I Have Forgiven Jesus

Morrissey was raised in a Catholic family and that inspired "I Have Forgiven Jesus". He disliked his upbringing, having described himself in 1989 as "a seriously lapsed Catholic ... after being forced to go to church and never understanding why and never enjoying it, seeing so many negative things, and realising it somehow wasn't for [him]". In late 2004, prior to the release of the song, he appeared at a Halloween concert and on television dressed as a priest. He would later use the same costume on the music video. "I Have Forgiven Jesus" first appeared as a track on the album You Are the Quarry, which was produced by Jerry Finn and released in May 2004, seven years after his last solo album Maladjusted. It was later released as the fourth and final single from the album by Sanctuary Records' imprint Attack Records on 13 December 2004 in a 7-inch vinyl format that was backed with "No One Can Hold a Candle to You", a cover of a song originally recorded by his friend James Maker's band Raymonde, as a B-side. Attack also released two CD versions on the same date; the first, a mini CD, contained the same tracks, while the second, a maxi CD, contained two different B-sides; "The Slum Mums" and "The Public Image". The former song was co-composed by Boz Boorer and then bassist Gary Day. Attack and Sanctuary re-released the first CD edition on 22 February 2005. A remastered version of "I Have Forgiven" was later included on Morrissey's compilation album Greatest Hits (2008). ==Composition and lyrics==

"I Have Forgiven Jesus", which was co-written by Morrissey and his band member Alain Whyte, is an alternative rock with R&B and pop rock undertones. It is composed in the key A minor and Morrissey's vocal ranges from the note A3 to G5. The song describes a person who blames Jesus Christ for creating a human full of love and desires but who is unable to transmit it, although forgives the divine figure for doing so. mixed with a "darkly comedic" tone that discuss frustrated sexual desire and Catholic guilt. The song was described as representing Morrissey's "angst", especially for "being born mortal", in the form of a "self-pity", "self-loathing", it shows how the singer "embraces hopelessness". Telegram & Gazette Craig Semon said it is a lament on "his sorrowful existence and how his life has been plagued with nothing but heartache". and Lisa de Jong of Utrecht University, who characterised it as a song aimed at comforting the "misfits". Adrian May of P. N. Review described it as "about what to do with the abandonment of desire, how to forgive and transcend to a greater truth or good"; this truth, said May, is the search for a new identity. The song starts by establishing the title character as "a good kid" who "would do no harm", while a middle-height vocal is accompanied by a "1960s-sounding, almost Beatle-esque keyboard", in the words of academic Isabella van Elferen. As the drama rises and the child starts to doubt the values taught to him, the andante tempo that expressed the "safety provided by uncontested religious truths" changes to high-pitched vocals that symbolise "naiveté [being] replaced by [the] despair ... of being deserted by those same truths". Gavin Hopps, author of the biography Morrissey: The Pageant of His Bleeding Heart, wrote that the song uses a humorous tone to describe this loss of faith when Morrissey uses "the dozy-schoolboy nonstandard 'brung'" in the verse "Forgive me any pain I may have brung to you" and when he "ironically repeat[s] back to Christ the promises he feels have been broken or seem meaningless ('I'll always be near to you')". Biographer David Bret commented that Morrissey described how "as a Dutiful catholic boy he withstood humiliation and condescension to attend church" in the verse "Through hail and snow, I'd go just to moon you". In the sequence, Morrissey sings "I carried my heart in my hand", which, Hopps suggested, could be an allusion to the Sacred Heart. The third verse, in low-pitched sequences, describes a suffering routine from Monday to Friday. Both Hopps and de Jong interpreted it as emulating the pain Christ is said to have suffered on his way to Calvary. Morrissey concludes this part with "By Friday life has killed me", which Hopps said could be an allusion to Good Friday. The death in this part, argued May, is a symbolic one that indicates a self-exile from previous beliefs and the search for a new identity. Mikel Jollett, on the program All Things Considered, described it as a "confessional accusation of Christianity". Jim Abbott, writing for the Orlando Sentinel, said Morrissey blames faith for his feelings. Van Elferen said the song depicts a more "ambiguous relation" of Morrissey to his religious background. Because of the way the song inverts the divine-human relations, both academics and journalists have described it as "blasphemy" and "blasphemous". According to Hopps, beyond the "appearance of blasphemy", it featured elements reminiscent of the lamentations and accusations in the Old Testament of God being unjust, especially those found in the Book of Job. Hopps said, however, that at the same time it "seems to be making fun of religious teaching in a way the psalmists and Job do not". The author concluded that Catholic faith is "the light that never goes out" on Morrissey's life Although the writer ultimately condemned it, he said it could be positively interpreted as "a prayer of complaint, directed to Jesus" similar to the Psalmists' appeal to God. ==Critical reception==

