Part of an irregular series of bite-sized posts about 7″ singles I own – shameless nostalgia from the days of vinyl. (Search ‘Backtracking’ to collect the set!)
THE SMITHS – This Charming Man b/w Jeane (Rough Trade, 1983)
The record sleeve of This Charming Man which uses a still frame of Jean Marais from Jean Cocteau's 1949 film Orphée.
I first heard This Charming Man playing on the radio in an Indian grocer’s shop in Tottenham. It was one of those epiphanic moments that I will probably recall on my death bed. The freshness and sheer beauty of this most perfect of pop songs struck me immediately.
As John Peel once said, with most bands you know exactly what they have been listening to but The Smiths just seemed to materialise out of nowhere. There was nothing like them before and there has been nothing like them since.
Journalists still write articles wondering why Morrissey still has such adoring fans, which means they either weren’t around to be smitten by these early singles or simply have no taste.
