How Soon is Now? The Consolation of Lost Futures

I’ve recently been reading Tony Fletcher’s very good biography of the English group, The Smiths, A Light that Never Goes Out[1]. Fletcher writes interestingly about the way in which The Smiths’ music developed over time, pointing out that they went through a significant musical progression during the brief time they existed as a group. Of particular interest to me was the description of the demo of a track provisionally titled Swamp. The music was worked on by the bands’ instrumentalists as Morrissey tended not to be involved in the non-vocal arrangements: “his absence allowed the others free rein to indulge their growing experimental tendencies.”[1] By all accounts, the recording session was heavily drug fuelled and there was a conscious effort to acheive a psychedelic sound. The resulting eight minute psychedelic jam would eventually end up, once Morrissey had added his lyrics to it (and somewhat truncated), as one of The Smiths’ most enduring and powerful songs, How Soon is Now?