I Have Forgiven Jesus
{{Short description|2004 single by Morrissey}}
{{Good article}}
{{Use British English|date=September 2012}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}}
{{Infobox song
| name = I Have Forgiven Jesus
| cover = MorrisseyJesus.jpg
| type = single
| artist = Morrissey
| album = You Are the Quarry
| B-side =
- "No One Can Hold a Candle to You"
- "The Slum Mums"
- "The Public Image"
| released = 13 December 2004
| recorded = Los Angeles, 2004
| studio =
| genre = Alternative rock
| length = 3:41
| writer = {{hlist|Morrissey|Alain Whyte}}
| producer = Jerry Finn
| prev_title = Let Me Kiss You
| prev_year = 2004
| next_title = Redondo Beach
| next_year = 2005
}}
"I Have Forgiven Jesus" is an alternative rock song from English singer Morrissey's 2004 album You Are the Quarry. It was co-written by Morrissey and his band member Alain Whyte, and produced by Jerry Finn. The track reflects the singer's upbringing in an Irish Catholic community and his status as a lapsed Catholic. The song is a ballad that tells the story of a child who becomes disillusioned with religion because of his inability to deal with his own desires. The title refers to the character's blame and subsequent forgiveness of Jesus Christ for creating him as a lovely creature that has no chance to express its love. Described as both confessional and humorous, the song has been interpreted as a blasphemous critique of organized religion and an ambivalent way for Morrissey to describe his own religiosity.
The song was released in December 2004 as the fourth single from You Are the Quarry; its release was preceded in November 2004 by that of a music video in which Morrissey performs the role of a priest. This performance increased the controversy around the track, which received polarized reviews; some critics described it as a "woeful" release and others classified it among the best songs of both the album and of the singer's career. Despite not being playlisted by BBC Radio 1, one of the United Kingdom's most popular radio stations, the single reached number 10 on the UK Singles Chart and topped the UK Independent Singles Chart. It made the track his fourth top-ten hit of the year, something he had never achieved before. The song remained significant in Morrissey's career, being included on his 2004, 2006 and 2014 tours.
Background and release
Morrissey was raised in a Catholic family and that inspired "I Have Forgiven Jesus".{{sfn|Greco|2011|p=17}} He disliked his upbringing, having described himself in 1989 as "a seriously lapsed Catholic ... after being forced to go to church and never understanding why and never enjoying it, seeing so many negative things, and realising it somehow wasn't for [him]".{{sfn|Schiltz|2022}} In late 2004, prior to the release of the song, he appeared at a Halloween concert and on television dressed as a priest.{{sfn|Greco|2011|p=17}}{{sfn|McKinney |2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=So_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT264 264]}} He would later use the same costume on the music video.{{sfn|Greco|2011|p=17}}{{sfn|McKinney |2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=So_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT264 264]}}
"I Have Forgiven Jesus" first appeared as a track on the album You Are the Quarry, which was produced by Jerry Finn and released in May 2004, seven years after his last solo album Maladjusted.{{cite web | url=https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-you-are-the-quarry-vol-61-no-21/ | title=Picks and Pans Review: You Are the Quarry | date=31 May 2004 | work=People | access-date=26 December 2018}} It was later released as the fourth and final single from the album by Sanctuary Records' imprint Attack Records on 13 December 2004 in a 7-inch vinyl format that was backed with "No One Can Hold a Candle to You", a cover of a song originally recorded by his friend James Maker's band Raymonde, as a B-side.{{sfn|McKinney|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=So_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT165 165]}}{{cite web | url=https://www.gigwise.com/reviews/roots/3404 | title=Morrissey forgives Jesus | date=25 November 2004 | website=Gigwise | access-date=28 December 2018}}{{cite web | url=https://www.gigsoupmusic.com/features/deep-cuts/deep-cuts-morrissey/ | title=Deep Cuts: Morrissey | author=Schiltz, Brontë | date=20 November 2017 | website=GIGSoup | access-date=26 December 2018 | archive-date=4 August 2020 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200804053358/https://gigsoupmusic.com/features/deep-cuts/deep-cuts-morrissey/ | url-status=dead }} Attack also released two CD versions on the same date;{{cite web | url=https://musicbrainz.org/label/564bda6f-f4db-4f6f-b077-4de4a8f2142a | title=Attack Records | publisher=MusicBrainz | access-date=28 December 2018}} the first, a mini CD, contained the same tracks,{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0006FMASO | title=I Have Forgiven Jesus CD1 | publisher=Amazon.co.uk | access-date=28 December 2018}} while the second, a maxi CD, contained two different B-sides; "The Slum Mums" and "The Public Image".{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0006MT4KO | title=I Have Forgiven Jesus | publisher=Amazon.co.uk | access-date=28 December 2018}} The former song was co-composed by Boz Boorer and then bassist Gary Day.