Across The Smiths brief tenure, they made a name for themselves by writing some of the best indie pop of all time. What made them stand out was guitarist Johnny Marr’s '50s and '60s-inspired melodies and vocalist Morrissey’s unique lyrical writing style. Morrissey’s lyrics stand out, even today, but especially in the '80s because of the topics of his lyrics. The Smiths’ lyrics were angsty and dramatic in a way that was unusual at the time. However, Morrissey also had a knack for writing songs that seemed to have an implicit homosexual meaning to them. Songs like “William, It Was Really Nothing” basically demand the song to be read as a plea of love to another male. This made The Smiths stand out. They had it all. Gloominess without being trite, melodrama without being immature and queerness during a time when that was far from acceptable, as gay marriage wouldn’t be legalized in the UK (where The Smiths are from) until 30 years after their debut was released.
The Smiths stuck to a fairly routine formula for their first three albums and countless singles—jangly, somber guitar-pop, which was unique among the backsplash of heavy synth use that was common in 80s pop. However, the formula paid off, as they have many iconic songs, and nearly all of their songs are at least good, if not great. However, Marr was becoming increasingly bored with this method, and he and Morrissey switched things up for what would be their final album: “Strangeways, Here We Come.”
“Strangeways” saw a shift in style. Marr focused on inspiration from The Beatles’ “The White Album” rather than influences like '50s and '60s girl groups, which were a favorite of Morrissey’s and inspired many of his songwriting ideals, or Elvis. This shift in style saw an increase in experimentation, producing several of the group’s most unique tracks, such as “Death of a Disco Dancer.” While many of these experimentations pay off—and there are admittedly a few that don’t—the best by far is perhaps the least experimental for the group’s standards. The last studio Smiths song to be released, titled “I Won’t Share You,” is another simple tune. It features nothing but Morrissey’s voice and an autoharp. The result is one of the most beautiful songs of the 80s.
Lyrically, the song appears to be a breakup song. Considering it was the last song on the final Smiths album, it is plausible to read it as about the breakup of The Smiths, specifically directed at guitarist Johnny Marr. Marr was doing a lot of heavy lifting for the band, writing all the music, often producing and playing the role of manager. Over the tenure of The Smiths, they had several other managers, but Morrissey was quite possessive of Marr and wary of outsiders and refused to work with many of them. This put an extreme amount of pressure on Marr, and Morrissey’s refusal to consider outside help led to many disputes. The Smiths’ breakup was messy, causing a lot of hurt for Marr, and this song can be read as a heartbreaking goodbye from Morrissey to Marr. This is a theme throughout the album. The chorus, “I won't share you / With the drive and ambition / The zeal I feel / This is my time,” reflects this. Morrissey saw that The Smiths were special, and did not want Marr to do anything else.
Infringing on someone else’s autonomy and exhibiting jealousy, the song shows Morrissey’s fragile ego. Time and time again, Morrissey shows his desire to be famous, especially in songs like “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet Baby” where he croons, “If you're wondering why / when all I wanted from life was to be famous.” However, there’s something more here. “I Won’t Share You” shows an almost romantic side of Morrissey’s jealousy and ego.
The first verse features the lines “'Has the Perrier gone straight to my head? / Or is life sick and cruel instead?' / 'Yes' / No, no, no, no, no, no.” In an excellent cover of this song by a favorite band of mine, Xiu Xiu, frontperson Jamie Stewart changes these lyrics to “'Has the Perrier gone straight to my tits? / Or is life sick and cruel instead?' / 'Yes'/ Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.” The Smiths version almost reflects an optimism that was unusual for their songs, whereas the Xiu Xiu version reflects Stewart’s pessimism; it was played during 2012, the tour for its album “Always,” which was a particularly depressing album, even by its standards. Xiu Xiu took a great deal of inspiration from The Smiths in terms of lyrics. The melodrama and angst of The Smiths is mirrored in Xiu Xiu; however, Stewart is perhaps more sincere and less ironic than Morrissey.
Verse two is also semi-optimistic, “Life tends to come and go / That's okay as long as you know / Life tends to come and go / As long as you know, know, know, know, know, know.” Morrissey reflects on the temporary nature of all relationships and acknowledges that this is just a fact of life and therefore something we must grapple with and accept. The song ends with perhaps the saddest lyrics The Smiths ever penned, given the context: “I won't share you / I'll see you somewhere / I'll see you sometime / Darling.” Morrissey gives his regards and hopes to Marr, calling him darling and hoping to see him again in the future. However, it is a distant future and one that may never come to pass.
Morrissey has his dramatic goodbyes, such as in “Hand In Glove” or “These Things Take Time,” but there is nothing like “I Won’t Share You.” It is searing, vulnerable, self-obsessive and compulsive. It is everything you would expect from a toxic breakup, which shows the extent of Morrissey’s delusions/heartaches around Johnny Marr—delusion because it was not a relationship and heartache because it’s so sad that he was acting almost like it was. Morrissey is saying “If I can’t have you all to myself, I won’t have you at all.” Marr made his decision because the thing about “I Won’t Share You” is that by the time it came out, Marr had already left the band. There was no going back for the two.
