Twenty years into his solo career, Morrissey remains erudite, iconoclastic

By Joe Brown

Friday, Dec. 4, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Wit, poet, romantic, troublemaker, enigma, hero of our inner adolescents ... It’s Morrissey, singer and songwriter of The Smiths, arguably the best band of the ’80s, who crowned his 20-year solo career with the release of “Years of Refusal” and “Swords,” the latter a compilation of B-sides.

A very English icon, pop music’s most literate lyricist and certainly most quotable star, the subject of the recently published 532-page “Mozipedia: The Encyclopedia of Morrissey and The Smiths,” he performs tonight at the Joint at the Hard Rock.

A few bons mots about Moz:

1. Hope he doesn’t stand us up

Morrissey is notorious for canceling shows if he doesn’t like the looks of the venue, or smells hamburgers, or for reasons unexplained. For heaven’s sake, don’t throw anything at him. Last month he walked offstage midset after being beaned with a plastic bottle.

He’s a bit of a drama queen: This year alone, he stormed off the stage at Coachella music festival in April because he was so disgusted by “the smell of burning animals” from a nearby burger stand; in October he collapsed onstage and was rushed to a hospital, told fans not to buy recently reissued compilations and catalog releases and posed nearly nude with his band mates for the sleeve of his single “I’m Throwing My Arms Around Paris.”

2. The songs that saved your life

Morrissey’s songs are perceived by his admirers as a lifeline, a secret message, a deeply personal, even healing communication. Pointedly sexually ambiguous, they commiserate comically with the world’s disenfranchised brooders and misfits.

He recently shared his own selection of essential songs for the BBC Radio program “Desert Island Discs”: “(There’s Gonna Be A) Showdown” by New York Dolls; “Come and Stay With Me” by Marianne Faithfull; “Loudmouth” by the Ramones; “The Black Angel’s Death Song” by Velvet Underground; “Der Nussbaum” by Klaus Nomi; “I’m Not Saying” by Nico; “Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell” by Iggy & the Stooges; “Sea Diver” by Mott the Hoople; plus one book, “The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde.”

3. Name that tune

It takes a lot for Morrissey’s music to live up to his song titles, which are often lengthy and wryly morbid. Examples: “My Life Is An Endless Succession of People Saying Goodbye,” “How Could Anybody Possibly Know How I Feel?” and “If You Don’t Like Me, Don’t Look at Me.”

The music Web site Stereogum.com asked readers to submit Morrisseyesque titles, and they came up with some corkers: “My Tears Could Cure Cancer, But I Don’t Cry,” “To Make You Happy, I Will Bury Myself Alive,” “I’m Not Sure I Like Your Face, Ramona,” “At the Bottom of a Drink Lies the Answer I Can Never Know,” “That Was Your Very Last Joke at My Expense” and “There Is a Light That Never Turns On” and “Every Morning I Wake Up and Stub My Toe on the Same Bloody Piece of Furniture (to My Soul’s Amusement).”

4. Animal attraction

A famously fierce vegetarian and champion of animal rights, Morrissey named The Smiths’ second studio album “Meat Is Murder,” allows PETA to set up information booths at his concerts and bans vendors from selling any food that “used to have a face” on his tours. This week it was announced Morrissey will team up with fashion designer Stella McCartney to launch a range of leather-free footwear. McCartney, daughter of famous veggies Paul and Linda, has never used leather in any of her designs since starting in fashion 15 years ago.

5. Give us a hug

Let’s hope the Joint’s security team gets the memo about Morrissey’s adoring apostles. One of the singular manifestations of the Morrissey cult is the way his admirers, male and female, fervently, physically express their devotion, storming the stage to hug, kiss or cling to him while he struggles to sing. “The audience doesn’t realize this, but I, in effect, come to see them,” he recently told the fanzine True to You, “and my temperament depends on how they react and even how they look.”

If you happen to see Morrissey in a Las Vegas saloon this weekend, approach with caution. Be polite. Buy the man a drink.