{{sfn|Dillane|Power|Devereux|2017|p=48}} Attack and Sanctuary re-released the first CD edition on 22 February 2005.{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01K8MDA92/ | title=I Have Forgiven Jesus CD1 by Morrissey (2005-02-22) | publisher=Amazon.co.uk | access-date=28 December 2018}} A remastered version of "I Have Forgiven" was later included on Morrissey's compilation album Greatest Hits (2008).{{cite web | url=https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/i-have-forgiven-jesus-remastered/273134053?i=273134165 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181229031650/https://itunes.apple.com/gb/album/i-have-forgiven-jesus-remastered/273134053?i=273134165 | url-status=dead | archive-date=29 December 2018 | title=I Have Forgiven Jesus (Remastered) by Morrissey | publisher=iTunes. Apple Music | access-date=28 December 2018}}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/1046488/live-disc-to-accompany-morrissey-hits-album | title=Live Disc to Accompany Morrissey Hits Album | date=20 February 2008 | author=Cohen, Jonathan | magazine=Billboard| access-date=27 December 2018}}
Composition and lyrics
"I Have Forgiven Jesus", which was co-written by Morrissey and his band member Alain Whyte, is an alternative rock ballad{{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-06-20-0406200379-story.html | title=Morrissey | author=Kot, Gregory | date=20 June 2004 | work=Chicago Tribune | access-date=27 December 2018}} {{cite web | url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2004-07-20-0407200256-story.html| title=Intimate connection with fans outshines music in Morrissey show | author=Kot, Gregory | date=20 July 2004 | work=Chicago Tribune | access-date=27 December 2018}}
{{multiple image
| align = right
| image1 = Christ Carrying the Cross 1580.jpg
| width1 = 150
| alt1 =
| caption1 = El Greco's 1580 painting of Christ on his way to Calvary
| image2 = Batoni sacred heart.jpg
| width2 = 140
| alt2 =
| caption2 = Pompeo Batoni's 1767 painting of the Sacred Heart of Jesus
| footer = Both of these religious elements were said to have been featured throughout "I Have Forgiven Jesus" lyrics
}}
The song starts by establishing the title character as "a good kid" who "would do no harm", while a middle-height vocal is accompanied by a "1960s-sounding, almost Beatle-esque keyboard", in the words of academic Isabella van Elferen.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=172}} As the drama rises{{sfn|Bret|2004|p=280}} and the child starts to doubt the values taught to him, the andante tempo that expressed the "safety provided by uncontested religious truths" changes to high-pitched vocals that symbolise "naiveté [being] replaced by [the] despair ... of being deserted by those same truths".{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=172}} Gavin Hopps, author of the biography Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart,{{cite journal | url=https://politicsandculture.org/2010/05/24/morrissey%E2%80%99s-flower-like-life/ | title=Morrissey's Flower-Like Life | author=Otten, Richard E. | date=24 May 2010 | issue=2 | journal=Politics and Culture | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=28 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228035253/https://politicsandculture.org/2010/05/24/morrissey%E2%80%99s-flower-like-life/ | url-status=usurped }} wrote that the song uses a humorous tone to describe this loss of faith when Morrissey uses "the dozy-schoolboy nonstandard 'brung'" in the verse "Forgive me any pain I may have brung to you" and when he "ironically repeat[s] back to Christ the promises he feels have been broken or seem meaningless ('I'll always be near to you')".{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=240}} Biographer David Bret commented that Morrissey described how "as a Dutiful catholic boy he withstood humiliation and condescension to attend church" in the verse "Through hail and snow, I'd go just to moon you".{{sfn|Bret|2004|p=280}} In the sequence, Morrissey sings "I carried my heart in my hand", which, Hopps suggested, could be an allusion to the Sacred Heart.{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=242}}
The third verse, in low-pitched sequences, describes a suffering routine from Monday to Friday.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} Both Hopps and de Jong interpreted it as emulating the pain Christ is said to have suffered on his way to Calvary.{{sfn|de Jong|2017|p=10|ps=. The quoted part is a literal translation of Dutch "buitenbeentjes".}}{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=242}} Morrissey concludes this part with "By Friday life has killed me", which Hopps said could be an allusion to Good Friday.{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=242}} The death in this part, argued May, is a symbolic one that indicates a self-exile from previous beliefs and the search for a new identity. The Guardian{{'s}} Ben Hewitt described it as a secular experience of a week of "joyless, sexless activity". This sequence was meant to express "the dull drone of emptied-out daily life without love, or God", wrote van Elferen.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} In this part, the character is still haunted by the recent abandonment of his beliefs.