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"William, It Was Really Nothing" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths. It was released as a single in August 1984, featuring the B-sides "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" and "How Soon Is Now?", and reached No. 17 in the UK Singles Chart.
In their early years, the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music, [10] until Meat Is Murder, which contained keyboards as well as rockabilly and funk influences. [11] The Queen Is Dead was notable for featuring harder-rocking songs with witty, satirical lyrics of British social mores, intellectualism and class. [12]
The song is about the Moors murders that took place on Saddleworth Moor, which overlooks Manchester, between 1963 and 1965. [1] At the time of their deaths, many of the victims were only a few years older than Morrissey (born 1959), who wrote the lyrics of the song after reading a book about the murders, Beyond Belief: A Chronicle of Murder and its Detection by Emlyn Williams.
The Smiths' "non-rhythm-and-blues, whiter-than-white fusion of 1960s rock and post-punk was a repudiation of contemporary dance pop", [5] and the band purposely rejected synthesisers and dance music. [65] From their second album Meat Is Murder, Marr embellished their songs with keyboards. [64]
Rolling Stone ranked the song as the 14th best Smiths song, [3] while NME named it the band's 16th best. [13] Consequence ranked the song as the band's 28th best, calling it "a testament to The Smiths' power in 1987". [14] Guitar named the song as the band's 20th greatest guitar moment. [15]
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In February, Shaw and the Smiths journeyed to Matrix Studios in London, where Shaw recorded three Smiths songs with Marr, Joyce and Rourke. [21] The version of "Hand in Glove" recorded at Matrix was performed in the key of D minor, while Marr placed the intro riff 's accent on a major scale and Shaw altered some lyrics.
The Smiths performed this song in concert only once, during their last gig in December 1986 at Brixton Academy, London (just prior to the release of the song as a single). [7] It was also played live on the British music programme The Tube on 10 April 1987 (alongside previous single " Sheila Take a Bow ") in the band's final live performance ...