Dickie Felton | 3 July 2022
It’s exactly four decades since Morrissey wrote a song about the Moors Murders.
Two decades later he focused on the plane crash that destroyed Manchester United’s Busby Babes.
This weekend Morrissey turned his attention to another heartbreaking moment in Manchester history – the 2017 Arena bombing.
On Friday he opened his five-night residency at The Colosseum in Las Vegas.
The 63-year-old played ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ for the very first time – introducing the song as being about ‘England’s 9/11.’
On May 22 2017 terrorist Salman Abedi detonated a bomb at the Manchester Arena killing 22 people and injuring more than 1000.
Suffer Little Children was an album track and b-side to Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now
There should be no shock in Morrissey tackling the most sensitive of subjects.
But I’m unsure how parents of those lost that night will react to the song – which is set to the the title track of his new album.
Or how the tabloid press – not exactly fans of Morrissey – will cover the story.
Although 40 years apart, ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ follows the same dark path as one of The Smiths’ earliest creations.
In the summer of 1982 Morrissey sat down with Johnny Marr to write ‘Suffer Little Children’.
In the mid-1960s Morrissey was a young child growing up in Manchester at the time of Brady and Hindley’s reign of terror.
The pair snatched, tortured and murdered five children before burying them on Saddleworth Moor.
That a young Morrissey should sing about the victims on The Smiths first album in 1984 was understandable given he grew up on the same streets they were abducted from.
In the early 80s Morrissey said: “I was very, very aware of everything that occurred. Aware as a child who could’ve been a victim”.
‘Suffer Little Children’ was the album’s closing track. A beautiful, yet haunting song, a tribute to the children whose lives were so horrifically taken.
It was only once the song appeared as the b-side on ‘Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now’ that it began to attract controversy.
It’s reported that the grandfather of one of the victims – John Kilbride – heard it on a pub jukebox and complained to the local press.
And once the tabloids got hold of it they blew the story out of all proportion.*
Morrissey would go on to meet the parents of the lost children to explain his motivations for the song. He would later become friends with Ann West whose daughter Lesley-Ann was one of the victims aged just 10.
I wonder if he has met with relatives of those lost at the Arena?
‘Suffer Little Children’ came out two decades after the Moors Murders.
‘Munich Air Disaster 1958” appeared as a b-side on ‘Irish Blood, English Heart’ in 2004 – almost half a century on from the disaster which killed eight United players:
“We love them. We mourn for them. Unlucky boys of red.
“I wish I’d gone down. Gone down with them. To where mother nature makes their bed”.
‘Munich Air Disaster – 1958’ a b-side in 2004.
On Friday night, in front of a sell-out crowd in Nevada, Morrissey introduced ‘Bonfire of Teenagers’.
“This song is new – it’s about England’s 9/11.
Obviously, in jolly old England, most people won’t talk about it.
But I will.”
The song features a solemn piano intro before the opening lyrics:
“Bonfire of teenagers rages so high in May north-west sky.
“And oh you should have seen her leave for the arena…
“And the way she turned and waved and smiled – Goodbye – Goodbye.”
“And the silly people sing Don’t Look Back Anger…
“And the morons sing and sway Don’t Look Back in Anger…
“I can assure you I will look back in anger – until the day I die…”
There follows another verse with similar lyrics and some words I can’t quite make out.
The song ends with the refrain: “Go easy on the killer…Go easy on the killer…”
While being a tribute to the dead, does the song imply that society, the media or Manchester was too soft on those responsible for the atrocity?
There is only five years between the Arena bombing and Morrissey singing about it.
An independent public inquiry to investigate the deaths is ongoing.
‘Bonfire of Teenagers’ feels like the last in a trilogy of Morrissey’s songs that deal with the most desperate days in Manchester’s history.
During the Moors Murders Morrissey was a kid knocking about on the streets of Manchester.
On 22 May 2017 Morrissey was in Manchester celebrating his 58th birthday when news of the Arena atrocity reached him.
Morrissey is a writer who feels he has to sing about the darkest of times – especially when they happen so close to home.
No subject is off the table – no matter how painful they may be to face.
*Taken from Simon Goddard’s ‘Mozipedia’ – Ebury Press 2009 (pages 428/429)