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} The song then transitions to "a melancholy cello melody" as the calm tone becomes agitated and the singer asks why he has been given "so much love in a loveless world".{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} The singer's tone gradually thickens until it reaches a point of a "stubborn repetition of a despairing call to Jesus ('Do you hate me?')" underlined by a strong on-beat drum with subtle, syncopated keyboard motifs.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} After this "urgent existential complaint" in which, wrote Hopps, "feeling that God must have hated him in creating him, he suffers so much from being himself",{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=240}} the beat stops abruptly as the song ends.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}}
=Relation to religion=
The song's main character, according to Zaleski and Anderson, can be that "Irish Catholic boy in Manchester" who, according to the song, is "a nice kid" who does not know how to handle his desires. Brontë Schiltz of Manchester Metropolitan University said this inability is correlated to Morrissey's discomfort with his queer identity during his Catholic upbringing.{{sfn|Schiltz|2022}} Because of this link between desire and religion, some journalists, including Rolling Stone{{'}}s James Hunter and The Advocate{{'s}} David White, understood the song as a critique of organized religion.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/you-are-the-quarry-20040513 |title=You Are The Quarry |magazine=Rolling Stone |date=13 May 2004 |access-date=26 December 2018 |last=Hunter |first=James |archive-date=5 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160305014251/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/you-are-the-quarry-20040513 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=umQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA67 |title=Ageless Ambiguity |work=The Advocate |date=6 July 2004 |access-date=26 December 2018 |last=White |first=David}} Mikel Jollett, on the program All Things Considered, described it as a "confessional accusation of Christianity".{{cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1943213 | title=Review: New CD by Morrissey, "You Are the Quarry" | date=7 June 2004 | work=All Things Considered | publisher=National Public Radio | access-date=21 September 2021}} Jim Abbott, writing for the Orlando Sentinel, said Morrissey blames faith for his feelings. Hua Hsu of Slate, however, stated that it "finds Morrissey at peace with his spiritual non-relationships rather than flailing helplessly against the torture of religious upbringing".{{cite web | url=https://slate.com/culture/2004/06/the-less-miserable-morrissey.html | title=The less-miserable Morrissey | author=Hsu, Hua | date=3 June 2004 | work=Slate | access-date=27 December 2018}} Van Elferen said the song depicts a more "ambiguous relation" of Morrissey to his religious background.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}}
Because of the way the song inverts the divine-human relations, both academics and journalists have described it as "blasphemy" and "blasphemous".{{cite web | url=https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2006/04/sxsw200604 | title=South by Southwest: Road Trip, 2006! | date= April 2006 | author=Hogan, Mike | work=Vanity Fair | access-date=27 December 2018}}{{sfn|Kaross|2013|p=192}} According to Hopps, beyond the "appearance of blasphemy",{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=241}} it featured elements reminiscent of the lamentations and accusations in the Old Testament of God being unjust, especially those found in the Book of Job.{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=238}} Hopps said, however, that at the same time it "seems to be making fun of religious teaching in a way the psalmists and Job do not".{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=240}} The author concluded that Catholic faith is "the light that never goes out" on Morrissey's life because the song mixes an "apparently blasphemous bitterness" with "what seems to be an unironic sense of dereliction ('but Jesus hurt me / when He deserted me'), which implies a prior and latent state of relation".{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=241}} An anonymous author of the Centre for Christian Apologetics, Scholarship and Education of the New College, University of New South Wales also described the song as being both "blasphemous, and offensive to Christian sensibilities" and "a meditation on desire".{{cite web | url=https://www.case.edu.au/blogs/case-subscription-library/is-morrissey-ready-to-forgive-jesus | title=Is Morrissey Ready to Forgive Jesus? | date=1 July 2004 | publisher=Centre for Christian Apologetics, Scholarship and Education of the New College, University of New South Wales | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228083041/https://www.case.edu.au/blogs/case-subscription-library/is-morrissey-ready-to-forgive-jesus | archive-date=28 December 2018}} Although the writer ultimately condemned it, he said it could be positively interpreted as "a prayer of complaint, directed to Jesus" similar to the Psalmists' appeal to God.
