‘Hatful Of Hollow’ At 40: A Guide To Every Song On The Smiths’ Classic Rarities Collection

What Difference Does It Make? (John Peel radio session, 18 May 1983)

The Smiths’ Peel Sessions are central to the band’s story, giving the group crucial exposure in the early stages of their career and beyond. One of the four tracks laid down during their first appearance on John Peel’s legendary BBC Radio show, in May 1983, What Difference Does It Make? was originally written and performed in a higher key than the version that made it on to the group’s debut album. An excellent showcase for the talents of bassist Andy Rourke and drummer Mike Joyce, this live performance of the song packs a punch that leads many fans to regard it as definitive.

These Things Take Time (David Jensen radio session, 26 June 1983)

Just weeks after their initial John Peel outing, The Smiths were back at BBC’s Maida Vale studios, recording a session for David “Kid” Jensen. Lifted from this appearance, These Things Take Time again captures the band at their hungriest, with the band egging Morrissey on to new heights as he relates a tale of clandestine (and, very likely) unrequited love, with his object of desire appearing “vivid and in your prime”, yet being someone who will “leave me behind”. The Smiths recorded an arguably more streamlined version of the song as a B-side for the 12” of What Difference Does It Make?

This Charming Man (John Peel radio session, 14 September 1983)

Prior to earmarking the song for release as their second single, The Smiths road-tested This Charming Man during their second John Peel session, in September 1983. As Hatful Of Hollow reveals, much of its arrangement had already fallen into place by this point, with the band riding the song’s jaunty rhythm with ease and guile, and Morrissey supplying a suitably yearning vocal. Indeed, even in this form – without Johnny Marr’s introductory guitar hook taking it to the next level – This Charming Man grasps at greatness.

How Soon Is Now? (William, It Was Really Nothing B-side)

Introduced by Marr’s instantly recognisable tremolo guitar hook and propelled by an atypically funky rhythm track, How Soon Is Now? was a huge leap forward for The Smiths. However, while the band and producer John Porter loved it, their record-label boss, Geoff Travis, wasn’t convinced, and he initially consigned the song to B-side status.

However, nighttime BBC Radio 1 DJs rapidly recognised How Soon Is Now?’s quality, and – after it became the most-requested song on separate shows hosted by John Peel, Janice Long and Annie Nightingale – it was placed on Hatful Of Hollow, where it received enough attention to all but demand its release as a single, in January 1985. Still sounding otherworldly today, How Soon Is Now? remains one of the best Smiths songs of all time.

Handsome Devil (John Peel radio session, 18 May 1983)

One of The Smiths’ earliest songs, Handsome Devil initially turned up on the flipside of the band’s debut single, Hand In Glove, though that recording of the song was sourced from the mixing desk at the band’s first show at Manchester’s Haçienda Club, in February 1983. The Smiths gave the song another airing during their first John Peel session, and it’s that punky yet disciplined rendition that made the cut for Hatful Of Hollow.

Hand In Glove (single A-side mix)

Author Simon Goddard later described Hand In Glove as “a shattering left-hook of self-loathing, loss and desperation”, but while the song may have been Morrissey’s paean to abject loneliness, it made for as stirring a debut single as any in rock, and it immediately set The Smiths apart as a band to watch. The track was remixed by producer John Porter for inclusion on the group’s debut album, but Hatful Of Hollow featured Hand In Glove’s original mix, complete with fade-in and fade-out, and with Andy Rourke’s killer bassline coming to the fore.

Still Ill (John Peel radio session, 14 September 1983)

Recorded during The Smiths’ second John Peel session, in September 1983, the Hatful Of Hollow version of Still Ill is marginally slower than the version the band cut for their self-titled debut album. The studio cut of the song also omits the Dylan-esque harmonica part Marr layers over its intro and outro on the Peel recording, but otherwise the two performances are of an equally high standard.

Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now (single A-side)

Remarkably, Marr wrote the music for Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now in little more than an hour during the band’s first visit to New York City. A highly sophisticated-sounding song performed with a lightness of touch by the group, it later became The Smiths’ first UK Top 10 hit in the summer of 1984, backed by Girl Afraid, which Marr wrote during the same stateside sojourn.

This Night Has Opened My Eyes (John Peel radio session, 14 September 1983)

The Smiths later made a separate studio recording of This Night Has Opened My Eyes, but it remains unreleased, as they felt it didn’t hit the heights of the performance captured during their second John Peel session. Accordingly, this rendition has become the definitive take of one of The Smiths’ greatest songs, and its inclusion on Hatful Of Hollow remains extremely valuable. Morrissey’s brilliantly related tale of an unwanted child and its consequences (“In a river the colour of lead, immerse the baby’s head/Wrap it up in the News Of The World/Dump it on a doorstep, girl”) has more than a touch of the kitchen-sink dramas written by his heroine, the playwright Shelagh Delaney, while the band’s graceful performance further heightens the song’s impact.

You’ve Got Everything Now (David Jensen radio session, 26 June 1983)

Recorded for The Smiths’ debut appearance on David “Kid” Jensen’s show, this live version of You’ve Got Everything Now is notably rawer than the studio one included on The Smiths. It lacks the album version’s keyboard embellishments, but more than makes up for that with guts and urgency, showing just how intuitive a musical unit Marr, Rourke and Joyce really were. Morrissey, meanwhile, reflects with little joy on his schooldays: a subject he would again return to with vigour on Meat Is Murder’s The Headmaster Ritual.

Accept Yourself (David Jensen radio session, 25 August 1983)

An alternate, John Porter-helmed studio take of Accept Yourself turned up as one of This Charming Man’s B-sides, while this BBC version, taped for David “Kid” Jensen in August 1983, reveals how upbeat and strident the band could sound on a song that finds Morrissey pondering his quality of life (and choice of footwear).

Girl Afraid (Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now B-side)

Across its 16 songs, Hatful Of Hollow repeatedly reminds the listener that The Smiths’ B-sides were often as good (and sometimes better) than their respective A-sides. Conceived during the creative writing blitz that also resulted in Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now, Girl Afraid was originally, in Johnny Marr’s head, a piano-based song, but it sounds right at home as the rockabilly-flecked guitar-driven tracks Smiths fans know and love. A live favourite from the get-go, Girl Afraid features an impressive use of dynamics, with the band getting right inside the song’s groove for the best part of a minute before Morrissey finally makes his entrance.

Back To The Old House (John Peel radio session, 14 September 1983)

The Smiths released a full-band version of Back To The Old House as a B-side to What Difference Does It Make?, but the song really comes into its own on Hatful Of Hollow, which includes the acoustic version the group recorded during their second John Peel session. Surely the definitive take, this rendering, which features just Morrissey and Johnny Marr, is stripped back and intimate, and simply oozes loss and longing.

Reel Around The Fountain (John Peel radio session, 18 May 1983)

Smiths fans still pore over the differences between – and argue the cases for and against – the BBC session takes of songs that also appeared on the group’s debut album. Compared to its studio incarnation, this live version of Reel Around The Fountain misses the elegant keyboard flourishes Paul Carrack added during the sessions for The Smiths.

Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want

Rather like This Night Has Opened My Eyes, Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want is, so far as The Smiths’ catalogue goes, a gem hiding in plain sight. Deliberately written as a slow, waltz-time song in contrast to the more upbeat-sounding William, It Was Really Nothing, it was initially tucked away as one of that song’s B-sides, an action which Morrissey later condemned as “sinful”. However, this glorious acoustic workout, with its achingly lovely mandolin refrain, has enjoyed a robust afterlife, with posthumous covers by The Dream Academy and Slow Moving Millie both denting the UK charts. The latter version also soundtracked one of the most memorable John Lewis Christmas adverts.

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