"No One Can Hold A Candle To You"
(Maker/Huish)
This song has yet to appear on an album. Its lyrics are transcribed here as they are heard, without permission.
Say farewell to your fairweather friends
And not a second too soon
To leave a life among ruins
Well there was nothing left but to
Cut ourselves loose
These fascists and philistines
Of violence and fashion
These modern day philistines
They stand on your hands 1
They stand on my hands 1
Any day now we'll perish
These are nervous times
No one can hold a candle to you
When it comes down to virtue and truth
No one can hold a candle to you
And I, I, I dim next to you
No one can hold a candle to you
When it comes down to old-fashioned virtue
Kingdom mine
Open your eyes
Make up your mind
Am I Einstein?
Or am I Frankenstein 2
You said blow them away
To kingdom come
Or will the kingdom be one?
No one can hold a candle to you
When it comes down to virtue and truth
No one, no one can hold a candle to you
And I, I, I dim next to you
Hiroshima
Yes yes yes!
1 In live performances of this song on the 2004 You Are The Quarry tour Morrissey alternated between "they stand on my hands, they stand on your hands", "they step on your head, they stand on my hands", "they stand on my face, they stand on your face" and "they stand on your hands, they stand on my hands". There would also sometimes be slight variations on the above.
2 In certain live performances on the 2004 You Are The Quarry tour Morrissey sang "or am I Gertrude Stein?".
Note:
This song was first performed by the band Raymonde and Morrissey remained relatively faithful to the original lyrics. Besides a few minor preposition changes, he modified the following bits:
-he removed the 'darling' in Raymonde's "And I, darling, dim next to you"
-he turned the original line "I'll be Einstein or Frankenstein" into a question
-he welcomed Hiroshima while in the original version James Maker sang "Hiroshima, no thanks!"