Scholar Anti Nylén wrote that Morrissey's songs usually feature "Christian imagery" but from an "incredulous" position,{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=2}} considering that "I Have Forgiven Jesus" is an exception to this.{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=3}} He stated that "'prayer' and 'blasphemy' are present in the song at the same time" and that it is "a song about reconciliation ... by a Christian who has faith but who still has enormous difficulties in submitting to [it]".{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=3}} The entwinement of prayer and blasphemy is characteristic of the anti-modern tradition of Catholic Romanticism, into which Nylén puts Morrissey.{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=3}} Van Elferen interpreted Morrissey's position regarding Catholicism as akin to that of Gothic fiction, which, like Romanticism, sought "to reconstruct the divine mysteries that reason had begun to dismantle".{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} Both Gothic literature and the song, van Elferen wrote, ponder "what remains when the comfort of religious truth disappears in its shadow, returning like the uncanny of the Freudian repressed, haunting one with relentless questionings".{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}}
=Relation to Morrissey discography=
Scholars and critics have debated the connections of "I Have Forgiven Jesus" to Morrissey's general œuvre. Macquarie University's Jean-Philippe Deranty traced back its themes of "painful sexual failure" that issues "a traumatic confusion about sexual preferences and sexual abilities" to The Smiths's song "I Want the One I Can't Have" from the 1985 album Meat Is Murder.{{sfn|Deranty|2014|pp=98, 102}} Scholar Daniel Manco argued that "I Have Forgiven Jesus" is thematically related to Morrissey's 1990 song "November Spawned a Monster", both of which feature disabled people and dialogues with Jesus.{{sfn|Manco|2011|p=131}} Manco also commented that it echoes "November Spawned a Monster" in its discussion of "blameless youth, dysfunctional corporeality, social and sexual abjection, and divine culpability".{{sfn|Manco|2011|p=132}} De Jong compared it with You Are the Quarry{{'s}} "Let Me Kiss You" (2004); she wrote that both songs approach love in a "grim way" and highlight themes of "physical uncertainties".{{sfn|de Jong|2017|pp=10, 16|ps=. The quoted parts are literal translation of Dutch "grimmige manier" (p. 16) and "lichamelijke onzekerheden" (p. 10).}} Because of its references to Morrissey's Anglo-Irish upbringing and the way the song cast doubts on the values he learnt, van Elferen called it the "religious counterpart" of "Irish Blood, English Heart" (2004).{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=173}} Eric Schumacher-Rasmussen of Paste went further, writing that it "summed up ... the raison d'etre of his entire career".{{cite web | url=https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2004/10/morrissey-1.html | title=Morrissey | date=16 October 2004 | author=Schumacher-Rasmussen, Eric | work=Paste | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=28 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228035356/https://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2004/10/morrissey-1.html | url-status=dead }}
Critical reception
