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"I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" is a song by the English
rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...
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 ...
, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. The song was released on the group's 1987 album ''
Strangeways, Here We Come ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' is the fourth and final studio album by English rock band the Smiths. It was released on 28 September 1987 by Rough Trade Records, several months after the group had disbanded. All of the songs were composed by Jo ...
''. Featuring a
glam rock Glam rock is a style of rock music that developed in the United Kingdom in the early 1970s and was performed by musicians who wore outrageous costumes, makeup, and hairstyles, particularly platform shoes and glitter. Glam artists drew on diver ...
-inspired guitar riff, the song emerged from a jam during the "
Sheila Take a Bow "Sheila Take a Bow" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Featuring a glam rock-style beat and guitar riff, the song was originally planned to feature Sandie Shaw on backing vocals, but Shaw's dist ...
" sessions. Though not originally planned to be released as a single, "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" was released as the album's second single after "
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. The song was first released on the group's 1987 album '' Strangeways, Here We Come''. Ma ...
" was banned by the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
for references to mass murder after the
Hungerford Massacre The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Hungerford, England, United Kingdom, on 19 August 1987, when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before shooting himself. The ...
. Released in November 1987, it reached number 23 in 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 ...
, a relative commercial underachievement. It was the first single released after the band had announced their split. "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" has seen critical acclaim for Marr's guitar work and Morrissey's witty lyricism. It has since appeared on multiple compilation albums.


Background

"I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" began as part of a jam session played during the sessions for the band's single "
Sheila Take a Bow "Sheila Take a Bow" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Featuring a glam rock-style beat and guitar riff, the song was originally planned to feature Sandie Shaw on backing vocals, but Shaw's dist ...
." Marr recalled, "It was just a weird chord change that I had in my pocket for a while, and we needed a song so I pulled that out, just trying to get the key changes to work. I mean there was a lot of throwing stuff around with that album 'Strangeways''" The song was inspired by
David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...
's "
The Jean Genie "The Jean Genie" is a song by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, originally released in November 1972 as the lead single to his 1973 album ''Aladdin Sane''. Co-produced by Ken Scott, Bowie recorded it with his backing band the Spiders from ...
" and Sparks' "
Amateur Hour An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...
." Marr explained, "I wanted the electric guitar parts a lot less layered and with a lot more weight, which you can hear on 'I Started Something I Couldn't Finish'." Marr composed the song's music on a 12-string
Gibson ES-335 The Gibson ES-335 is the world's first commercial semi-hollowbody electric guitar, sometimes known as semi-acoustic. Released by the Gibson Guitar Corporation as part of its ES (Electric Spanish) series in 1958, it is neither fully hollow nor fu ...
, which he commented "gave a really big sound." The song also features a saxophone melody played on an
Emulator In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use pe ...
, while co-producer Stephen Street added an electronic snare drum alongside drummer Mike Joyce's drum line. Marr commented that the latter decision was to give his drumming "more texture." Though Morrissey was critical of certain aspects of early versions of the song, Marr commented that "Morrissey was really into the song and he was sort of encouraging me" in contrast to Joyce and bassist
Andy Rourke Andrew Michael Rourke (born 17 January 1964) is an English musician, best known as the bassist of the Smiths. He is known for his melodic approach to bass playing. Career Rourke's father was Irish while his mother was English. He received an a ...
, who were not fond of the song. Marr pointed to Joyce and Rourke's opposition to the song as an additional incentive for him to leave the band. The track features an outtake during the fade out, with Morrissey asking: "OK,
Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...
, shall we do that again?"


