"First Of The Gang To Die"
(Morrissey/Alain Whyte)

 

These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in Morrissey's "You Are The Quarry" album. Additions to the printed lyrics are in darker text while omissions are striken out.

(Los Angeles, you are too hot)
You have never been in love
until you've seen the stars 1
reflect in the reservoirs
and you have never been in love
until you've seen the dawn rise
behind the Home For The Blind
we are the Pretty Petty Thieves 2
and you're standing on our streets
where Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die / oh my
Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die / oh my 3
You have never been in love
until you've seen sunlight thrown
over smashed human bone
we are the Pretty Petty Thieves 2,4
and you're standing on our streets
where Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and the first to do time
the first of the gang to die
such a silly boy 5
Hector was the first of the gang
with a gun in his hand
and a bullet in his gullet
the first Lost Lad to go under the sod 6
And he stole from the rich and the poor
and the not-very-rich
and the very poor
and he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
away
he stole all hearts away
he stole all hearts away
away

 

1 On a few occasions on the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey actually sang "until you've dragged me down to the reservoirs".

2 Now and then on the first leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal Morrissey changed one or another occurrence of this line to "we are the pretty/very honest thieves".

3 In a few very early 2002 live performances of the song before it was recorded Morrissey sang "such a silly boy" instead of "oh my".

4 On the UK/France leg of the Greatest Hits tour in early 2008 Morrissey sometimes followed this line with a shout of "Look! Look!".

5 In a few very early 2002 live performances of the song before it was recorded Morrissey sang "oh my" instead of "such a silly boy".

6 The 'to go' bit was absent from earliest live performances of the song on the 2002 tour. It's the way the line was originally written. Over the length of that tour Morrissey gradually tried "first lost lad to be under the sod" or "first lost lad dead under the sod" then settled on "first lost lad to go under the sod" which is what he would eventually record and release as the definitive version of the song. In live performances from late 2006 and in 2007 Morrissey often followed this line with exclamations like "Goodbye!", "Ciao!" or "So long!". On the 2007 Greatest Hits tour he often changed the line to "the first lost lad to go - where else? - under the sod" or "the first lost lad to go under the sod - where else?". When the latter tour returned to Europe in early 2008 Morrissey more or less stopped doing this change. Then in the UK that summer he did it about half the time. He did this a few times on the second leg of the 2009 Tour Of Refusal, but most of the time he stuck to the original form. The change reappeared again on and off on that tour's third leg as well as on the Swords Tour later the same year.