What a fabulous piece. I grew up in working class Birmingham (albeit a decade later than you and Morrissey) and your placement of Morrissey as firmly embedded within the class (it’s customs, culture, its warmth and its often bleak melancholy) but still an outsider within it is brilliantly observed.
And (as you observe in a way that made me ache) despite being mentally and emotionally and politically unable/unwilling to fully leave our place of birth in the deindustrialising districts of London, Birmingham and Manchester they’ve certainly left us and we are indeed now already fading ghosts walking among it.
But, as the man himself said those of us who lived in places where those who purport to be our leadership “wouldn’t dare to drive, and if a fight broke out here tonight you’d be the first away because your that type” haven’t yet gone away and his return does feel like something of statement and a testimony to endurance and staying true to one’s self.
Can I also stay, as I didn’t know you existed on social media until Gareth Robert’s retweeted you today, that I’ve loved ‘The Likes Of Us’, and referenced it, for years. One of the most authoritative and penetrating works on English working class culture and structure of feeling I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. A superb piece of work.
Thanks for taking time to reply. Appreciate all your compliments. I used to think that Birmingham was somehow twinned with that part of south east London central to 'The Likes Of Us'. Each had a monolith that overhauled the area at the same point in the 1960s, and with a similar impact. Down your way it was the Bullring, in that part of south London it was the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. Each demolished at the same time, I believe, not having made it to 60 years of age.
What a fabulous piece. I grew up in working class Birmingham (albeit a decade later than you and Morrissey) and your placement of Morrissey as firmly embedded within the class (it’s customs, culture, its warmth and its often bleak melancholy) but still an outsider within it is brilliantly observed.
And (as you observe in a way that made me ache) despite being mentally and emotionally and politically unable/unwilling to fully leave our place of birth in the deindustrialising districts of London, Birmingham and Manchester they’ve certainly left us and we are indeed now already fading ghosts walking among it.
But, as the man himself said those of us who lived in places where those who purport to be our leadership “wouldn’t dare to drive, and if a fight broke out here tonight you’d be the first away because your that type” haven’t yet gone away and his return does feel like something of statement and a testimony to endurance and staying true to one’s self.
Can I also stay, as I didn’t know you existed on social media until Gareth Robert’s retweeted you today, that I’ve loved ‘The Likes Of Us’, and referenced it, for years. One of the most authoritative and penetrating works on English working class culture and structure of feeling I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading. A superb piece of work.
Thanks for taking time to reply. Appreciate all your compliments. I used to think that Birmingham was somehow twinned with that part of south east London central to 'The Likes Of Us'. Each had a monolith that overhauled the area at the same point in the 1960s, and with a similar impact. Down your way it was the Bullring, in that part of south London it was the Elephant & Castle shopping centre. Each demolished at the same time, I believe, not having made it to 60 years of age.