Morrissey, the former Smiths singer whose dalliance with the right wing has shocked many fans, returned to Manchester for a sold-out show last week and told the crowd: “Many people in the media in this country work very hard, and very long, with the hope that nights like this would never again happen for me, that they would never be possible.” He added: “Please look after your country.”
Rather than a media conspiracy, another view of why Morrissey may have drifted out of the national conversation was offered this week by the singer Nick Cave, who wrote on his website that they “had a few pleasant email exchanges last year in which Morrissey asked if I’d sing on a new song he had written. I would have been happy to do so, however, while the song he sent was quite lovely, it began with a lengthy and entirely irrelevant Greek bouzouki intro. It also seemed that he didn’t want me to actually sing on the song, but deliver, over the top of the bouzouki, an unnecessarily provocative and slightly silly anti-woke screed he had written.
“Although I suppose I agreed with the sentiment on some level, it just wasn’t my thing… I politely declined.”
