"The Boy with the Thorn in His Side" 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. It was released as a single in September 1985, reaching No. 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 remixed version appeared on their third album '' The Queen Is Dead'' in June 1986. This was the first single by The Smiths to be accompanied by a promotional music video, something the band had previously resisted. They also performed the song on an episode of ''

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

''. The main difference between the single version and the album version is in the use of synthesised strings. They are largely absent from the single version, only appearing in the song's coda. In 2003,

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey (; born 22 May 1959), known professionally as Morrissey, is an English singer and songwriter. He came to prominence as the frontman and lyricist of rock band the Smiths, who were active from 1982 to 1987. Since then ...

named it his favourite Smiths song.

Background

Margi Clarke asked

if this song was inspired by

Oscar Wilde Oscar Fingal O'Flahertie Wills Wilde (16 October 185430 November 1900) was an Irish poet and playwright. After writing in different forms throughout the 1880s, he became one of the most popular playwrights in London in the early 1890s. He is ...

, and Morrissey replied: "No, that's not true. The thorn is the music industry and all those people who never believed anything I said, tried to get rid of me and wouldn't play the records. So I think we've reached a stage where we feel: if they don't believe me now, will they ever believe me? What more can a poor boy do?"

Track listing

The original 12" and CD singles have "Rubber Ring" and "Asleep" segued into a continuous piece with the voice sample at the end of the former looped and faded into the wind noise preceding the latter. Described by Simon Goddard (in ''Songs That Saved Your Life'', 2nd edition, p. 154) as a "spectacular combination" — a suggestion with which

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 numerous ...

concurs — this carefully executed sequence could only be found on the original 12" single, before the 2017 release of the remaster/re-issue of '' The Queen Is Dead'', which includes the same songs with the same segue as tracks 10 and 11 (respectively) of its "Additional Recordings" bonus disc. The two tracks are separated on all other compilations.

Artwork and matrix message

The jumping man on the sleeve cover of the single release is a young

Truman Capote Truman Garcia Capote ( ; born Truman Streckfus Persons; September 30, 1924 – August 25, 1984) was an American novelist, screenwriter, playwright and actor. Several of his short stories, novels, and plays have been praised as literary classics, ...

. The British 7" and 12" versions contain the etchings: ARTY BLOODY FARTY/IS THAT CLEVER...JM. "Is that clever" is an allusion to the words in "Rubber Ring", a title which itself is a line from ''

The Importance of Being Earnest ''The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People'' is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at the St James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious ...

'', a play that was referenced in the etchings of " William, It Was Really Nothing" and '' Hatful of Hollow''. "JM" is a reference to

, and was also an etching on the Sandie Shaw version of " Hand in Glove".

Charts

Certifications

Reception

Jack Rabid of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

called this single "great ... just another feather in a jeweled cap".

Cover versions

The song was covered by Scottish band Bis on the tribute album '' The Smiths Is Dead''. Reviewer Stephen Thomas Erlewine harshly criticised the cover, writing: "Bis utterly disembowel 'The Boy with the Thorn in His Side' with a single-minded stupidity that is just bewildering." A cover version recorded by

Jeff Buckley Jeffrey Scott Buckley (November 17, 1966 – May 29, 1997), raised as Scott Moorhead, was an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by ...

in 1993 was distributed by

Columbia Records Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music, Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, the North American division of Japanese Conglomerate (company), conglomerate Sony. It was founded on Janua ...

as a 7" in 2016. American indie rock bands

Jejune Jejune was an American rock band formed in 1996 at Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. The band has been commonly identified with the emo genre, and was heavily involved with the scene at the peak of the "second wave" of emo in the ...

and Lazycain released a split EP together in 1999 where they each covered Smiths songs; Jejune covered "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", Lazycain covered " Handsome Devil". The song was additionally covered by

Belle & Sebastian Belle and Sebastian are a Scottish indie pop band formed in Glasgow in 1996. Led by Stuart Murdoch, the band has released eleven albums. They are often compared with acts such as The Smiths and Nick Drake. The name "Belle and Sebastian" comes ...

Scott Matthews Scott Matthews is an English singer-songwriter from Wolverhampton, England.

Emilie Autumn Emilie Autumn Liddell (born September 22, 1979) is an American singer-songwriter, poet, author and violinist. Autumn's musical style is described by her as "Fairy Pop", "Fantasy Rock" or "Victoriandustrial". It is influenced by glam rock and ...

, Xiu Xiu,

Dinosaur Jr Dinosaur Jr. is an American rock band formed in Amherst, Massachusetts, in 1984, originally simply called Dinosaur until legal issues forced a change in name. The band was founded by J Mascis (guitar, vocals, primary songwriter), Lou Barlow ...

J Mascis Joseph Donald Mascis Jr. ( ; born December 10, 1965), better known as J Mascis, is an American musician who is the singer, guitarist and main songwriter for the alternative rock band Dinosaur Jr. He has also released several albums as a solo arti ...

and The Cat Empire in live performances.

In popular culture

* The third episode of the 2004

BBC #REDIRECT 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 ex ...

musical miniseries ''

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

'' features "The Boy with the Thorn in His Side", sung by David Tennant. * The accompanying B-side, "Asleep", which did not appear on ''The Queen Is Dead'', is referenced several times by the main character in Stephen Chbosky's 1999 novel ''

The Perks of Being a Wallflower ''The Perks of Being a Wallflower'' is a coming-of-age epistolary novel by American writer Stephen Chbosky, which was first published on February 1, 1999, by Pocket Books. Set in the early 1990s, the novel follows Charlie, an introverted and obs ...

'', and was also featured in the book's

film adaptation A film adaptation is the transfer of a work or story, in whole or in part, to a feature film. Although often considered a type of derivative work, film adaptation has been conceptualized recently by academic scholars such as Robert Stam as a dial ...

. * "Asleep" appears as one of the tracks on the final mix CD in the 2005 novel ''

As Simple As Snow ''As Simple As Snow'' (2005) is a mystery novel by Gregory Galloway. It tells the story of a high-school aged narrator who meets a Gothic girl, Anna Cayne. Through postcards, a shortwave radio, various mix-CDs, and other erratic interests, Cayn ...

'' by

Gregory Galloway Gregory Galloway (born 1962) is an American fiction writer. His first novel, ''As Simple as Snow'', was released by Putnam in 2005. Though the book was meant for an adult audience, it has taken off with teen readers. Biography The son of a ju ...

. * In the 2011 film '' Sucker Punch'',

Emily Browning Emily Jane Browning
. Celebritywonder, retrieved 30 June 2011 (born 7 December 1988

's character sings "Asleep".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boy with the Thorn in His Side, The 1985 songs 1985 singles The Smiths songs Songs written by Morrissey Songs written by Johnny Marr Rough Trade Records singles UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles