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Added 8th February 2011 by Abigail

Artefact

Audio File
Morrissey
1990

"Piccadilly Palare" was a single released by Morrissey in October 1990. Despite reaching a disappointing number 18 on the British singles chart, "Piccadilly Palare" was a generally well received single, and the last release before Morrissey began a writing partnership with Mark Nevin. It also features one of Morrissey's former colleagues from The Smiths, Andy Rourke.

As with "November Spawned a Monster", Morrissey chose to write about a subject unusual in pop music, namely male prostitution around the Piccadilly area of London. The title of the song refers to cant slang language polari, first used by male prostitutes in the 19th century and was then taken up by homosexuals in the 1960s to disguise sexual predilections which were illegal in the UK until 1967. It was also used in the BBC radio comedy Round the Horne by the characters Julian and Sandy.

The voice featured in the background of the song belongs to Suggs, the lead singer of the band Madness. A previously unreleased version of the track is now the opener of the re-released Bona Drag. It includes the lyrics, "A cold water room, it's not much, I know, but for now it's where I belong. Am I really doing wrong? Around the centre of town, it's where I belong. Am I really doing wrong?"[Wikipedia]
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