SEND ME THE PILLOW YOU DREAM ON was a hit song for Johnny Tillotson in 1962.
SEND ME THE PILLOW YOU DREAM ON was a hit song for Johnny Tillotson in 1962.
Before the music fades in the final song on THE QUEEN IS DEAD, Morrissey sneaks in a few lines evoking Johnny Tillotson's 1962 hit SEND ME THE PILLOW YOU DREAM ON. In a ghostly voice, Morrissey delivers these departing words:
“Send
me the pillow
the one that you dream on
Send me the pillow
the one that you dream on
and I’ll send you mine”
A
"pillow" is the obvious clue in Morrissey's surprise ending to THE QUEEN IS DEAD,
an album whose title announces a royal
death. Many years later, the cover of the final
Smiths compilation before Princess Diana's death will be an old
photograph of an actress named Diana laying her head on a "pillow".
And it's not just any "pillow"; it happens to be the
"pillow" on the prison bed of a woman - played by this Diana
- who knows that she will soon be put to death!
Front
cover
Back cover
The Diana on the album cover is British actress Diana Dors (1931-1984) playing the part of someone faced with imminent death in the 1956 film YIELD TO THE NIGHT. Notice that the hand of this Diana is clutching one pillar in a row of pillars, (the row of pillars that form the headboard of the bed). Correspondingly, Princess Diana's death would result from crashing into one pillar in a row of pillars. [According to the standard dictionary definition, a pillar is "a vertical support, usually slender in relation to its height."]
The underpass where Princess Diana crashed into one
pillar in a row of pillars.
Inset: Smiths album shows "Diana" Dors clutching one pillar in a row of pillars.
The photograph of Diana
Dors clutching a pillar is from a film whose title, YIELD
TO THE NIGHT,
correlates to the timing of Princess Diana's fatal crash into a
pillar: only minutes after midnight.
"...for the night is already at hand
and it is best to yield to the night"
- Diana Dors reading poetry in YIELD TO THE NIGHT
_______________________________________________________________________________________
In
vintage film literature, Diana Dors' birth name was routinely listed as
"Mavis Fluck", but in fact her birth name was Diana Fluck, not "Mavis"!
In 2001, Diana Dors' son corrected many
websites, (including my early version of this site), that were still listing his
mother's name as "Mavis".
Yet, not even Diana Dors' own son could offer a plausible explanation of why his
mother's birth name had always been
reported to be "Mavis".
It remains an unsolved mystery that becomes especially intriguing in light of this additional fact:
The female character in the film THE L-SHAPED ROOM whose singing is used
as the
introduction to THE QUEEN IS DEAD is named "Mavis"!
We may never learn what caused everyone to wrongly report Diana Dors' birth name as
"Mavis". We only know that the mistake eventually served to
create a perfect scenario in which both the very start and the very end of the album THE QUEEN IS DEAD distinctly correlate to the cover of the final Smith's compilation before
Princess Diana's death:
The start of the
Smiths album THE QUEEN IS DEAD:
A female film character whose name is "Mavis".
Cover of final Smiths compilation before Princess Diana's death: An actress named
Diana whose name was inexplicably reported to be "Mavis".
The end of the Smiths album THE QUEEN IS DEAD: "Send
me the pillow".
Cover of final Smiths compilation before Princess Diana's death:
An actress named
Diana with her head on a
pillow.
_______________________________________________________________________________________
Lyricist Bernie Taupin, the person who would wind up writing the words to Princess Diana's funeral song - CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997 - shares the same birthday as Morrissey: May 22nd.
Bernie Taupin: same birthday as Morrissey.
For Princess Diana’s funeral song, CANDLE IN THE WIND 1997, Bernie Taupin hastily rewrote his lyrics to the 1973 song CANDLE IN THE WIND, which was already famously known as a tribute to Marilyn Monroe:
Marilyn Monroe: focus of the 1973 original version of "CANDLE IN THE
WIND".
Princess Diana: focus of
the 1997 revised version of "CANDLE IN THE WIND".
Correspondingly, the cover of the final Smiths compilation before Princess Diana's death is a photo previously chosen by Morrissey of a woman named Diana - actress Diana Dors - who was famously known as “The English Marilyn Monroe”:
Diana Dors: known as "The English Marilyn Monroe"
_______________________________________________________________________________________