Released 20 August 1984 Genre Alternative rock | Recorded Summer 1984 Length 2:09 | |
B-side "How Soon Is Now?"
"Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" Format 7" single, 12" single,
CD (1988) | ||
"William, It Was Really Nothing" is a song by British band The Smiths. It was released as a single on 20 August 1984, featuring the B-sides "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and "How Soon Is Now?", and reached number 17 in the UK Singles Chart. The song is featured on the compilation albums Hatful of Hollow and Louder Than Bombs as well as other best of and singles collections. In 2004 the song was ranked number 425 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.
Contents
The original artwork depicted comes from an early 1980s advertisement for A.D.S. speakers (the object on the bed is a speaker). For legal reasons, later pressings were produced with new artwork, a lilac-tinted still of Billie Whitelaw from the film Charlie Bubbles, directed by Albert Finney. The sleeve for the 1988 CD single reissue shows Colin Campbell from the 1964 film The Leather Boys. This artwork had previously been used in Germany for the single "Ask".
When the band performed the song on Top of the Pops, Morrissey ripped open his shirt to reveal the words "MARRY ME" written on his chest ("Would you like to marry me?" is one line of the song).
Lyrics
How can you stay with a fat girl who'll say "Oh, would you like to marry me, and if you like you can buy the ring?"/ She doesn't care about anything...
The song is popularly believed to have been written by Morrissey about his short-lived friendship with Billy Mackenzie, lead singer of the Associates. The Associates' compilation, Double Hipness, released in August 2000, included the song "Stephen, You're Really Something", recorded by Billy MacKenzie and Alan Rankine during the band's reunion in 1993 as a response to "William, It Was Really Nothing". Morrissey has said of the song:
It occurred to me that within popular music if ever there were any records that discussed marriage they were always from the female's standpoint, female singers singing to women. There were never any songs saying 'do not marry, stay single, self-preservation,' etc. I thought it was about time there was a male voice speaking directly to another male saying that marriage was a waste of time...that, in fact, it was absolutely nothing."Track listing
Etchings on vinyl
British 7" and 12" with green tinted cover: THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST/ROMANTIC AND SQUARE IS HIP AND AWARE
British 7' with lilac tinted cover: THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST/WE HATES BAD GRAMMER
British 12" with lilac tinted cover: THE IMPOTENCE OF ERNEST/ROMANTIC AND [ ] IS HIP N'AWARE
As well as being a reference to The Importance of Being Earnest, "The impotence of Ernest" is an allusion to the impotence that Ernest Hemingway suffered in his final years. The "romantic" line was said by John Lennon to Hunter Davies.