Players
Martin (Boz) Boorer (guitar)
Alain Whyte (guitar)
Jonny Brigwood (bass guitar)
Woodie Taylor (drums)

Officially Released Versions
Vauxhall and I album (March 1994) - Produced by Steve Lillywhite. Also featured on the pointless World Of Morrissey compilation in 1995.

Live History
This song was played extensively during the Boxers and Maladjusted tours, and during the Oye Esteban tour in 1999/2000.

Sundry
The sample at the end is from David Lean's film "Oliver Twist" in which the Artful Dodger (as played by Anthony Newley) pleads with Fagin, "Don't leave us in the dark!"
The song is rumored to be about Johnny Marr, due to the "and now it's 12 years on" and "I took up with you" lyrics. (Of course, The Smiths formed in 1982, so it would have been exactly 12 years on when the song was released.) At the time of the song's release Morrissey spoke very kindly of Johnny in interviews and even hinted at the possibility of a reunion (as "Morrissey & Marr", not The Smiths). When I saw Morrissey in concert in 1997, he changed the lyric to "and now it's 15 years on" which seems to support this contention.
The song's title is from the 1962 film "Billy Budd" starring one of Morrissey's heroes, Terence Stamp. This film was an adaptation of the Herman Melville novel. However, the lyrics bear no resemblance to the movie.

Critical Commentary
"... a repair job on a friendship gone wrong. To hear him mourn the '12 years on since I took up with you,' while the guitar choogles and swings will surely get everybody thinking that the kiss-and-forgive words are meant for Johnny Marr." - Stuart Bailie, NME, 1994

Comtesse Review (as if you care)
A wonderful little pop song made all the more poignant by its obvious Johnny Marr reference. Musically, it's aggressive but unspectacular, though very reminiscent of Johnny Marr, but lyrically it's the sort of whimsical, loving lyric that Morrissey specializes in. It's impossible to listen to the lyrics, "And what was in our eyes?" or "I would happily lose both of my legs if it meant you could be free" without reflecting back to the early days of The Smiths and the two unlikely friends forging ahead with a dream, ambition, a guitar, and a microphone. Simple, understated, beautiful, poignant.