From the opening verse of this song it is quite apparent what Morrissey is trying to get at here.
I decree today that life Is simply taking and not giving
England is mine and it owes me a living
Ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye
Oh, ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye
But we cannot cling to the old dreams anymore
No, we cannot cling to those dreams
At the time this song was written Britain was going through a very low economic phase. Unemployment and inflation was very high and many were left in virtual poverty from the collapse of the mining industry, especially in the North of the country where The Smiths originated. Many blamed the Prime Minister of the time - Maragent thatcher
Thatcher famously made a comment that "there is no such thing as society." This is reflected in the opening lines of the song
I decree today that life
Is simply taking and not giving
Most of the population felt that individuals were only out for themselves, especially those with wealth, as they seemed quite happy to cast others aside in order to make themselves better off, even if those who were cast aside were being driven to levels of poverty not seen in this country for decades. Although today many of us can see what is currently happening with regard to the economies of France and Germany and see that these labour and industrial reforms were essential for the long term growth of our economy (at least until the credit crunch took effect). However, at the time the whole period was horrendous for the majority of the northern working class families, and easy to understand their frustration, or even hatred, of the government, who seemed to be doing nothing to help their cause. Films such as Brassed Off give a clear depiction of just how little a voice the local trade unions had against the closures. Hence, these lines, taken from the Moores murderer Myra Hindley, are a direct attack against Thatcher, portraying her as a mass murderer of the working classes. Later on we have more attacks on the British culture created by the Thatcher government. The lines:
Under the iron bridge we kissed
And although I ended up with sore lips
Are taken from Steve Brown and Justin Greene play Spend, Spend, Spend about Viv Nicholson (who features on the cover of the single Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now), which tells the story of a women who wins a large fortune on the football pools and basks in the glory before it all goes to her head and ends up bankrupt and in a fast downward spiral of depression. Thus, this is just like Britain was going through, a once great nation that was quickly going to rot. The iron bridge could be taken as a reference to the time when Britain really was great during the industrial revolution.
The song also points towards other feels within British society around that time.
England is mine and it owes me a living
Ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye
Oh, ask me why, and I'll spit in your eye
The obvious reference here is towards being on the dole (job seekers allowance) and maybe not fully understanding why. However, I believe that this points towards the growing nationalist movement in England with the reemergence of the "skin 'eads" (a topic also touched upon in Morressey's solo carrier with The National Front Disco). Their main belief was that being British gave them the right to employment and that recent immigrants from the West Indies and Sri Lanka/India/Pakistan where taking there jobs, and had no right to be here. If those imigrants dared to challenge this the would face the repercussions, as these people were "scum", who should never try to confront the English - as in the British Isles (as with most of the world), spitting in someones eye is taken as an extremely indignant gesture. The film This Is England shows very clearly the opinions of this section of society at the time - Even contains a Smiths song towards the end.
As a whole, the song is sung with a great deal of sadness. A sadness of seeing a country you love go to ruin and a yearning nostalgia for when times where better. There seems to be a great confusion in the song with the chorus:
Does the body rule the mind
Or does the mind rule the body?
Which seems to suggest that the narrator has no idea of what is going on or what has happened. Of course, the body in this song refers to England. Does the government (the mind) rule England or do the people? A clear conflict of the fact that England is meant to be a democracy where the people have their say on what should happen in their society, but the government is just imposing their authority and disregarding the electorate. However, Morrissey can see no clear conclusions on where things are heading, just that trying to save the mining industry is futile ("And if you must, go to work - tomorrow; Well, if I were you I really wouldn't bother") and that we have no option but to accept the past is gone, no matter how hard that may be.
All in all a fantastic song, and for those wishing to explore this song I recommend the version on Hatful of Hollow, which contains the version from the BBC's John Peel Show, as this versions opens and closes with a harmonica, which can be seen as a link to ska music that was closely connected to the skin head movement of the time.
Album - The Smiths (1984)
