This Charming Man

I love this kinda otherworldly, mysterious sort of intro here with Morrissey's voice just floating above.

Um, you know, and prior to this album, Johnny Marr was kind of always pegged as being this jingle jangle guitar player for, like, you know, the cascading sort of arpeggiated chords and things, like in This Charming Man.

Um, so he was trying to break free from that, and you can see that right away in this first, um, clip here because in this, in this song, he does something really interesting with the guitar.

Um, he doesn't play it at all.

They were like very hip to what was coming out in England.

And, uh, so I heard, uh, This Charming Man.

No, it was, it was, uh, it was What Difference Does It Make, uh, right when it came out.

And, um, and I remember hearing it and being like, "Oh my God, what is this?" And running to my, my box, my boombox to play and record it, you know? So I had like half of What Difference Does It Make on a cassette, and I would just listen to that half and just like keep LIR on aga- until I would get to hear it again.

And then I heard This Charming Man, I was like, "Ah." And, um, uh, but I, I, I was real- music, I mean, you know, same as you guys, um, was so, uh, I just super connected to it.

And, you know, and, and I think all, you know, all kids do, but I think I just really m- maybe more than other people, like it was just so important to me and I would always be seeking stuff out and, you know, wanting to know how things connected and what inspired the next thing.

And, you know, I wasn't in any sort of like s- music, like, uh, like a critic, ner- nerd student kind of way, but just out of pure interest in how it, um, you know, I don't know.

But while we're waiting for the band to come on, And it was a really successful gig, everybody had a great time.

I had this piece of music, I thought, wow, what an introduction, what is that? And it was the introduction to This Charming Man.

And you think, wow, that is Johnny Marr's guitar and Morrissey's lyrics.

So it was this explosion of... like another wave of music coming through after all the anger of pop.

[laughs]

But this one, off their debut album, The Smiths, This Charming Man.

Number four for me.

Haunted bicycle on a hillside desolate.

Who made you make a man of me yet? When in this charming car.

This charming man.

Good choice.

Thank you.

Co-founding The Smiths at the age of 18 and writing parts that have shaped the sound of British guitar music pretty much ever since.

"This Charming Man," "How Soon is Now," "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," the list of songs goes on and on and on.

And since The Smiths ended in 1987, he's barely paused for a breath.

He formed Electronic with Bernard Sumner and has also played with bands like Talking Heads, The Pretenders, The The, and Bryan Ferry.

I don't get it.

Nothing wrong with them, but a couple of tracks, you know, This Charming Man.

Because it's got a Smiths bass line in it and the guitar is emulating Johnny Marr.

Yeah, so this is definitely a Nicky song.

They don't know a hit because there aren't any hits.

Well, the biggest selling guitar was the Rickenbacker, a 330 Rickenbacker that was used to record and play This Charming Man.

It sold for nearly $500,000.

This