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1. "This Charming Man" — The Smiths (1983)
2. "Everyday Is Like Sunday" — Morrissey (1988)
3. "Girlfriend In A Coma" — The Smiths (1987)
4. "Something Is Squeezing My Skull" — Morrissey (2009)
5. "How Soon Is Now?" — The Smiths (1984)
6. "November Spawned A Monster" — Morrissey (1990)
7. "Shakespeare's Sister" — The Smiths (1985)
8. "We'll Let You Know" — Morrissey (1992)
9. "The Queen Is Dead" — The Smiths (1986)
10. "Pregnant For The Last Time" — Morrissey (1991)
11. "Meat Is Murder" — The Smiths (1985)
12. "The Father Who Must Be Killed" — Morrissey (2006)
13. "I Won't Share You" — The Smiths (1987)
14. "Now My Heart Is Full" — Morrissey (1994)
15. "There Is A Light That Never Goes Out" — The Smiths (1986)
16. "The Boy Racer" — Morrissey (1995)

As Marcel Duchamp proved, it takes as much courage as genius to show the outside world that a urinal can be as valid a work of art as any of those gilt-framed canvases hanging on the gallery wall. The same is just as true in pop music where, once upon a time, it was generally accepted that a hit single should restrict itself to the pangs, pleasures and pitfalls of love and sex using the most basic terms. Until, just as Duchamp did with his Fountain of 1917, another fearless mastermind came along in 1983 choosing to open what is still quite probably the greatest pop single of all time with the immortal words "Punctured bicycle." Those words, that particular voice, somehow said infinitely more about the human condition than the first murmurs of "Yesterday" or "Since my baby left me" or "I love the colourful clothes she wears" ever could.

Our valiant hero was Morrissey—if not exactly a Dadaist Duchamp then an expressionist Munch whose scream would ripple across pop's canvas like no other before or since. To those who don't believe me I offer the above 16 song playlist culled from Morrissey's career both as singer with The Smiths and as a solo artist. From top to bottom these songs tackle, to varying degrees, subjects as beautiful and baffling as: 1) that aforesaid tyre puncture; 2) nuclear apocalypse; 3) a life support machine; 4) prescription anti-depressants; 5) a crap night at the local disco; 6) a severely handicapped girl's desire to experience a wardrobe crisis; 7) jumping off a cliff to certain death; 8) English soccer hooligans; 9) the alleged cross-dressing fantasies of Prince Charles; 10) antenatal clinics; 11) the ugly truth of how meat ends up on the dinner plate; 12) bad table manners as justification for patricide; 13) the intoxicating effects of carbonated mineral water; 14) Graham Greene's novel Brighton Rock; 15) the joy of being involved in a road traffic accident; and somewhat fittingly, 16) standing at a urinal. Duchamp, surely, would have danced himself ragged to the latter. Should any new listeners feel possessed by the urge to do the same then, no pun intended, just go with the flow.

Simon Goddard
London, September 2010