"Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" is a song by the English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. The song was first released on the group's 1987 album Strangeways, Here We Come. Marr's music features a larger sound, courtesy of a 12-string Gibson ES-335, and one of his few guitar solos with the Smiths. Morrissey's lyrics allude to alcohol and deception.
Although the song was originally planned to be released as a single in August 1987, the BBC objected to the song's lyrical reference to mass murder in the aftermath of the Hungerford Massacre. As a result, "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was only released as a single in America, Australia, and some European markets, while "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" was chosen to replace the song as the band's new UK single.
Despite its censorship by British radio, "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" has seen critical acclaim for Marr's guitar work and Morrissey's witty lyricism. It has since appeared on multiple compilation albums and has been ranked by music writers as one of the band's best songs.
Background
"Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" features, like most Smiths songs, lyrics written by Morrissey and music written by Johnny Marr. Marr composed the song's music on a 12-string Gibson ES-335, which he commented "gave a really big sound." He explained that the guitar hits in the song's intro were the result of stacking a Telecaster "on top of a Fender Twin Reverb with the vibrato on, and tun[ing] it to an open chord" only to "drop a knife with a metal handle on it, hitting random strings." The song also featured the first guitar solo on a Smiths record; Marr explained in an interview with Guitar Player magazine:
Lyrically, Rolling Stone described the song as "a whirlwind tour of sex, lies, booze, obsession, mass murder, [and] bicycle-related testicular injury". Len Brown of the NME commented on an alternate meaning to the song's title, "[Morrissey] even seems to relish calling a song 'Stop Me If You've Heard This One Before,' in the face of those who perpetually take the piss out of him and reckon that every Smiths song sounds the same."
Release
In addition to its release on Strangeways, Here We Come, "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was originally intended to be released as the album's second single. Promotional singles were printed and sent to Radio One. However, the song's single release came in the wake of the Hungerford massacre, in which 16 people were murdered, and the BBC refused to play the song on the grounds that the lyric "plan a mass murder" was offensive. As a result, the song was not released as a single in the UK and "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish" was selected instead. "Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before" was ultimately released as a single in other regions, including the United States, Australia, Germany, and others. The cover of the single is a picture of British actor and singer Murray Head from a still of the 1966 film The Family Way (a movie that would also be the source of the photograph on the cover of "I Started Something I Couldn't Finish").
Morrissey later stated:
The song was later featured on the compilation albums Stop Me and The Very Best of The Smiths. The song is also included in the music video game Rock Band 3. Though the band broke up before they could tour any songs from Strangeways, Here We Come, Morrissey performed the song live alongside fellow ex-Smiths Andy Rourke, Mike Joyce, and Craig Gannon as the opening song of his infamous debut solo concert at Wolverhampton's Civic Hall in December 1988.
Music video
A music video was produced by the director Tim Broad. It opens with a picture of Oscar Wilde hanging on a brick wall, and features Morrissey and a group of Morrissey lookalikes cycling around Manchester and Salford, including famous locations such as the Salford Lads' Club. Morrissey was hesitant to take part in the videos, but was implored by Rough Trade's Geoff Travis to participate in order to boost the album's singles. Morrissey recalled in his autobiography, "Tim Broad steps in to make sense of it all, hotch-podging two videos for both 'Girlfriend in a Coma' and 'Stop Me If You Think You've Heard This One Before'. The results for both are frustratingly unwatchable, although Tim did his best with such a mealy-mouthed budget."