Upon its release, "I Have Forgiven Jesus" was described as a controversial track{{cite web | url=http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/charts/comment.html | archive-url=https://archive.today/20041231013406/http://uk.launch.yahoo.com/charts/comment.html | title=Charts – Monday December 20, 2004 | date=20 December 2004 | author=Masterton, James | publisher=Yahoo! | archive-date=31 December 2004 | access-date=28 December 2018 | url-status=live | author-link=James Masterton }}{{cite web | url=https://sundial.csun.edu/2013/03/morrisseys-softer-side-comes-out-at-staples-center-show/ | title=Morrissey's softer side comes out at Staples Center show | author=Rivera, Natalie | date=6 March 2013 | work=The Sundial | publisher=California State University, Northridge | access-date=27 December 2018}} and has polarized critics. Josh Tyrangiel of Time called it "woeful",{{cite magazine | url=http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,641148,00.html | title=Not So Miserable Now | date=23 May 2004 | author=Tyrangiel, Josh | magazine=Time | access-date=26 December 2018 }}{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} Alexis Petridis of The Guardian criticized it for its "cheap synthesised strings",{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/may/14/popandrock.shopping7 |title=Morrissey, You Are the Quarry |work=The Guardian |date=14 May 2004 |access-date=26 December 2018 |last=Petridis |first=Alexis }} and Andrew Stevens of 3:AM Magazine said it is "flat and go[es] nowhere".{{cite web | url=https://www.3ammagazine.com/3am/alliances-severed-once-more/ | title=Alliances Severed Once More | author=Stevens, Andrew | date=18 May 2005 | work=3:AM Magazine | access-date=27 December 2018}} Ben Rayner of Toronto Star called it "ridiculously overwrought, even by Morrissey's theatrical standards".{{cite news | title=Company loves Morrissey misery | author=Rayner, Ben | newspaper=Toronto Star|id={{ProQuest|}} | date=13 October 2004}} People staff dubbed it "bloody brilliant" and The Scotsman labelled it a "touching song about repressed desire".{{cite web | url=https://www.scotsman.com/news/random-top-ten-memorable-morrissey-song-titles-1-1036440 | title=Random top ten: Memorable Morrissey song titles | date=30 April 2009 | work=The Scotsman | access-date=27 December 2018}} Telegram & Gazette{{'s}} Semon wrote, "In the age of {{'}}The Passion of the Christ{{'}} and the religious right seemingly having more influence on the political might, writing a song such as 'I've Forgiven Jesus' is a bold move to say the least"; he also praised "Morrissey's emotionally stirring falsetto" who "send shivers down one's spine".{{cite news | title= Are you feelin bad? Morrissey's your boy | author=Semon, Craig | newspaper=Telegram & Gazette | date= 13 June 2004|id={{ProQuest|}}}}
It was considered to be one of the best tracks on You Are the Quarry along with "Irish Blood, English Heart" by Rolling Stone{{'}}s Jonathan Ringen, by SFGate{{'s}} Aidin Vaziri,{{cite web | url=https://www.sfgate.com/music/article/CD-REVIEWS-2719904.php | title=CD Reviews | date=27 March 2005 | author=Chonin, Neva|author2= Vaziri, Aidin|author3= Selvin, Joel|author4= Brown, Joe | work=SFGate | access-date=27 December 2018}} and by Jordan Kessler of PopMatters, who paired it with "First of the Gang to Die".{{cite web | url=https://www.popmatters.com/best2004-index-20-16-2496022666.html | title=The Best Music of 2004 #20-16 | date=16 December 2004 | work=PopMatters | access-date=27 December 2018}} By the start of 2005, BBC Manchester's Terry Christian included the song at number 25 among the 40 best songs of 2004.{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/content/articles/2005/01/06/terry_top_40_music_feature.shtml | title=Terry's top 40 of 2004 | date=6 January 2005 | publisher=BBC Manchester | access-date=27 December 2018}} In retrospective analyses, "I Have Forgiven Jesus" has been featured as one of Morrissey's best songs by Chile's Radio Cooperativa in 2013,{{cite web | url=https://www.cooperativa.cl/noticias/entretencion/listas/10-canciones-emblematicas-de-morrissey/2013-05-22/135819.html | title=10 canciones emblemáticas de Morrissey | date=22 May 2013 | publisher=Radio Cooperativa | access-date=27 December 2018 | language=es}} The Guardian{{'s}} Hewitt in 2014, and Spin{{'s}} Zaleski and Anderson in 2017. While Hewitt described it as a "swirling, grandiose pop", Zaleski and Anderson remarked on its "poignancy".
