Day 460: Heaven knows I’m miserable now, The Smiths

Roderick Benson — Tue, 22 Jun 2021 23:00:32 +0000

So last week was meant to be the final week of Covid Island Discs until the new delta variant of the virus put an end to the final restrictions of the UK lockdown being lifted. In the final week I cited for the first time a Smiths song which I guess was a bit of an oversight on my part given they are such an iconic English band. Anyway, with the extra month of Covid Island Discs it has given me an opportunity to cite a second Smiths song. This one is probably one of their better known ones.

Day 451: There is a light that never goes out, The Smiths

Roderick Benson — Sun, 13 Jun 2021 23:00:00 +0000

In this final week of Covid Island Discs I am citing bands that should really have been cited during the 65 week disruption we have experienced in the UK. Amazingly this is the first time I have cited a Smiths song and this one reminds of my late best friend Jonathan Higgs. Jonathan had what one could describe as an avant-garde personality and this was a song that he particularly liked. I still have such distinct memories of him singing the lines: “if a ten ton truck should kill the both of us” as if it was only yesterday; yet it was when we were both at Sydney University back in the 1980s. Sadly poor Jon died of liver cancer in 2017 just a few months after my Mum passed away at the age of 87. I guess the one thing that life has taught me is that it is brutal. I guess Jon’s appreciation of this fact made him connect to the Smiths in a way that passes most of us by. God bless you Jon, I miss you .

The Smiths – Think Bensonium

Day 460: Heaven knows I’m miserable now, The Smiths

Day 451: There is a light that never goes out, The Smiths