Stop Me

Album: Version (2007)
Charted: 2
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Songfacts®:

  • In this song featuring the vocals of Australian born singer Daniel Merriweather, Ronson produced a Motown pastiche cover of The Smiths' song, "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before," merging it with The Supremes "You Keep Me Hangin' On."
  • This achieved the highest ever UK chart position for a Smiths song.
  • "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was originally featured on the Smiths' 1987 album Strangeways, Here We Come. It was originally planned to be released as a single but the band changed their mind after the BBC banned the song. This was because of the lyric "And plan a mass murder" during a sensitive time in Britain after the massacre of 16 people by an unemployed laborer in the town of Hungerford.
  • Ronson was asked in an interview with Word magazine January 2008 about the criticism he has received for covering a Smiths track to his own background. He replied, "There's always been a bit of irreverence. I realized as a DJ that I couldn't just play a Smiths song, but if I put one over a Run DMC instrumental people wouldn't realize what they were dancing to until it was too late. I've never thought for a second people would get angry, I'm just making a Smiths cover in a way those who knew my music might understand. But it did get annoying when people left messages on my MySpace saying, 'I'm gonna stab you, you've ruined my favorite song.' Really? You get that worked up about a song?"
  • Merriweather recalled to The Guardian April 24, 2009 that he had barely heard of this song before he recorded it. He explained: "Mark said, 'I want you to sing on this - it's my favourite Smiths song,' so I listened to it. I'd heard it once before, but I was never a Smiths fan. But I thought it was beautiful."
  • Merriweather told Jam! Music that he was relieved when he heard The Smiths' singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr gave their cover the thumbs up. "I think Mark was really worried because he knew the gravity of covering a Smiths song," said Merriweather. "The next worse thing from Morrissey hating it, would be all his fans hating it and that's probably the worst thing to happen. But we sent it to Johnny Marr and Morrissey and they both loved it and we got the green light from them - but we then had to deal with the fans. There was definitely two or three death threats Mark received when that happened. There were a couple of angry Smiths fans. I'm sure it was the threat of being stabbed but really when it probably came down to it they'd be flailing a daffodil around at us. I don't think it would have been all that violent. They're pretty much one of the most protective fan bases in the world. It's crazy. But Smiths fans are crazy."

Comments: 2

  • Ruby from San Francisco, CaUmmm okay just to let you know Mark Ronson is not the singer of this song, he's the producer. Daniel Merriweather does the singing, which is the first fact mentioned.
    And also the fact that you think the words are "awesome" contribute in the importance of WHERE & from WHOM the song came from cuuuz were it not for The Smiths and their "awesome words," as you described Krys, this song would not have been made.
    Both versions I love. Smiths cuz Morrissey's tone and emotion, and Ronson's cuz I just love the sound and Merriweather's soulful voice!
  • Krys from Warner Robins, Gai could care less who mark ronson got the song from all i know is he has an amazing voice! the song is awesome, the words are awesome, and he has an incredibly creamy voice that i love listening to
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