Chart performance
Although BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist "I Have Forgiven",{{cite web | url=https://www.hmv.com/music/what-are-the-10-best-songs-about-jesus | title=What are the 10 best songs about Jesus? | author=Forryan, James | date=11 December 2013 | publisher=HMV | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=28 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228083104/https://www.hmv.com/music/what-are-the-10-best-songs-about-jesus | url-status=dead }} the song debuted at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart issue dated 25 December 2004.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/65241/band-aid-earns-third-christmas-uk-no-1 | title=Band Aid Earns Third Christmas U.K. No. 1 | date=20 December 2004 | magazine=Billboard| access-date=27 December 2018}} This marked Morrissey's fourth straight-to-the-top-10 single of the year, following "Irish Blood, English Heart", "First of the Gang to Die" and "Let Me Kiss You".{{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20040516/7501/ | title=Official Singles Chart Top 100: 16 May 2004 – 22 May 2004 | publisher=Official Charts Company | access-date=17 May 2019}} {{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20040718/7501/ | title=Official Singles Chart Top 100: 18 July 2004 – 24 July 2004 | publisher=Official Charts Company | access-date=17 May 2019}} {{cite web | url=https://www.officialcharts.com/charts/singles-chart/20041017/7501/ | title=Official Singles Chart Top 100: 17 October 2004 – 23 October 2004 | publisher=Official Charts Company | access-date=17 May 2019}}
Music video
The music video for "I Have Forgiven Jesus", which was directed by Bucky Fukumoto{{sfn|McKinney|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=So_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT264 264]}}{{cite web | url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-mar-13-ca-popvideos13-story.html | title=Gwen has a real yen for style | author=Dreisinger, Baz | work=Los Angeles Times | date=13 March 2005 | access-date=27 December 2018}} via The Directors Bureau, was released online in November 2004.{{cite web | url=https://www.morrissey-solo.com/news/news2004.html | title=Morrissey-solo News Archive – 2004 | website=Morrissey official website | access-date=27 December 2018}} Its images were later used on the covers of the song's single release. The video was later released as bonus material on Morrissey's 2005 live DVD Who Put the M in Manchester?.{{cite web | url=http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/morrissey-i-have-forgiven-jesus/ | title=Morrissey I Have Forgiven Jesus | author=MacLeod, Duncan | date=13 May 2006 | website=The Inspiration Room | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=28 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228035107/http://theinspirationroom.com/daily/2006/morrissey-i-have-forgiven-jesus/ | url-status=dead }}{{cite web | url=https://www.avclub.com/who-put-the-m-in-manchester-1798200580 | title=Who Put The 'M' In Manchester? | author=Modell, Josh | date=4 December 2005 | work=The A.V. Club | access-date=27 December 2018}} In the video, Morrissey is dressed as a Roman Catholic priest in a white clerical collar and black blazer and pants,{{sfn|Greco|2011|p=68, 116}} while carrying rosaries and wearing a crucifix.{{sfn|Hopps|2009|p=242}} It opens with a close-up of Morrissey, which is followed by a shot of the grey sky and a long shot of him walking towards the camera. The sepia-toned image shows the singer walking down the grey, deserted streets in a broken-down Los Angeles park.{{sfn|McKinney|2015|p=[https://books.google.com/books?id=So_qCgAAQBAJ&pg=PT264 264]}} First alone, Morrissey is joined by the band members, who wear Jobriath's T-shirts during the walk.{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=1}}
Morrissey's decision to take the role of a priest in the music video was controversial.{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=172}} It was interpreted by James G. Crossley of the Department of Biblical Studies of the University of Sheffield as a desire to express "personal angst" and to have an "ironical and humorous take" on it.{{sfn|Crossley|2011|p=166}} Hewitt said the singer's clothing in the video and the December release as a Christmas single were clear evidence that Morrissey planned it as a "jocular provocation".{{cite web | url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/musicblog/2014/jul/16/morrissey-10-of-the-best | title=Morrissey: 10 of the best | author=Hewitt, Ben | work=The Guardian | date=16 July 2014 | access-date=26 December 2018}} Van Elferen said the video expresses his ambivalent relationship with Catholicism as he "presents himself as his own spectre" through the depiction of someone tormented by "his own flesh and bone, [and] painfully aware of the contradictions between prescribed Catholic dealings with issues of sexuality and his own feelings".{{sfn|van Elferen|2016|p=172–173}} Nylén said the choice of the band members' T-shirts may be an argument because Jobriath was an openly gay rock star while Catholicism usually condemns homosexuality.{{sfn|Nylén|2005|p=1}}
