"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" is a song by English
rock band
the Smiths
The Smiths were an English rock band formed in Manchester in 1982. They comprised the singer Morrissey, the guitarist Johnny Marr, the bassist Andy Rourke and the drummer Mike Joyce. They are regarded as one of the most important acts to eme ...
. Released as a single in May 1984, it reached No. 10 on the
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...
,
making it the band's first top ten single. It was later included on the November 1984 compilation album ''
Hatful of Hollow''. The song is listed as one of the
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Background
The music was written by
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr (born John Martin Maher, 31 October 1963) is an English musician, songwriter and singer. He first achieved fame as the guitarist and co-songwriter of the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. He has since performed with numerou ...
in an hour in a New York hotel room on 2 January 1984, using a red Gibson ES-355 guitar that was bought for him that day by
Seymour Stein
Seymour Stein (born April 18, 1942) is an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was Vice President of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed bands that became central to the new wave era of the 1970s ...
. After finishing the song, he wrote the music for B-side "Girl Afraid" the same evening. Marr considers the two songs "a pair".
The song is notable for marking the beginning of producer
Stephen Street's working relationship with the band.
As one of his first roles as "in-house engineer" at Island Records' Fallout Shelter studios, Street engineered the session. He was aware of the band and excited by the prospect, saying in a
HitQuarters
HitQuarters was an international music industry publication and contact database founded in 1999. It was noted for its in-depth interviews with industry figures, as well as its A&R and manager contact directory, free artist promo pages and song ...
interview, "I'd seen them just shortly beforehand on Top of the Pops doing 'This Charming Man', and like most other people around that time who were into music I was really excited by them."
Although not contacted for the subsequent recording "
William, It Was Really Nothing", Street was asked to engineer the Smiths' next album, ''
Meat Is Murder'', with Morrissey and Marr producing for the first time.
The cover features
Viv Nicholson, who became famous in 1961 in the UK for winning a large amount of money on the
football pools
In the United Kingdom, the football pools, often referred to as "the pools", is a betting pool based on predicting the outcome of association football matches taking place in the coming week. The pools are typically cheap to enter, and may enco ...
and then rapidly squandering it. The song's title was inspired by
Sandie Shaw Sandie may refer to:
__NOTOC__ People
* Sandie Clair (born 1988), French professional racing cyclist
* Sandie Fitzgibbon, Irish former camogie player
* Sandie Jones (1950/1951–2019), Irish singer
* Sandie Lindsay, 1st Baron Lindsay of Birker (187 ...
's 1969 single "
Heaven Knows I'm Missing Him Now".
The band's performance of the song on
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a fourth television service ...
's ''Earsay'' on 31 March 1984 features mixed footage of the band playing in a studio and footage of Morrissey walking around some wasteland in
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The ...
, with
gladiolus
''Gladiolus'' (from Latin, the diminutive of ''gladius'', a sword) is a genus of perennial cormous flowering plants in the iris family (Iridaceae).
It is sometimes called the 'sword lily', but is usually called by its generic name (plural ''g ...
flowers in his hands and in the back pocket of his trousers.
Cultural reference
Journalist
Andrew Collins borrowed the song's title for the name of his autobiographical book ''Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now: My Difficult Student 80s'', published in 2004.
The title of "Girl Afraid" is taken from the 1943 film ''
Old Acquaintance
''Old Acquaintance'' is a 1943 American drama film released by Warner Bros. It was directed by Vincent Sherman and produced by Henry Blanke with Jack L. Warner as executive producer. The film was adapted from a screenplay by John Van Druten, L ...
'', starring
Bette Davis
Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress with a career spanning more than 50 years and 100 acting credits. She was noted for playing unsympathetic, sardonic characters, and was famous for her p ...
and
Miriam Hopkins
Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She first signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930.
Her best-known roles included a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' T ...
. Hopkins's character Mildred Watson Drake is a successful author who writes a novel titled ''Girl Afraid''.
Track listing
* in original green sleeve
Etchings on vinyl
British 7": SMITHS INDEED / ILL FOREVER
British 12": SMITHS PRESUMABLY / FOREVER ILL
Charts
Certifications
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
1984 songs
1984 singles
The Smiths songs
Songs written by Morrissey
Songs written by Johnny Marr
Act (band) songs
1980s ballads
Rough Trade Records singles
Rock ballads
UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles