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Guitarist Marr and singer Morrissey from the Smiths: “Not in a million years”
Photo: Clare Muller / Redferns / Getty Images
“For once in my life let me get what I want,” sang Steven Patrick Morrissey wistfully in 1984 on the B-side of the single “William, It Was Really Nothing,” “Lord knows, it would be the first time.”
The song became a classic by Morrissey's band The Smiths, which stood for an alternative to the cockiness of the yuppies in Great Britain in the 1980s: Here, those who fell short found a voice.
Now someone who thinks they got the short end of the stick has made the song his own: As reports and video clips published on social networks show, the Smiths song "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" was used at Donald's campaign events Trump played.
Trump wants to become US president again, and God knows it wouldn't be the first time that he got what he wanted.
That's not the only reason why the choice of song is an astonishing one: the real estate shark and ultra-capitalist Trump would have been a typical hate figure for the band from Manchester in the eighties.
Having been piqued by the posts, Johnny Marr, who played guitar and wrote the music for the band that disbanded in 1987, spoke up.
"Okay," Marr wrote on the short message service X (formerly Twitter), "I wouldn't have expected this to happen in a million years."
Marr obviously wants the use of his music for Trump's campaign purposes to be banned: "Consider that shit immediately stopped," the 60-year-old musician continued.
In doing so, he is following in the footsteps of many other musicians who did not want their songs associated with Republican politicians, including Neil Young, the Rolling Stones and Adele.
"Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want" has gained additional prominence in the USA thanks to a cover version: the more elaborately produced version by the band Dream Academy can be heard in the popular feature film "Ferris Makes You Blue" from 1986.
Younger generations got to know the Smiths in the romantic film “(500) Days of Summer,” in which the characters played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel are united in their enthusiasm for the Smiths.
Unlike Johnny Marr, singer Morrissey has not yet commented on the use of his song at Trump events.
Morrissey has been criticized for statements against multiculturalism.
In an interview with SPIEGEL in 2017, he said that he never expected Donald Trump to be elected US President.
"Since he's been in power, he's exhausted the world," said Morrissey: "He grabs everything like a little child.
He is not a leader.
He's a vermin.
A huge bug.”
Feb