Live performances
Morrissey performed "I Have Forgiven Jesus" live as part of his 2004 tour of the UK and the US;{{cite web | url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/live-at-earls-court-mw0000260008| title=Live at Earls Court – Morrissey | author=Collar, Matt | date=29 March 2005 | publisher=AllMusic| access-date=28 December 2018}} some parts of this tour are featured on his album Live at Earls Court (2004) and DVD Who Put the M in Manchester? (2005), both of which include "I Have Forgiven Jesus".{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/live-at-earls-court-251238/ | title=Live at Earls Court | author=Ringen, Jonathan | date=7 April 2005 | magazine=Rolling Stone | access-date=27 December 2018}}{{cite web | url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/music/reviews/dvw6/ | title=Morrissey Who Put the "M" In Manchester? (DVD) Review | date=4 April 2005 | author=Long, Chris | publisher=BBC | access-date=27 December 2018}} In July 2004, he performed it live on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and this performance would later be included on a deluxe re-release of You Are the Quarry in December 2004.{{cite web | url=https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0006AZMSY | title=You Are the Quarry [Deluxe Edition] | publisher=Amazon.co.uk | access-date=24 May 2019}}{{cite magazine | url=https://www.billboard.com/articles/news/65649/morrissey-beefs-up-quarry-with-b-sides | title=Morrissey Beefs Up 'Quarry' With B-Sides | date=12 November 2004 | magazine=Billboard| access-date=28 December 2018}} It was also included on the 2006 tour for his following album Ringleader of the Tormentors, and on the 2014 tour for the album World Peace Is None of Your Business.{{cite magazine | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-live-reviews/morrisseys-tour-launch-features-new-songs-stage-invading-fans-176339/ | title=Morrissey's Tour Launch Features New Songs, Stage-Invading Fans | author=Nagy, Evie | date=8 May 2014 | magazine=Rolling Stone | access-date=27 December 2018}}{{cite web | url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/morrisseys-south-border-appeal-concert-703451 | title=Morrissey's South of the Border Appeal: Concert Review | date=12 May 2014 | author=Trakin, Roy | work=The Hollywood Reporter | access-date=27 December 2018}}
Formats and track listings
Credits and personnel
Credits are adapted from the liner notes of "I Have Forgiven Jesus" single.{{cite AV media notes |title=I Have Forgiven Jesus |others=Morrissey |date=2004 |type=liner notes |publisher=Attack Records}}
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
- Morrissey – songwriting
- Alain Whyte – songwriting, guitar
- Jerry Finn – production
- Joe McGrath – engineering
{{col-2}}
- Boz Boorer – guitar
- Gary Day – bass
- Dean Butterworth – drums
- Roger Manning – keyboards
{{col-end}}
Charts
| class="wikitable sortable plainrowheaders"
|+Weekly chart performance for "I Have Forgiven Jesus" !scope="col"|Chart (2004–2005) !scope="col"|Peak |
| {{single chart|Ireland|45|year=2004|week=52|rowheader=true|access-date=28 December 2018|refname=ire}} |
| {{single chart|Sweden|33|artist=Morrissey|song=I Have Forgiven Jesus|rowheader=true|access-date=28 December 2018|refname=swe}} |
| {{single chart|UK|10|date=20041225|rowheader=true|access-date=28 December 2018|refname=ukcharts}} |
| {{single chart|UKindie|1|date=20041225|rowheader=true|access-date=28 December 2018|refname=ukindie}} |
References
{{Reflist}}
=Bibliography=
- {{cite book |last=Bret |first=David |title=Morrissey: Scandal and Passion |year=2004 |publisher=Robson Books |isbn=978-1-86105-787-7}}
- {{cite journal | last=Crossley | first=James G. | year=2011 | title=For EveryManc a Religion: Biblical and Religious Language in the Manchester Music Scene, 1976–1994 | journal=Biblical Interpretation | publisher=Brill Publishers | volume=19 | issue=2 | pages=151–180 | doi=10.1163/156851511x557343}}
