The Smiths: There is a Light that Never Goes Out Meaning

There is a Light that Never Goes Out Lyrics

Take me out tonight
Where there's music and there's people
And they're young and alive
Driving in your car
I never never want to go home
Because I haven't got one anymore

Take me out tonight
Because I want to see people
And I want to...

1. 1TOP RATED

   #1 top rated interpretation:
   anonymous

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   Jul 4th 2018 !⃝

   This song may be packaged as a happy love song, featuring upbeat guitar strums and orchestral melodies, but inside the pretty package is the thoughts and feelings of someone who is depressed. "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" disguises itself as a love song, particularly in its earliest stages of infatuation and excitement, when the true meaning of the song isn't hidden at all, in fact, it's hiding in plain sight. The title itself screams depression, for seeing life as something that will never end or a "light that never goes out", is a strange way to describe something as simple as love. Therefore, by accepting that this song is simply a love song, and explaining the lyrics about death by saying that the protagonist is so incredibly happy, that they could die next to their lover, you are completely overlooking the fearful undertones, repetitious lyrics, the style of Marrisey's voice, and the sheer nature of this song! In the first verse, "there's people and they're young and alive", alive is key. Why would he say "alive"? It's an unusual way to describe wanting to be around young people having fun. Everyone is alive, not everyone is living, there's a distinct difference. An organism is dead or alive, but living is more a way of life, excitement and experience, but being alive is much more life vs death, the word choice matters here. And in the second verse again, "I want to see life", and how this hopelessness has taken over his "home", he's begging for a reason to live, wants to see a reason to be alive, to continue life, etc. The obvious lyrics about crashing into a bus I need not address, but what gets to me the most is the pleading and indifference (simultaneously) in Morrissey's voice when he repeats "take me anywhere I don't care I don't care I don't care". While yes this could mean he is so infatuated with the person he doesn't care where they go, but, if he is simply in love with a person how can you explain dying as a "pleasure" when if you're actually in love you want it to never end, you want it to last forever, and I can never get past the exhaustion in his voice with the "I don't care"s, it's so telling of what is truly going on here. And also, it ends with nine, yes NINE receptions of "there is a light and it never goes out", and the wording of that is telling, you wait for something to "go out" and if it "never" goes out, that means you are impatient and eager for it to go out, which is not love, that is depression, and wanting life to end. So overall, yes there are elements of love in this song, but it is so much more than that. I see it as a person who's desperately trying to find a reason to live, and may have found a person who brings him some happiness, and is hopeful they will allow him to recognize and truly see other people who are "alive", take him to (a place) (a state of being, a mindset) where he is able to see "life". (not in the literal sense, in the metaphorical). And under this light, the musical arrangement and lyrics put together just make sense, so this song is many things all at once, but we shouldn't dismiss it as just a love song.
2. anonymous

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   Nov 17th 2021 !⃝

   The first verse of the song tells of my life as a 15 year old living in Manchester. I would go out with my friends who were musicians and we would spend many a night just driving. I didn't want to go home. My dad had left my alcoholic bipolar mother. It was her home and I didn't belong in the world she was trapped in. I wanted to see people and life different to what was at home. I would sit in the car and not want to say anything to break the spell of being in that moment. Like a strange fear gripped me. Like if I asked anything, I may have an influence and the spell of being out would be broken. I was so grateful to be out that if a double decker bus killed us it would be better than my soul being eroded at home. This song gave me a feeling of not being alone. For me the light is me and it will never go out no matter how adverse life can be at times. The same as...never say die.
3. anonymous

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   Sep 23rd 2021 !⃝

   The song is about his very real desire to end the Andy Rourke because of his betrayal of the ideals the singer held to be central to his world view. The termination of the bassist's role in the band didn't work, so he was reinstated. This irked the singer intensely, to the point so much that he penned and sang a song that ambiguously states his very true feelings about the situation si si si si si si si si si si si is the one who is in a relationship with you and your partner in a relationship with someone else

