit too. One of the few very funny lyricists, but with the capacity to be seriously bitter and angry: _I try to put everything into perspective Set it against the scale of human suffering And I thought of the Mugabe government And the children of the Calcutta railways This works for a while But then I encounter Primark FM Overhead a rainbow appears In black and white_