Death of a Disco Dancer by The Smiths

Album: Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)

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This grim elegy to the sufferings of the mid-1980s gay community finds Morrissey substituting "disco dancer" for "homosexual."

The death of a disco dancer
Well, it happens a lot 'round here
And if you think peace
Is a common goal
That goes to show
How little you know

Morrissey ruminates on the rise of gay AIDS casualties and homophobic violence.
Guitarist Johnny Marr commented to Q Magazine that one of the best things about the song "is that keyboard drone. It's like Goldfinger on bad acid. Which is kind of The Smiths in a nutshell."
Morrissey played piano on this track – it's the only Smiths song on which he played a musical instrument.

Comments: 1

Mathewh386@gmail.com from Manchester in 1986 a 19 year old clubber, Christian Joyce choked ro death on a Hamburger at Royale's Nightclub, Wythenshawe, Manchester, I studied design with Chris 3 years earlier, The incident was reported in the local oress and some national newspapers with a strong emphasis on the fact that he tried to get people to help him as he was choking, unfortunately most people thought he was pilled off his face, drunk or, as was quoted in the press "We would rather not get involved" Morrissey, not one to let a story go unused took the story and spinned it out into Death of a Disco Dancer.

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