50 IS THE NEW 40?

In celebration of Morrissey's 50th birthday on 22 May, my 10 favorite Morrissey solo songs, in alphabetical order. (I'm leaving the Smiths out of this. That would just be too hard.)

1. "Break Up The Family" "I'm so glad to grow older/To move away from those darker years/I'm in love for the first time/And I don't feel bad." In love for the first time as a 23-year-old gay man in New York City, I was thinking the very same thing.
2. "Human Being" Morrissey does the New York Dolls. His best moment of the '00s.
3. "I Know It's Going To Happen Someday" Last night I dreamt that somebody loved me. No hope, no harm, just another false alarm.
4. "Lifeguard Sleeping, Girl Drowning" An allegory representing the right wing's reaction to AIDS? When he sings, "She deserves all she gets," it cuts like a knife.
5. "The National Front Disco" From blasting the right wing to apparently glorifying it. What Morrissey was really trying to say is anybody's guess, but he sounded great not saying it.
6. "The Ordinary Boys" His coming out song? Oh, wait, he never did.
7. "Speedway" One of my favorite tracks on my favorite Morrissey album, Vauxhall & I, and a song whose greatness I didn't fully appreciate until a guy I used to date pointed it out to me.
8. "Used To Be A Sweet Boy" "You were the cutest baby a mother ever had." That was one of the first things my mom said to me after I came out. I think of that comment whenever I listen to this song.
9. "Yes, I'm Blind" "God, come down. If you really care. 'Cause you're the one who claims to care." Morrissey's great Nietzschean moment.
10. "You're Gonna Need Someone On Your Side" Morrissey rocking out for the first time since the Smiths disbanded. The opening track on 1992's Your Arsenal and the big muscular throwdown that kicked off his two-album solo peak.