- {{cite thesis | last=de Jong | first=Lisa | year=2017 | title=Morrissey: the songs that saved your life Muziek, emoties en identiteit | degree=Bachelor's | publisher=Utrecht University | language=nl | url=https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/352247/Eindscriptie%20-%20Lisa%20de%20Jong%204141911%20v2.pdf?sequence=1 | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=27 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181227085625/https://dspace.library.uu.nl/bitstream/handle/1874/352247/Eindscriptie%20-%20Lisa%20de%20Jong%204141911%20v2.pdf?sequence=1 | url-status=dead }}
- {{cite journal | last=Deranty | first=Jean-Philippe | year=2014 | title=The cruel poetics of Morrissey: Fragment for a phenomenology of the ages of life | journal=Thesis Eleven | publisher=SAGE Publishing | volume=120 | issue=1 | pages=90–103 | doi=10.1177/0725513613519590| s2cid=145325313 }}
- {{cite book | last1=Dillane | first1=Aileen | last2=Power | first2=Martin J. | last3=Devereux | first3=Eoin | year=2017 | editor-last1=Way | editor-first1=Lyndon C. S. | editor-last2=McKerrell | editor-first2=Simon | chapter='Shame Makes the World Go Around': Performed and Embodied (Gendered) Class Disgust in Morrissey's 'The Slums Mums' | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eKx0DQAAQBAJ&pg=PA47 | title=Music as Multimodal Discourse: Semiotics, Power and Protest | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing | isbn=978-1-474264440}}
- {{cite book | last=Greco | first=Nicholas P. | year=2011 | title="Only If You Are Really Interested": Celebrity, Gender, Desire and the World of Morrissey | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ueA-SOf6fk8C | publisher=McFarland & Company | isbn=978-0-786486892}}
- {{cite book | last=Hopps | first=Gavin | year=2009 | title=Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart | publisher=Bloomsbury Publishing USA | isbn=978-1-441137050}}
- {{cite thesis | last=Kaross | first=Luciana | year=2013 | title=The Amateur Translation of Song Lyrics: A study of Morrissey in Brazilian Media (1985-2012) | degree=Doctor's | publisher=University of Manchester | url=https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:220139&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF | access-date=27 December 2018 | archive-date=28 December 2018 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181228035334/https://www.escholar.manchester.ac.uk/api/datastream?publicationPid=uk-ac-man-scw:220139&datastreamId=FULL-TEXT.PDF | url-status=dead }}
- {{cite book | last=Manco | first=Daniel | editor-last1=Power | editor-first1=Martin J. | editor-last2=Dillane | editor-first2=Aileen | editor-last3=Devereux | editor-first3=Eoin | year=2011 | chapter=In Our Different Ways We Are the Same: Morrissey and Representations of Disability | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9Y-NNJW9260C&pg=PA119 | title=Morrissey: Fandom, Representations and Identities | publisher=Intellect Books | isbn=978-1-841504179}}
- {{cite book | last=McKinney | first=D. | title=Morrissey FAQ: All That's Left to Know About This Charming Man | year=2015 | publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation | isbn=978-1-495028922}}
- {{cite conference | last=Nylén | first=Antti | year=2005 | title=Catholicism, Antimodernity, Dandyism: Morrissey | url=http://www.nic.fi/~east/CHORUS/DOKUMENTIT/anttieng.pdf | conference=Seminar on the Smiths|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060722104346/http://www.nic.fi/~east/CHORUS/DOKUMENTIT/anttieng.pdf| archive-date=22 July 2006 |url-status=dead}}
- {{cite journal | last=Schiltz | first=Brontë | year=2022 | title="But what about me, and what I felt?": Morrissey's List of the Lost as Queer Gothic | journal=SIC Journal | volume=12 | issue=2 | doi=10.15291/sic/2.12.lc.2| s2cid=249876491 | doi-access=free }}
- {{cite book | last=van Elferen | first=Isabella | year=2016 | chapter=Morrissey's Gothic Ireland | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=M4cWDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA165 | editor-first1=Fitzgerald | editor-last1=Mark | editor-last2=O'Flynn | editor-first2=John | title=Music and Identity in Ireland and Beyond | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-1-317092506 | pages=165–178}}
{{Morrissey singles}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:Songs written by Morrissey
Category:Songs written by Alain Whyte
Category:Sanctuary Records singles