Fiona’s next Smiths selection gives us a break from the melancholy — the 1986 single ‘Ask’ is one of the peppiest songs in the band’s catalog.
That was by design. Morrissey worried that a dour single would be viewed as more of the same following the band’s recent releases. So the band came up with this bright anthem about getting past the crippling shyness usually depicted in his lyrics.
Of course, Morrissey can’t help but get a little dark, and in the song’s chorus he offers up that if it’s “not love” then it’s “the bomb that will bring us together.” In a song released during the final decade of the Cold War, that ominous suggestion wasn’t too far-fetched.
Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life you’d like to
Shyness is nice and shyness can stop you
From doing all the things in life you’d like to
[Refrain]
So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me, I won’t say “no,” how could I?
[Verse 2]
Coyness is nice and coyness can stop you
From saying all the things in life you’d like to
[Refrain]
So, if there’s something you’d like to try
If there’s something you’d like to try
Ask me, I won’t say “no,” how could I?
[Verse 3]
Spending warm summer days indoors
Writing frightening verse
To a buck-toothed girl in Luxembourg
[Chorus]
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it’s not love
Then it’s the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb that will bring us together
[Bridge]
Nature is a language, can’t you read?
Nature is a language, can’t you read?
[Chorus]
So ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me
Because if it’s not love
Then it’s the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb, the bomb that will bring us together
If it’s not love
Then it’s the bomb
Then it’s the bomb that will bring us together
So ask me, ask me, ask me
Ask me, ask me, ask me, oh
[Outro]
La-da-da-da-da-dum
La-da-da-da-da-dum
Meet Me In Montauk 
Another favorite of mine. I love the bridge of this one, and it includes one of my favorite Smiths’ lyrics, “nature is a language, can’t you read?”
Nice choice Fi!!
Nice to have a break from the melancholy. The Smiths certainly go down easier at a faster tempo.
I love how quickly this song starts and then proceeds to flow so well. I only wish it was longer so I could hear more of it. One of my favs and yet another hit from the best smiths album (in my opinion)