“Girlfriend in a Coma” by The Smiths

Of the three UK singles pulled from Strangeways, Here We Come, the Smiths' fourth and final studio album, "Girlfriend in a Coma" came first, in August 1987, and only the Smiths could make a song about a lover stuck in a hospital bed sound this breezy. Morrissey wrote the words and Johnny Marr the music, and the tune took its cue from "To Be Young, Gifted and Black", swaying along on a light acoustic figure from Marr.

Marr plays guitar and piano, Andy Rourke plays bass and Mike Joyce plays drums, and Marr, Morrissey and Stephen Street produced it. The result is bittersweet and sly, with Morrissey hovering somewhere between dread and a smirk.

It reached 13 on the UK Singles Chart, but the single also helped finish the band. Morrissey chose a cover of Cilla Black's "Work Is a Four-Letter Word" for the B-side, a call that enraged Marr and became one of the reasons the Smiths broke up soon after, which is why Morrissey appears alone in the video. Critics have praised Marr's guitar work and Morrissey's wit ever since, and writers regularly rank it among the band's finest songs.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.