Upon its release, "I Have Forgiven Jesus" was described as a controversial track and has polarized critics. Josh Tyrangiel of Time called it "woeful", Alexis Petridis of The Guardian criticized it for its "cheap synthesised strings", and Andrew Stevens of 3:AM Magazine said it is "flat and go[es] nowhere". Ben Rayner of Toronto Star called it "ridiculously overwrought, even by Morrissey's theatrical standards". People staff dubbed it "bloody brilliant" Telegram & Gazette Semon wrote, "In the age of The Passion of the Christ and the religious right seemingly having more influence on the political might, writing a song such as 'I've Forgiven Jesus' is a bold move to say the least"; he also praised "Morrissey's emotionally stirring falsetto" who "send shivers down one's spine". It was considered to be one of the best tracks on You Are the Quarry along with "Irish Blood, English Heart" by Rolling Stones Jonathan Ringen, and by Jordan Kessler of PopMatters, who paired it with "First of the Gang to Die". By the start of 2005, BBC Manchester's Terry Christian included the song at number 25 among the 40 best songs of 2004. In retrospective analyses, "I Have Forgiven Jesus" has been featured as one of Morrissey's best songs by Chile's Radio Cooperativa in 2013, The Guardian Hewitt in 2014, and Spin Zaleski and Anderson in 2017. While Hewitt described it as a "swirling, grandiose pop", Zaleski and Anderson remarked on its "poignancy". ==Chart performance==

Although BBC Radio 1 refused to playlist "I Have Forgiven", the song debuted at number 10 on the UK Singles Chart issue dated 25 December 2004. This marked Morrissey's fourth straight-to-the-top-10 single of the year, following "Irish Blood, English Heart", "First of the Gang to Die" and "Let Me Kiss You". These four top 10 hits were achieved within seven months – a record in his career. It spent five consecutive weeks on the chart between 13 December 2004 and 22 January 2005, declining each week before leaving the Top 100. In spite of reaching the top 10 in UK, Morrissey had not the chance to appear on the BBC program Top of the Pops. On the Irish Singles Chart, it only spent a week in the top 50, peaking at number 45. Its only chart performance outside its domestic market was in Sweden, where it entered the national chart at number 33 and spent six consecutive weeks on the chart. ==Music video==

The music video for "I Have Forgiven Jesus", which was directed by Bucky Fukumoto via The Directors Bureau, Its images were later used on the covers of the song's single release. In the video, Morrissey is dressed as a Roman Catholic priest in a white clerical collar Van Elferen said the video expresses his ambivalent relationship with Catholicism as he "presents himself as his own spectre" through the depiction of someone tormented by "his own flesh and bone, [and] painfully aware of the contradictions between prescribed Catholic dealings with issues of sexuality and his own feelings". Nylén said the choice of the band members' T-shirts may be an argument because Jobriath was an openly gay rock star while Catholicism usually condemns homosexuality. ==Live performances==

Morrissey performed "I Have Forgiven Jesus" live as part of his 2004 tour of the UK and the US; some parts of this tour are featured on his album Live at Earls Court (2004) and DVD Who Put the M in Manchester? (2005), both of which include "I Have Forgiven Jesus". In July 2004, he performed it live on The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn and this performance would later be included on a deluxe re-release of You Are the Quarry in December 2004. It was also included on the 2006 tour for his following album Ringleader of the Tormentors, ==Formats and track listings==

• 7-inch vinyl and CD 1 • "I Have Forgiven Jesus" • "No One Can Hold a Candle to You" • CD 2 • "I Have Forgiven Jesus" • "The Slum Mums" • "The Public Image" ==Personnel==

Personnel are adapted from the liner notes of "I Have Forgiven Jesus" single. • Morrissey – songwriting • Alain Whyte – songwriting, guitar • Jerry Finn – production • Joe McGrath – engineering • Boz Boorer – guitar • Gary Day – bass • Dean Butterworth – drums • Roger Manning – keyboards ==Charts==