"Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" is a song by 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 Wale ...

band

the Smiths The Smiths were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Manchester in 1982, composed of Morrissey (vocals), Johnny Marr (guitar), Andy Rourke (bass) and Mike Joyce (musician), Mike Joyce (drums). Morrissey and Marr formed the band's songwrit ...

. Released as a single in May 1984, it reached No. 10 on the UK Singles Chart, making it the band's first top ten single. It was later included on the November 1984 compilation album ''

Hatful of Hollow ''Hatful of Hollow'' is a compilation album by the English rock band the Smiths, released on 2 November 1984 in the United Kingdom, by Rough Trade Records. The album features tracks from BBC Radio 1 sessions, their first single "Hand in Glove ...

'' and the March 1987 compilation album ''

Louder Than Bombs ''Louder Than Bombs'' is a compilation album by the English rock band the Smiths, released as a double album on 30 March 1987 by their American record company, Sire Records. It peaked at number 62 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 album chart. Popu ...

''. The song is listed as one of the

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (RRHOF), also simply referred to as the Rock Hall, is a museum and hall of fame located in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States, on the shore of Lake Erie. The museum documents the history of rock music and the ...

Background

The music was written by

Johnny Marr John Martin Marr (Birth name#Maiden and married names, né Maher; born 31 October 1963) is a 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 sinc ...

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 Steinbigle (April 18, 1942 – April 2, 2023), known professionally as Seymour Stein, was an American entrepreneur and music executive. He co-founded Sire Records and was vice president of Warner Bros. Records. With Sire, Stein signed ba ...

. 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 Stephen Brian Street (born 29 March 1960 in Hackney, London) is an English record producer best known for his work with the Smiths, the Cranberries and Blur. Street collaborated with Morrissey on his debut album '' Viva Hate'' following the ...

's working relationship with the band. As one of his first roles as "in-house engineer" at Island Records'

Fallout Shelter A fallout shelter is an enclosed space specially designated to protect occupants from radioactive debris or fallout resulting from a nuclear explosion. Many such shelters were constructed as civil defense measures during the Cold War. Durin ...

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

'' doing '

This Charming Man "This Charming Man" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by guitarist Johnny Marr and singer Morrissey. Released as the group's second single on 31 October 1983 by the independent record label Rough Trade, it is defined b ...

', 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 "William, It Was Really Nothing" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths. It was released as a single in August 1984, featuring the B-sides " Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and " How Soon Is Now?", and reached No. 17 in ...

", Street was asked to engineer the Smiths' next album, ''

Meat Is Murder ''Meat Is Murder'' is the second studio album by the English rock band the Smiths, released on 11 February 1985, by Rough Trade Records. Following the release of their self-titled debut album in early 1984, the Smiths maintained a prolific outp ...

'', with Morrissey and Marr producing for the first time. The cover features

Viv Nicholson Vivian "Viv" Nicholson (''née'' Asprey; 3 April 1936 – 11 April 2015) was a British woman who became famous when she told the media that she would "spend, spend, spend" after her husband Keith won £152,319 () on the football pools in 1961. ...

, 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 enc ...

and then rapidly squandering it. The song's title was inspired by

Sandie Shaw Sandra Ann Goodrich (born 26 February 1947), known by her stage name Sandie Shaw, is a retired English pop singer. One of the most successful British female singers of the 1960s, she had three UK number one singles with "(There's) Always Some ...

'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 channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's ''Earsay'' on 31 March 1984 features mixed footage of the band playing in a studio and footage of Morrissey walking around some wasteland located next door to the Hewart Studios (now Capital Studios) in Wandsworth London where ''Earsay'' was recorded, with

daffodil ''Narcissus'' is a genus of predominantly spring flowering perennial plants of the amaryllis family, Amaryllidaceae. Various common names including daffodil,The word "daffodil" is also applied to related genera such as '' Sternbergia'', '' ...

flowers in his hands and unidentified foliage in the back pocket of his jeans.

Cultural references

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 screenplay by John Van Druten, Lenore Coffee and Edmu ...

'', starring

Bette Davis Ruth Elizabeth "Bette" Davis (; April 5, 1908 – October 6, 1989) was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympatheti ...

and

Miriam Hopkins Ellen Miriam Hopkins (October 18, 1902 – October 9, 1972) was an American actress known for her versatility. She signed with Paramount Pictures in 1930. She portrayed a pickpocket in Ernst Lubitsch's romantic comedy '' Trouble in Paradise'', ...

. 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-inch: SMITHS INDEED / ILL FOREVER British 12-inch: 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 Alternative rock ballads UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles Song recordings produced by John Porter (musician, born 1947)