2nd song on the album THE QUEEN IS DEAD:
FRANKLY, MR. SHANKLY
England's King
Edward I was popularly known by the nickname "LONGSHANKS".
Under
the command of LONGSHANKS, England conquered Wales in the years
1277-1282.
Henceforth, direct heirs to the throne of England, and their
spouses, have been given the titles Prince and Princess of
Wales.
This means that the title - Princess of Wales - by which Diana gained her fame is traced back to the
reign of LONGSHANKS.
Accordingly, this song is all about fame and is addressed to a MR. SHANKLY.
King Edward I - "LONGSHANKS" - Mr. Shankly?
The structure of this song includes a distinct middle break consisting of eight
lines in which Morrissey's lyrics correlate to recognizable aspects of Diana's fame, as
illustrated below:
FRANKLY, MR. SHANKLY
"Fame, Fame, fatal Fame
it can play hideous tricks on the brain
but still I’d rather be Famous
than righteous or holy, any day
but sometimes I’d feel more fulfilled
making Christmas cards with the mentally ill
I want to Live and I want to Love
I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of"
Diana's death was the purest possible example of "fatal fame"; she was chased into a fatal car crash by relentless celebrity photographers:
"Fame, Fame, fatal Fame"
In taped interviews,
Diana revealed that the pressures of being a Princess caused her to have
severe psychological problems resulting in bulimia and attempted suicides:
"Fame, Fame, Fatal Fame
It can play hideous tricks on the brain"
"The public... they wanted a fairy princess to
come and touch them, and everything will turn into gold and all their worries
would be forgotten. Little did they realize that the individual was
crucifying herself inside because she didn't think she was good enough. ... I
was trying to cut my wrists with razor blades... we were trying to hide that
from everybody... I was just so desperate. ... (In 1982, while pregnant with
William) I threw myself down the stairs, bearing in mind I was carrying a
child."
"I hated myself so
much. I didn't think I was good enough for Charles. ... Bulimia started
the week after we got engaged. ... The first time I made myself sick I was so
thrilled. It relieved me of tension. I ate everything I could find
and I was as sick as a parrot. ... The bulimia was appalling. Absolutely
appalling. It was rife. It was four times a day on the yacht.
Anything I could find I would gobble up and be sick two minutes later.
Very tired"
"The whole world was focusing on me.
Every day I was on the front page of the papers. And I thought this was
just so appalling. ... I had a very bad time with the press - they literally
haunted and hunted me."
- Princess Diana
(taped interviews September 1992 - December 1993)
Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3531997.stm
Appropriately or not, the death of the famous Princess gained far more attention than did the death of the saintly Mother Teresa who died in the same week:
"I’d rather be Famous
than righteous or holy, any day"
Diana was most admired for her very hands-on style of lending her fame to charitable causes:
"but sometimes I’d feel more fulfilled
making Christmas cards with the mentally ill"
In the end, Diana shocked her admirers by publicly dating a known playboy, Mr. Dodi Fayed, right to the moment of her death:
"I want to Live and I want to Love
I want to catch something that I might be ashamed of"
Thus, FRANKLY MR. SHANKLY, the second song on this album titled THE QUEEN IS DEAD, corresponds to Diana’s experience with the "fatal fame" she gained as Princess of Wales, a position brought into being by the military success of a King known as LONGSHANKS.