"November Spawned a Monster" is a song by the English singer

Morrissey Steven Patrick Morrissey ( ; born 22 May 1959), known :wikt:mononym, mononymously 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 198 ...

, released as a

single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

in April 1990 by

His Master's Voice His Master's Voice is an entertainment trademark featuring a dog named Nipper, curiously peering into the horn of a wind-up gramophone. Painted by Francis Barraud in 1898, the image has since become a global symbol used across consumer elect ...

. It was written by Morrissey and

Clive Langer Clive Langer (born 19 June 1954) is an English record producer and songwriter, active from the mid-1970s onwards. He usually works with Alan Winstanley. He composed the music for the films '' Still Crazy'' and '' Brothers of the Head''. Biog ...

and features one of Morrissey's former colleagues from

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 ...

Andy Rourke Andrew Michael Rourke (17 January 1964 – 19 May 2023) was an English musician best known as the bassist of the 1980s indie rock band the Smiths. Regarded as one of the greatest bassists of his generation, he was known for his melodic and funk- ...

, on bass guitar. The single reached number 12 on the UK Singles Chart. The track and its

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

"He Knows I'd Love to See Him" appear on his compilation album ''

Bona Drag ''Bona Drag'' is a compilation album by the English singer Morrissey, released on 15 October 1990 by His Master's Voice. The album features an array of Morrissey's most popular songs from his early solo career, most of which had not been releas ...

'' (1990). In November 2014,

Alex Broun Alex Broun is an Australian theatre director/producer, playwright and screenwriter, who has worked extensively with Short+Sweet, a series of theatre festivals for productions of ten minutes or less. Born in Sydney, Australia, he has been refer ...

's play ''November Spawned a Monster'', inspired by Morrissey's song, premiered at The Old Fitzroy, in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia, directed by Robert Chuter and starring James Wright.

Lyrics and music

The song describes the troubles of the disabled. Morrissey uses words such as 'monster' and 'twisted' to attempt to create mix of revulsion, sympathy and

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

. "By forcing the ambivalent persona of tormentor and saviour, Morrissey forces the listener to confront their own prejudices head on."Rogan, Johnny Morrissey - The Albums, p. 152 The song quotes the French poetic novel ''

Les Chants de Maldoror ''Les Chants de Maldoror'' (''The Songs of Maldoror'') is a French poetic novel, or a long prose poem. It was written and published between 1868 and 1869 by the Comte de Lautréamont, the ''nom de plume'' of the Uruguayan-born French writer Isi ...

'' (Chant 2, verse 7), in which a

hermaphrodite A hermaphrodite () is a sexually reproducing organism that produces both male and female gametes. Animal species in which individuals are either male or female are gonochoric, which is the opposite of hermaphroditic. The individuals of many ...

perceives himself as a monster and dreams of love. The song features backing vocals from

Mary Margaret O'Hara Mary Margaret O'Hara is a Canadian singer-songwriter, actress and composer. She is best known for the album ''Miss America'', released in 1988. She released two albums and an EP under her own name, and remains active as a live performer, as a con ...

. Morrissey explained in a 1990 interview, "She's the oddest most eccentric person I've ever met, I went into the vocal booth and said 'Just simply give birth', which she most expertly did, while I stood behind with a mop and a bucket".

Critical reception

Steven Wells Steven Wells (10 May 1960 – 24 June 2009) was a British journalist, author, comedian and punk poet born in Swindon, Wiltshire. He was best known for ranting poetry and his provocative, unapologetic music journalism. In June 2006, he wrote in ...

in ''

NME ''New Musical Express'' (''NME'') is a British music, film, gaming and culture website, bimonthly magazine, and brand. Founded as a newspaper in 1952, with the publication being referred to as a "Rock music, rock inkie", the ''NME'' would be ...

'' gave the single a negative review, stating that "Morrissey repeats his one tune endlessly" and that the single showed a "drying up of the old creative gastrics". In a retrospective review, Ned Raggett of ''

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

'' called the title track "one of the most powerful of Morrissey's solo career, with a relentless, just off-kilter enough rock chug supporting an empathetic lyric about a young girl suffering from physical deformity." Raggett also praised the B-sides "He Knows I'd Love to See Him" and "Girl Least Likely To", writing that the former contains "some of his clearest lyrics on gay life in the face of official disapproval" and the latter emerges as the "surprise winner, even stronger than the title track." Author

Johnny Rogan John Rogan (14 February 1953 – 21 January 2021) was a British author of Irish descent best known for his books about music and popular culture. He wrote influential biographies of the Byrds, Neil Young, the Smiths, Van Morrison and Ray Davies. ...

stated in his book ''Morrissey – The Albums'': "By forcing the ambivalent persona of tormentor and saviour, Morrissey forces the listener to confront their own prejudices head on."Rogan, Johnny "Morrissey – The Albums", p. 152

Live performances

Morrissey performed the song live on his 1991, 1992, 1999–2000, 2002, 2004, 2013, and 2016 tours.

Track listings

7-inch vinyl # "November Spawned a Monster" # "He Knows I'd Love to See Him" 12-inch vinyl, compact disc and cassette # "November Spawned a Monster" # "He Knows I'd Love to See Him" (Morrissey, Kevin Armstrong) # "Girl Least Likely To" (Morrissey,

)

Musicians

– voice *

– voice * Kevin Armstrong – guitar *

– bass guitar * Andrew Paresi – drums

Charts

Release details

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:November Spawned A Monster Morrissey songs 1990 singles 1990 songs His Master's Voice singles Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Songs about diseases and disorders Songs written by Clive Langer Songs written by Morrissey