Death at One’s Elbow Lyrics
Oh, Glenn, oh, Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Oh Glenn
Because there's somebody here who really, really loves you
Oh, Glenn, stay home
Be bored, It's crap, I know
Tonight
Oh, Glenn, oh, Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Oh, Glenn, oh, Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Because there's somebody here Who'll take a hatchet to your ear
The frustration it renders me hateful, oh...
Oh, don't come to the house tonight
Oh, don't come to the house tonight
Because you'll slip on the trail of all my sad remains
That's why, that's why goodbye my love, goodbye my love
Goodbye my love, goodbye my love
Goodbye my love, goodbye my love
Goodbye my love, goodbye my love
About
Throughout this song, Morrissey keeps returning to themes of death and parting, almost as if he had seen the breakup coming, and dishes out bitter indictments.
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
Guitarist Johnny Marr defended the track:
It was good sometimes to have a track that wasn’t trying to win the war like There Is A Light That Never Goes Out,“ he said. "It was almost like, ‘We have the right to be slightly less intense.’ I liked Morrissey’s singing and I liked my own backing vocals
The title is taken from published diaries of Joe Orton, which, at the time, Morrissey had just finished reading.
The quote is from December ‘66, when Orton returned home the night before his mother’s funeral:
As the corpse is downstairs in the main living room. It means going out or watching television with death at one’s elbow
- 9.Death at One’s Elbow