Release

Initially, the band's label Rough Trade intended to release "
Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. The song was first released on the group's 1987 album '' Strangeways, Here We Come''. Ma ...
" as the second single from ''
Strangeways, Here We Come ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' is the fourth and final studio album by English rock band the Smiths. It was released on 28 September 1987 by Rough Trade Records, several months after the group had disbanded. All of the songs were composed by Jo ...
''. However, after the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
banned the single in the aftermath of the
Hungerford massacre The Hungerford massacre was a spree shooting in Hungerford, England, United Kingdom, on 19 August 1987, when 27-year-old Michael Ryan shot dead sixteen people, including an unarmed police officer and his own mother, before shooting himself. The ...
(the lyrics contain a reference to "mass murder"), the band selected "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" as the replacement A-side in the UK. The B-sides included alternate and live recordings of previously released Smiths songs, alongside a cover of
James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguati ...
' "What's the World." The single reached number 23 in the UK, a relative underachievement commercially. Morrissey later reflected on the commercial shortcomings of the song and its follow-up, "
Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me "Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. It appears as the sixth track on the band's final album ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' (1987). It ...
": "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was still released as a single in other countries, but its promotional video—which featured Morrissey plus a large number of Morrissey lookalikes—was used in the UK to promote "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish".


Artwork and matrix message

The cover of the single features actress
Avril Angers Florence Avril Angers (18 April 1918 – 9 November 2005) was an English stand-up comedian and actress. The ''Daily Telegraph'' described her as "one of the most zestful, charming and reliable character comediennes in the postwar London theat ...
in a
still A still is an apparatus used to distill liquid mixtures by heating to selectively boil and then cooling to condense the vapor. A still uses the same concepts as a basic distillation apparatus, but on a much larger scale. Stills have been use ...
from the 1966 film ''
The Family Way ''The Family Way'' is a 1966 British comedy-drama film about the marital difficulties of a young newlywed couple living in a crowded house with the husband's family. Based on Bill Naughton's play '' All in Good Time'' (1963), the film began lif ...
''. The British 7-inch and 12-inch vinyls contain the etching: "MURDER AT THE WOOL HALL"(X)STARRING SHERIDAN WHITESIDE / YOU ARE BELIEVING, YOU DO NOT WANT TO SLEEP. The Wool Hall was the recording studio in Bath where the Smiths had recorded their last album ''Strangeways, Here We Come'', but it also was where Morrissey, at the time of this single's release, was recording his first solo album ''
Viva Hate ''Viva Hate'' is the debut solo studio album by English singer Morrissey. It was released on 14 March 1988 by HMV, six months after the final studio album by the Smiths, '' Strangeways, Here We Come'' (1987). Vini Reilly, the leader of the E ...
''. One of Morrissey's pseudonyms, Sheridan Whiteside is the title role in the play ''
The Man Who Came to Dinner ''The Man Who Came to Dinner'' is a comedy play by George S. Kaufman and Moss Hart. It debuted on October 16, 1939, at the Music Box Theatre in New York City, where it ran until 1941, closing after 739 performances. It then enjoyed a number of N ...
''. The B-side etching is a reversal of "You are sleeping, you do not want to believe",Image of etching a sample heard at the end of the Smiths song "Rubber Ring".


Critical reception

"I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" saw positive critical reception from its release. Reviewing ''Strangeways, Here We Come'' in 1987, the ''
NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming, and culture website and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a 'rock inkie', the NME would become a magazine that ended up as a f ...
'' called it "a classic pop song that seems to echo―believe it or not―the treasured oeuvre of T. Rex, Mud, and
the Glitter Band The Glitter Band are a glam rock band from England, who initially worked as Gary Glitter's backing band under that name from 1973, when they then began releasing records of their own. They were unofficially known as the Glittermen on the first f ...
!" ''
Consequence Consequence may refer to: * Logical consequence, also known as a ''consequence relation'', or ''entailment'' * In operant conditioning, a result of some behavior * Consequentialism, a theory in philosophy in which the morality of an act is determi ...
'' ranked the song as the band's 25th best, writing, "The Smiths' music is riddled with indecision, and this song is Morrissey at his most doubtful." ''
Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first known for its ...
'' ranked the song as the 42nd best Smiths song.


Track listing


Charts


Notes


References


External links

* {{Authority control The Smiths songs 1987 singles Rough Trade Records singles Songs written by Morrissey Songs written by Johnny Marr Song recordings produced by Stephen Street Alternative rock songs Glam rock songs