The song was written circa April 1983 at about the same time as "I Don't Owe You Anything" and "Accept Yourself". In its early incarnation, the song exceeded 6 minutes in length.

It was first professionally recorded on 26 June 1983 for the band's first appearance on David Jensen's BBC programme (first broadcast on 4 July 1983), with producer Dale Griffin.

It was recorded again in July/August 1983 at London's Elephant Studios with producer Troy Tate during the initial sessions for the band's debut album.

The definitive version was recorded in mid-October 1983 at Pluto Studios in Manchester, with producer John Porter. Hammond organ played by Paul Carrack was added to the mix during additional mixing sessions in November 1983 at Eden Studios in London.

album version {3:59}

• "The Smiths" (debut album)

David Jensen radio session 4 July 1983 {4:18}

• "Hatful Of Hollow" album

This song has been done in concert at least 88 times by the Smiths, perhaps even up to 108 times if we take into account the fact that information is missing for many early setlists. There are 25 confirmed performances of it in 1983 before the band's first proper tour, but this number is very likely closer to 38. Between its live inception at the beginning of May 1983 until mid-October the same year the song was almost always slotted as set opener. It was done a further 51, perhaps even 58 times in 1984 on the tours promoting the debut album and "Hatful Of Hollow", but this time the position it most often found itself in is that of encore. A further 12 airings were scattered between late February and mid-June on the 1985 Meat Is Murder tour.

There are no officially released live recordings of the song at this point in time, but bootleg recordings are circulated.

definitive Troy Tate studio recording {4:19}

This is found on record company cd-rs of Troy Tate's work for the band's debut album. It has not yet been officially released but has leaked in slightly inferior quality on bootlegs.

Troy Tate studio outtake {4:29}

This studio outtake is similar to the above with additional work done to it. It is commonly found on bootlegs.

Crazy Face rehearsal for Troy Tate {4:29}

This band rehearsal ahead of Troy Tate's involvement with the material that would become the band's debut album has leaked on the internet in 2012 in a package titled the "Pablo Cuckoo Tape". Information is found here.

Quotes

In an interview to BBC2's Oxford Road Show in 1985, Morrissey said "It's a throwback to when I was at school. I was quite advanced when I was at school, and when I left school it seemed that all these really oafish clods from school were making tremendous progress and had wonderfully large cars and lots of money, and I seemed to be constantly waiting for a bus that never came. It seemed as though although I had the brains, I didn't really have anything else."