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
4. anonymous

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   May 13th 2021 !⃝

   This song is about a time, late in the evening, when Johnny Marr and Morrissey were at a pub and a group of Neo Nazis picked a fight. They were chased and sought refuge on a double decker bus this getting away and eluding capture. The “home” actually is the pub they were ran out of. That’s it.
5. anonymous

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   Feb 7th 2021 !⃝

   My interpretation is about a man being fearful of asking a girl out he’s attracted to though fears rejection ,then somehow gets with the girl of his dreams and is in the living and dying either way he’s happy being as one.. coz the light is the spirit and he’s found his spiritual soul mate.. whether it’s a double decker bus or a ten ton truck that kills the both of them.. it’s a privilege to die by the side of his spiritual partner.. there is a light that never goes out.. the human spirit.. hope and faith come from the spiritual side of us!! We embrace that.. without hope and faith the spirit dies!
6. anonymous

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   Aug 12th 2016 !⃝

   I love this song. To me,The song explains the thought/ feelings of being next to someone you're inlove with. While you are with that person, you feel invincible, although,everyone around does not approve all you have is hope. Hope is the "Light that never goes out." All the hope is for love to overcome the obstacles that are placed in there path. BTW, when I speak of love it can be either between a Man and Women, Man and Man, or Women to Women; love can exist no matter of the sexuality.
7. anonymous

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   Jan 30th 2015 !⃝

   The meaning is both political and romantic, and ironical, because the two feelings are not easily separated. Neglect by the British government can leave its citizens homeless, but not bereft of feelings of love for each other, a zest for life and again, ironically, even musings about death. Yes, the lyrics could also express love for Manchester, as another reflectio of the "beat of life." The musical riff, especially at the end,
   is a very vibrant, yet variegated melody-not monotonous,
   but with lively, enticing tones that contrast with and even rise
   from lower notes.

   This interpretation has been marked as poor. view anyway
8. anonymous

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   Jul 10th 2012 !⃝

   I seemed to get a complete different interpretation of this song compared to the other comments.
   
   I felt that he is actually singing about taxis.. a taxi light never goes out which is where the title of the track comes from. Then he is always saying take me out tonight, asking to go to a social place to drink himself down cause as he says he's got no home! Maybe he's just been kicked out by his girlfriend or something?
   
   But the part where he's like to die by your side well the pleasure the privilege is mine! Might be him chatting to the taxi driver. After all a good taxi driver in the 80s would have listened to you chat about your life! (i was born in 1992 so not sure just a thought)
   
   Hope ive given you guys a new twist on the meaning behind this amazing song!
9. anonymous

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   May 30th 2012 !⃝

   I love this song, too ... but I caught an entirely different meaning out of it.
   
   The word "girl" belongs nowhere in these lyrics (it's "God"). The feelings expressed can easily be towards a man as much as towards a woman, and this plays much better into The Smiths' tendency to dance on the edge of sexual ambiguity.
   
   As to not having a home, I've always imagined a young man who is one hair's breadth away from being kicked out of his parents' house, or just leaving on his own ("Because it's not my home/It's their home/And I'm welcomed no more.")
   
   I have seen several comments by others, telling how great of a love song this is; it is definitely one of my favorites, but I wouldn't dare inject love into it. "Romantic", certainly. Three key elements are there: the infatuation, the escapism (in several senses), and above all the brooding and the absolute darkness (such as the life the "narrator" would not at all mind leaving for death ... with or without whomever is driving the car).
   
   In fact, it's a very dark song ... and necessarily so, if it's about even the slightest chance of reaching "the light that never goes out".
10. anonymous

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    Jan 4th 2012 !⃝

    Personally i think its about his love for manchester.
11. anonymous

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    Apr 11th 2011 !⃝

    This song is pretty self explanatory. "take me out tonight" he doesn't want to be at home. He wants to experience the world, see life outside of his home. "I never want to go home because I haven't got one anymore" He doesn't want to go home, because his home is now with her. "and if the double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die" Here he basically says if anything should happen to us, it wouldn't matter because he got his wish by just being in her precense.
    
    This song is one of my favorites! The lyrics are genius, I love the Smiths!

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