I love wikipedia. You get to learn all sorts of interesting facts about songs. Did you know that There is a Light That Never Goes Out was originally in F# minor, before being transposed to C# minor for the final recorded version? Did you also know that ‘the song features an ascending F#m–A–B chord sequence that guitarist Johnny Marr took from The Rolling Stones cover of Marvin Gaye’s “Hitch Hike”’?

I did not know either of those facts [for shame! Ed.]. What I did know was that it suffers from an arrangement that utilises synthesised strings and the like, which simply detracts from the thrust of the performance, making it sound camp. Or at least I know that was the opinion of the very brilliant music journalist Nick Kent, reviewing The Queen is Dead for Melody Maker on its release in June 1986. (Source: The Queen is Dead review).

Just because he could be brilliant, doesn’t mean I have to agree with him, however. As much as I’d love to know what it would sound like if there had been enough money in the recording budget to afford the luxury of a string section, There is a Light That Never Goes Out gets by just fine with its cheaper substitute. Perhaps, even, smuggled in behind Morrissey’s unashamedly open-hearted lyrics and delivery, I’m not even hearing the synths; instead I’m imagining and listening to a chorus of violins. And that’s how I get a song that features no strings into a playlist all about them…