David Cameron can't stop misquoting Smiths lyrics

(Image credit: Ben Pruchnie/Getty Images)

published 1 July 2016

For someone who loves The Smiths, British Prime Minister David Cameron sure has a hard time getting their lyrics right.

During Wednesday's Parliamentary sitting, Labour's Kerry McCarthy brought up the song "There Is a Light That Never Goes Out," saying it's her party's favorite track. Cameron responded by telling her the song "actually involves a double suicide," adding, "I think the lyrics are, 'If a double decker bus crashes into us, there's no finer way than by your side.' I think." Actually, as anyone who was a mopey teenager in 1986 could tell him, the lyrics are, "And if a double decker bus crashes into us, to die by your side is such a heavenly way to die."

Earlier, Cameron intentionally got other lyrics wrong, NME reports, as he tried to get a jab in against Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Cameron told Corbyn he's "never seen an opposition leader with less support and he's staying. As someone about to enter the political graveyard perhaps I could misquote my favorite man and say, 'Let's meet at the cemetery gates.'" At least he was closer that time — the lyrics, from 1986's "Cemetry Gates," are "So I meet you at the cemetery gates."

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Cameron has proclaimed his adoration for The Smiths several times, much to the dismay of The Smiths (guitarist Johnny Marr tweeted in 2010, "David Cameron, stop saying that you like The Smiths, no you don't. I forbid you to like it."). It might behoove the resigning prime minister, once he finds himself with more free time, to brush up on his favorite band's lyrics, but really, what difference does it make?

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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