The Ordinary Boys (song)

Song infobox
Name = The Ordinary Boys


Artist = Morrissey
Album = Viva Hate
Released = March 22, 1988
track_no = 9
Recorded = Winter 1987
Genre = Rock
Length = 3:55
Writer = Morrissey/Street
Label = HMV
Producer = Stephen Street
Misc = Extra tracklisting
Album = Viva Hate
Type = studio
Tracks = ;Side one
# "Alsatian Cousin"
# "Little Man, What Now?"
# "Everyday Is Like Sunday"
# "Bengali In Platforms"
# "Angel, Angel Down We Got Together"
# "Late Night, Maudlin Street";Side two
# "Suedehead"
# "Break Up the Family"
# "The Ordinary Boys"
# "I Don't Mind If You Forget Me"
# "Dial A Cliche"
# "Margaret On The Guillotine""The Ordinary Boys" is a song performed by Morrissey on his album "Viva Hate". It was written by Morrissey and his producer Stephen Street.

In this song Morrissey sings of his own inability as a child and teenager to escape what he felt was the stifling ordinariness of Manchester life and looks at those vacuous boys and heartless "supermarket clones/who think it's very clever to be cruel to you" who are able to find happiness despite their "ordinary" lives.

The idea of being isolated and trying not to be dragged down by the mediocrity around you is used along with almost a jealous feeling of the "ordinary" boys and girls, especially in the line "With their lives laid out before them they are lucky", which may not be as ironic as it first appears.

The title of the song was later adopted by the band The Ordinary Boys, the singer of which also decided to only go by his surname, Preston.