Morrissey pens open letter to Johnny Marr demanding he stops talking about him
"It's as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me"
Morrissey has penned an open letter to his former Smiths band mate Johnny Marr demanding the guitarist stops mentioning him in interviews.
Writing on his official website, Morrissey directly addresses Johnny Marr with his apparently "polite and calmly measured request" and says: "Would you please stop mentioning my name in your interviews?"
Requesting if Marr could just "leave me out of it", Morrissey adds "The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings."
Later, 62-year-old Morrissey writes “It’s as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me”, and continues “Just stop using my name as click-bait.”
Morrissey’s full open letter to Johnny Marr:
“Would you please, instead, discuss your own career, your own unstoppable solo achievements and your own music?
“If you can, would you please just leave me out of it?
“The fact is: you don’t know me. You know nothing of my life, my intentions, my thoughts, my feelings. Yet you talk as if you were my personal psychiatrist with consistent and uninterrupted access to my instincts. We haven’t known each other for 35 years - which is many lifetimes ago. When we met you and I were not successful. We both helped each other become whatever it is we are today. Can you not just leave it at that? Must you persistently, year after year, decade after decade, blame me for everything … from the 2007 Solomon Islands tsunami to the dribble on your grandma’s chin ?
“You found me inspirational enough to make music with me for 6 years. If I was, as you claim, such an eyesore monster, where exactly did this leave you? Kidnapped? Mute? Chained? Abducted by cross-eyed extraterrestrials? It was YOU who played guitar on ‘Golden Lights’ (The Smiths’ widely derided 1986 cover of the Twinkle song) - not me.
“Yes, we all know that the British press will print anything you say about me as long as it’s cruel and savage. But you’ve done all that. Move on. It’s as if you can’t uncross your own legs without mentioning me. Our period together was many lifetimes ago, and a lot of blood has streamed under the bridge since then. There comes a time when you must take responsibility for your own actions and your own career, with which I wish you good health to enjoy. Just stop using my name as click-bait. I have not ever attacked your solo work or your solo life, and I have openly applauded your genius during the days of ‘Louder than bombs’ and ‘Strangeways, here we come’, yet you have positioned yourself ever-ready as rent-a-quote whenever the press require an ugly slant on something I half-said during the last glacial period as the Colorado River began to carve out the Grand Canyon. Please stop. It is 2022, not 1982.”
Having first met four years previously, Johnny Marr and Morrissey formed The Smiths in 1982 and, alongside Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, they released four seminal studio albums together before disbanding in 1987.
In a recent interview discussing his favourite Smiths song ‘Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me’, Johnny Marr heaped praise on Morrissey’s contribution to the track.
Hailing the “great composition by Morrissey”, Marr added: "I love the words, and I love the singing, I love the bass playing and I love the drumming. I have great pride in that. I have pride in the band, and I have pride in the composition.”
Johnny Marr releases his double album ‘Fever Dreams Pts 1-4’ on Friday 25th February 2022.
Following its release, Johnny Marr is the very special guest on Blondie's April and May 2022 UK arena tour. Tickets are on sale from Absolute Radio Tickets now.