“Rusholme Ruffians”, with Johnny Marr’s rockabilly riff, is about Manchester and makes the city (home of much of the history of British feminism, socialism, vegetarianism and the Guardian) sound exciting, a place where things happen. Morrissey to Mark Allen: “The Song "Rusholme Ruffians" is about going to a fair, and being stabbed. Fun Fairs in Manchester, are very violent things. These things where communities get together for fun and frolic etcetera, and somebody always ends up being stabbed, which of course adds to the excitement.

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