Girlfriend In A Coma

Album: Strangeways, Here We Come (1987)
Charted: 13
Play Video

Songfacts®:

  • In this song, it is unclear if The Smiths' front man, Morrissey, is truly distraught about the condition of his girlfriend, or if he is being sarcastic. Morrissey's sexuality has been a matter of conjecture for many years, so it is even debatable whether the "girlfriend" referred to in this song is his own.
  • The B-side to this single is a cover of Liverpudlian singer Cilla Black's song, "Work Is a Four Letter Word." Guitarist, Johnny Marr, detested this cover so much that he quit the band soon after recording it. Marr recalled to Record Collector magazine in 1992: "'Work Is A Four Letter Word' I hated. That was the last straw, really. I didn't form a group to perform Cilla Black songs. That was it, really. I made a decision that I was going to get away on holiday. The only place I could think of was L.A. L.A. was the only place I knew where there'd be sunshine, so off I went. I never saw Morrissey again."
  • The single artwork is an image of the British dramatist, Shelagh Delaney, who wrote the play, A Taste of Honey - a work which Morrissey references in multiple Smiths songs, including "Hand in Glove" and "Reel Around the Fountain."
  • Canadian author Douglas Coupland's 1998 novel, Girlfriend In A Coma, took its title from this song.
  • This song plays over the opening credits of the 2001 episode of The Drew Carey Show, "Drew's In A Coma," in which Drew is left comatose after a car accident.
  • The official video was directed by Tim Broad and features Morrissey performing alone alongside footage from the 1964 film, The Leather Boys, starring Rita Tushingham.
  • This was the first single to be released from The Smiths' final studio album, Strangeways, Here We Come. Both Morrissey and Marr have stated that this is their favorite Smiths album. It is named after Manchester's notorious prison, Strangeways - whose walls are rumored to be 16 feet thick! In 1987, Morrissey told Q magazine: "I feel at the moment that almost anything absurd can happen. And if I ended up in Strangeways, I wouldn't be at all surprised."
  • Johnny Marr and Morrissey were both fans of Bob and Marcia's 1970 reggae tune "Young, Gifted And Black." Marr told The Observer in 2013: "We bonded over a lot of records, but we both loved that song in the same way at the same time. And that's very likely to be the thing that inspired the music for 'Girlfriend in a Coma.'"

Comments: 2

  • Rachel from From Monticello, In (lives In Camden, In)The way I know this song wouldn’t be recognizable to others because it was made way before I was born because I was born in 2006, making me 4 months away from being 15 (as of October 2020) and really, nobody who is still living in my family listen to the smiths, my family is made up of 15% pop music, 75% (combined) of all types of rock, 2% of rap, and 89% of country music, which is found this out from the movie Bumblebee, where Charlie played it for bumblebee while mentioning her last moment with her dad and what it meant for the car to start up and that she was fixing it for her father (that’s what she mentioned to bumblebee) before she started crying, then bumblebee (the autobot from transformers) hugged her to comfort her, I found that the song was kind of weird because who would sing that, you don’t hear anyone sing about that in 2020, but at the same time I found bumblebee affectionate, loving, caring and comforting, but also kind, that’s the kind of friend everyone should have... robot or not, he’s still a friend, even if that means it’s a ghost or a poster of someone then that’s your friend!!!
  • Jeff from Austin, TxThe video for this song features only Morrissey and featured clips from the film "The Leather Boys" (starring Rita Tushingham), was directed by Tim Broad.
see more comments

Editor's Picks

Mike Love of The Beach Boys

Mike Love of The Beach BoysSongwriter Interviews

The lead singer/lyricist of The Beach Boys talks about coming up with the words for "Good Vibrations," "Fun, Fun, Fun," "Kokomo" and other classic songs.

00s Music Quiz 1

00s Music Quiz 1Music Quiz

Do you know the girl singer on Eminem's "Stan"? If so, this quiz is for you.

Gary Numan

Gary NumanSongwriter Interviews

An Electronic music pioneer with Asperger's Syndrome. This could be interesting.

Peter Lord

Peter LordSongwriter Interviews

You may not recognize his name, but you will certainly recognize Peter Lord's songs. He wrote the bevy of hits from Paula Abdul's second album, Spellbound.

Charlie Daniels

Charlie DanielsSongwriter Interviews

Charlie discusses the songs that made him a Southern Rock icon, and settles the Devil vs. Johnny argument once and for all.

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic Furs

Richard Butler of The Psychedelic FursSongwriter Interviews

Psychedelic Furs lead singer Richard Butler talks about their first album since 1991 and explains what's really going on in "Pretty In Pink."