death at one's elbow question

OK, I can't believe that this hasn't come up before, so sorry for covering old ground, but who is the 'Glenn' referred to in 'Death At One's Elbow'?

well. isn't it just SO obvious?

you wouldn't want him in your house, would you?

Re: well. isn't it just SO obvious?

Of course! Free spirited former Spurs and England midfielder, God botherer and cripple taunter Glenn Hoddle! Yes, yes, yes.

Re: Well this is what I think it must refer to.....

I haven't got 'Songs that saved your life' to hand, but since your question interested me I thought I'd have a little trawl of t'internet.

I always supposed that 'Death at one's elbow' was about James Dean in some way. The engine sound effect at the beginning sounds like a motorcycle but Morrissey may have used it to represent Dean's Porsche car. [after all he later used a chainsaw to represent a motorcycle on 'Speedway']. dean died in that car.

So doing a bit of a Google on 'Glenn-James-Dean' what do you get? You get a reference to Morrissey's book "James Dean is not dead". The book twice refers to a sometime friend of Dean's name of Barbara Glenn. Note it's Glenn and not Glen.

The book refers to Jimmy Dean keeping to himself and Glenn not being keen on that sort of behaviour.

These are Morrissey's words:
"For all the activity that surrounded him, Jimmy was mostly alone in those early days. He was an insomniac and spent his nights roaming the city like a stray animal. And still his friends were all replaceable."

Morrissey follows this with a quote from Glenn: "Of course Jimmy had his reasons for doing what he did, but really who needs that shit?"

See "James Dean is not dead" at
www.velvetrockmine.com.ar/especiales/morrissey/morrissey-jamesdean.pdf

So I think the song is written from the point of view of Jimmy Dean. Clearly Morrissey has some sympathy for Dean and the way he behaved and lived his life.

Oh Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Oh Glenn
Oh Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Oh Glenn
Because there's somebody here
Who really really loves you
Oh Glenn
Stay home
Be bored
(It's crap, I KNOW)
Tonight
Oh Glenn
Oh Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Oh Glenn
Oh Glenn
Don't come to the house tonight
Because there's somebody here
Who'll take a hatchet to your ear
The frustration it renders me
Hateful, oh ...
Oh, don't come to the house tonight
Oh, don't come to the house tonight
Because you'll slip on the
Trail of all my sad remains
That's why, that's why
GOODBYE MY LOVE, GOODBYE MY LOVE
GOODBYE MY LOVE, GOODBYE MY LOVE
GOODBYE MY LOVE, GOODBYE MY LOVE

> OK, I can't believe that this hasn't come up before, so sorry for covering
> old ground, but who is the 'Glenn' referred to in 'Death At One's Elbow'?

Re: What do you think of my explanation? (See above)

BTW I checked the 'new and improved' version of Songs that Saved You Life in 'Books etc' this lunchtime and there's no explanation of who Glenn is. Simon Goddard says the title is from Joe Orton if that's any help.

Re: Well this is what I think it must refer to.....

Good work, Tingle! Very interesting. Yes, you put forward a convincing case indeed, and I'm certainly prepared to go along with it...

Re: PS

PS: The Songs that saved your life book mentions that the sound effect at the start of the song is of a pneumatic drill rather than an engine - to me it always sounded like an engine - but not a Porsche engine.....

.....and I think that Morrissey would rather enjoy the ambiguity of apparently singing about boy or man named Glen - making everyone think that - when in fact he was singing from the point of view of someone else entirely about a woman named Glen.

Thanks for your comment Edith. I'm quite pleased with myself. Especially since Simon Goddard didn't even make a stab at explaining who Glenn was.

> Good work, Tingle! Very interesting. Yes, you put forward a convincing
> case indeed, and I'm certainly prepared to go along with it...