The National Front Disco
| "The National Front Disco" | |
|---|---|
| Song by Morrissey | |
| from the album Your Arsenal | |
| Released | July 27, 1992 |
| Genre | Alternative rock, indie rock |
| Length | 4:23 |
| Songwriter(s) | Morrissey, Alain Whyte |
| Producer(s) | Mick Ronson |
"The National Front Disco" is a song by Morrissey which appears on the album Your Arsenal. The song also appears on the live album Beethoven Was Deaf. The title of the song refers to the National Front, a far-right nationalist organisation. The lyrics describe how the friends and relatives of a young man, David, watch him drift away into ethnocentric political extremism.
Controversy
The song proved controversial because of lyrics such as "England for the English." Regarding the controversy Morrissey has stated:
"The reason why 'The National Front Disco' was pounced upon was really because - if I may say so - it was actually a very good song. And if the song had been utter crap, no one would have cared. I was stopped by many many journalists who obviously raised the topic in an accusatory way, and I would say to them, Please, now, list the lines in the song which you feel are racist and dangerous and hateful. And they couldn't. Nobody ever ever could, and that irked me. Even though, simply in the voice on all of those songs, on 'Asian Rut' or 'Bengali in Platforms' or 'The National Front Disco', one can plainly hear that here is no hate at all."[1]