"Trouble Loves Me"
(Morrissey/Alain Whyte)

 

These words are transcribed without permission the way they appear in the original edition of the "Maladjusted" album. There are no variations between the printed lyrics and what Morrissey actually sings in the studio version.

Trouble loves me
trouble needs me
two things
more than you do
or would attempt to
So, console me
otherwise, hold me 1
just when it seems like
everything's evened out
and the balance
seems serene
Trouble loves me
walks beside me
to chide me
not to guide me 2
it's still much more
than you'll do
So, console me
otherwise, hold me 1
just when it seems like
everything's evened out
and the balance seems serene
See the fool I'll be
still running 'round
on the flesh rampage
still running 'round
Ready with ready-wit
still running 'round
on the flesh rampage
-at your age!
go to Soho, oh
go to waste in
the wrong arms
still running 'round
Trouble loves me
seeks and finds me
to charlatanize me
which is only
as it should be 3
Oh, please, fulfill me
otherwise, kill me 4
show me a barrel
and watch me scrape it
faced with the music
as always I'll face it
in the half-light
so English...frowning
then at midnight I
can't get you out of my head
a disenchanted taste
still running 'round
a disenchanted taste
still running 'round

 

1 On the 1999-2000 and 2006 tours Morrissey usually changed this line to "somebody hold me".

2 On the 2006 tour, Morrissey sometimes changed this line to "to chide me but never to guide me".

3 On the 1999-2000 and 2006 tours, Morrissey often changed this line to "which is only the way it should be". Later in 2006 he switched to "which is exactly the way it should be".

4 On the 1999-2000 and 2006 tours Morrissey usually changed this line to "somebody kill me".

 

Quotes

On the subject of this song in the 2009 expanded and redesigned edition of the "Maladjusted" album, Morrissey wrote: "Onstage I sing 'so, please, fulfill me / somebody kill me' and the attempt not to comply jumps a thousand hurdles. Is this line the strongest I will ever sing? Are there higher planes of non belonging? I am too alone in the world."