![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/The-Smiths-Morrissey-Andy-Rourke-Mike-Joyce-Johnny-Marr-Far-Out-Magazine-F-1140x855.jpg\")
<\/p>\n <\/p>\n
(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy)<\/p>\n
Sun 24 August 2025 12:00, UK <\/p>\n
If there\u2019s one thing that The Smiths<\/a> haters and their fans agree on, it\u2019s that their music is pretty miserable.<\/p>\n No \u2013 it\u2019s depressing. It\u2019s music you put on when you\u2019re feeling sorry for yourself or when you\u2019re in the mood for a good Morrissey-induced wallow. Not all of it is like that, of course, as a big part of loving their music comes with the familiarity of its contradictory nature. Like how some of the lyrics clash with the upbeat rhythms and melodies in a way that satiates our need for comedic self-deprecation every now and then. <\/p>\n But the truly downbeat ones \u2013 the ones that come hand-in-hand with a dark room and two fingers of whiskey \u2013 are something else entirely.<\/p>\n Several come to mind easily, like \u2018Back to the Old House\u2019 and \u2018I Know It\u2019s Over\u2019. That last one literally includes the line, \u201cOh mother, I can feel the soil falling over my head\u201d. Then there are ones like \u2018Last Night I Dreamt That Somebody Loved Me\u2019 as well, which, although brilliant, talks about the \u201cfalse alarm\u201d of believing somebody wants you. But there\u2019s one that feels even more grim and gloomy than the rest, and that\u2019s \u2018Asleep\u2019.\u00a0<\/p>\n On paper, this song looks like the self-pitying ramblings of someone at the end of their tether. \u201cSing me to sleep,\u201d Morrissey instructs, \u201cAnd then leave me alone \/ Don\u2019t try to wake me in the morning \/ \u2018Cause I will be gone.\u201d Even that feels a little dark for The Smiths. So much so that most people don\u2019t even revisit it, because it\u2019s simply too maudlin for most to consider it a pleasurable listen, unless you\u2019re in a certain headspace.\u00a0<\/p>\n It also says a lot that the song was only ever performed once, with reports recalling how Morrissey was in the fetal position by the end of it, which tells you all you need to know, really. But is it actually way too depressing for human consumption? There\u2019s no real science behind that being the case, but there is science to suggest that some songs can actually send us into a depressive state, and when we put these against the song\u2019s features and dynamics, it\u2019s actually fairly revealing.<\/p>\n Just as upbeat music in major chords with catchy melodies can make us feel happier, music that is slow, melancholy-sounding, and with more notes inching towards minor chords and melodies can have the opposite effect. For example, if you\u2019re listening to something like \u2018Fade Into You\u2019 by Mazzy Star, there are two opposing forces of joy and sadness there, which make it hard to feel one way or the other.<\/p>\n But with a song like \u2018Asleep\u2019, the slow pacing and vapid melody can push you into some kind of reflective state that makes you feel both down and resigned, or more like the general broodiness that comes with ruminating on something and letting it swallow you whole. And then there are the lyrics themselves, which do little to hide the fact that this is, in fact, a depressing song about being depressed.<\/p>\n Past reports have studied the effect of music on people with depression and noted that it can actually have a therapeutic effect. But these are all songs with similar dynamics. Dr Michael Bonshor, for instance, once said the happiest songs are in major keys, and mostly have a tempo of around 137 beats per minute as well as a formulaic structure (verse, chorus, verse, and so on). Going by this, The Beach Boys\u2019 \u2018Good Vibrations\u2019 is one of the happiest songs of all time<\/a>, ticking all the boxes that scientists say will make us feel immediately happier.<\/p>\n But it also makes a good case for why something like \u2018Asleep\u2019 does the exact opposite. There are no racing notes that lift our mood, no melodies or familiar structures that pull us in and encourage us to let go of our woes. If anything, it forces us to clutch onto them harder, leaning into the greyness of defeat and giving us the urge to lean into the dark corners of our minds. Or, in this case, get into a fetal position ourselves.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Related Topics<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"(Credits: Far Out \/ Alamy) Sun 24 August 2025 12:00, UK If there\u2019s one thing that The Smiths…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89535,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[96,44785,128,15745,44786,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-89534","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-music","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-morrissey","10":"tag-music","11":"tag-the-beach-boys","12":"tag-the-smiths","13":"tag-uk","14":"tag-united-kingdom","15":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89534","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89534"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89534\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89534"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89534"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89534"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}