"Our Frank" is a song by

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 in February 1991. It was the first single taken from the ''

Kill Uncle ''Kill Uncle'' is the second solo studio album by the English alternative rock singer Morrissey, released on 4 March 1991 by EMI Records and His Master's Voice. The title comes from the black comedy film '' Let's Kill Uncle'' (1966). Recording ...

'' album. It was also the first of his collaborations with Mark Nevin to be released. The single reached number 26 in the UK Singles Chart. This was the lowest any Morrissey single had charted since his first release "

Suedehead "Suedehead" is the debut solo single by English singer Morrissey, released on 15 February 1988. Co-written by Morrissey and former Smiths producer Stephen Street, the song was Morrissey's first solo release after the Smiths break-up. Morrisse ...

" in 1988. The accompanying video shows Morrissey surrounded by

skinhead A skinhead or skin is a member of a subculture that originated among working-class youth in London, England, in the 1960s. It soon spread to other parts of the United Kingdom, with a second working-class skinhead movement emerging worldwide i ...

s in a park: the video was not included on the 1992 '' The Malady Lingers On'' video compilation. Despite its title, the song lyrics are not about a person named Frank, but rather they describe "frank and open, deep conversations" that get Morrissey nowhere and leave him disheartened. Throughout the song he complains about his frustration, asking his conversation partner to stop and uncharacteristically demanding cigarettes and alcohol to get through the dross. The final verse, however, sees Morrissey singing "Won't somebody stop me from thinking? From thinking all the time, about everything. So deeply, so bleakly..." indicating that the conversations he so dreads are in fact with himself. This introspective twist gives the song a hit of Morrissey's wry wit, but at the same time it displays the dark uniqueness that pervades the album. The lyrics of "Our Frank", along with the brooding music and strange production (Morrissey's voice is

overdubbed Overdubbing (also known as layering) is a technique used in audio recording in which audio tracks that have been pre-recorded are then played back and monitored, while simultaneously recording new, doubled, or augmented tracks onto one or more a ...

and echoed) offer some insight into why the album was poorly received and also why some of the songs have become particularly popular with fans.

Critical reception

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'' gave "Our Frank" a positive review, calling the single the singer's "freshest vinyl confection since '

'". (That the review was genuinely positive is highly questionable, since it ended with the line "the B-Side is called Journalists Who Lie".NME Our Frank Review
/ref> However, Ned Raggett of

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was less enthused, writing "the title track isn't all it could be."

Track listings

7" vinyl and cassette

# "Our Frank" # "Journalists Who Lie"

12" vinyl

# "Our Frank" # "Journalists Who Lie" # "Tony the Pony"

CD

# "Our Frank" # "Journalists Who Lie" # "Tony the Pony"

Etchings on vinyl

British 7": FREE

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FREE REG/DRUNKER QUICKER British 12": "FREE REG FREE RON"/"DRUNKER QUICKER"

Musicians

* Morrissey – vocals * Mark E. Nevin – guitar * Nawazish Ali Khan – violin * Seamus Beaghen – piano * Mark "Bedders" Bedford – bass guitar * Andrew Paresi – drums

Live performances

The song was performed live by Morrissey on his 1991 ''Kill Uncle'' tour. Along with all of the material from ''Kill Uncle'', "Our Frank" has never been performed by Morrissey since the 1991 tour, until July 1st, 2022 in Las Vegas when he also debuts 5 songs .

Video

The promo video was filmed by

John Maybury John Maybury (born 25 March 1958) is an English filmmaker and artist. He first came to prominence as the director of the music video for the Pet Shop Boys 1984 single "West End Girls". In 2005 he was named as one of the 100 most influential gay ...

and featured footage of Morrissey miming to the song, intercut with scenes of

s running through the streets around London's Kings Cross. Morrissey was unhappy with the video and later misremembered the director's name in a 2006 interview in which he said, "I made a video years ago for the song "Our Frank" with the director James Maybury icthat was so awful that we tried to hide it."

References

{{Authority control Morrissey songs 1991 singles Songs written by Morrissey Songs written by Mark Nevin 1990 songs Song recordings produced by Clive Langer Song recordings produced by Alan Winstanley