Favorite line in "Children in Pieces"

[Danny_]

Exactly!

Of course this is a difficult subject matter and the way he presents it to us is (unfortunately) the way it happens... it's shocking but true - people turn a blind eye and do not want to get involved. That's why I think it's a a very powerful song.

To be quite honest I'm not British and did not know about this...the same way I did not know about the Moors murders until I heard suffer little children. I, for one, really like this song and the lyrics.

I don't think you need to be British or Irish to get it. Child abuse happens everywhere. Morrissey is just using an incidence he knows about.

 

[justme]

I don't think you need to be British or Irish to get it. Child abuse happens everywhere. Morrissey is just using an incidence he knows about.

Of course not! I meant the incident he's talking about, because someone here said, as a Irish person, that this was not new and that it had been discussed a lot, etc... the same way the Moors murders were obviously talked about in Britain and I had never heard of them until I heard the song.

 

[Assassin]

I don't think you need to be British or Irish to get it. Child abuse happens everywhere.

Would that explain the Spanish speaking towards the end? It sounds like a news report or something.

 

[goinghome]

I also hear nuns 'called (vs cold) mothers', and I can't properly decipher what's at the end of the line, 'and when the weekend comes they'll make you ___'; suffer, or so those..., or even suck those?

It's very Sack-reminiscent to my ears. The backwards talking near the end reminds me of an episode years ago where Churches were drawing up lists of songs that if played backwards, could supposedly be decoded to reveal Satanic verses. It's suitably defiant. The faint rapid recitation at the end suggests Catholic prayers to me, regularly rattled off in all their establishments.

Perhaps it's because this kind of child abuse is mainly from another era and has since being addressed for the scandal it was that Morrissey feels able to use it as a reference point to a general reaction of abhorrance in getting involved. I am aware in Ireland that while children at risk were being housed more recently in State-run residential units or voluntary shelters, on reaching the age of 18 which ends the institution's legal responsibility, a shocking percentage of these children become homeless and vulnerable as adults.

The song has a valuable point to make and is musically urgent and intriguing.

 

[SparkleBoy]

The Catholic Church in America is really outstanding when it comes to molesting children. Just ask Cardinal Law...oh, wait...the Pope secreted him off to the Vatican before he could face down the survivors of his policies!

Personally, anyone who wants to tackle the issue should by all means do it...better that not saying anything at all.

 

[Morrisseyfan08]

Exactly!

Of course this is a difficult subject matter and the way he presents it to us is (unfortunately) the way it happens... it's shocking but true - people turn a blind eye and do not want to get involved. That's why I think it's a a very powerful song.

To be quite honest I'm not British and did not know about this...the same way I did not know about the Moors murders until I heard suffer little children. I, for one, really like this song and the lyrics.

I find it a little shocking that you had never heard of Irish industrial schools. To me it just seems irrelevant now having always been reading stories about it in the newspapers in my teens and seen so many films/documentaries. But I suppose if I was of another nationality I would have a completely different perspective on it.
I love the song 'suffer little children' but for people in Manchester at the time maybe they felt 'why is he writing about this now?' as it happened when Morrissey was a boy and obviously he wrote about it as a man.
But I prefer 'suffer little children' to this new song as there is much more of a subjective and poetic element to it.

 

[Morrisseyfan08]

Its almost like I feel he's not giving enough respect to what is a very, very serious issue in this country, and something that people are trying to resolve and move on from. And its not just the industrial schools that this song evokes thoughts of for me. The scandals of Catholic priests sexually abusing young children are still coming out in the news every week. I can't stress enough how big and serious an issue this was in this country - and again I don't feel he's treated the issue with enough respect. The song reads like a statement of fact with very little emotion behind it, and brings nothing new to the table. Not engaging, unnecessary, and a bit glib. I think I should point out at this stage that I was lucky enough not to go through any of this.

I would agree with all of this and you articulated my feelings about it better than I ever could.