Morrissey Calls Off Release Of Autobiography

This news is either going to wildly disappoint fans who were waiting to get their hands on the book – or it might just please his loyal followers in some little way. After all, his 437th cancellation of the year just adds to Morrissey’s Morrissey-ness.

Morrissey fan site True To You, which the British singer likes to use to make announcements rather than a regular website, posted the following statement Sept. 12:

“Although Morrissey’s Autobiography was set to be available throughout the UK on September 16th, a last-minute content disagreement between Penguin Books and Morrissey has caused the venture to collapse. No review copies were printed, and Morrissey is now in search of a new publisher.”

The Atlantic Wire is one site that thinks something doesn’t add up. Questioning whether the former frontman for The Smiths ever had a publishing deal, the site notes, “This is a book that hasn’t been promoted, can’t be found online, and something Penguin people had no idea about when asked about it earlier this year.”

According to the Guardian, “Penguin has refused to confirm or deny that the book was due to be published, or even the existence of the reported deal with the singer.”

Morrissey has been talking about the autobiography for years. After announcing in 2008 that he was working on the book, in 2011 he told BBC Radio 4’s Front Row he was done with the first – quite lengthy – draft.

And here’s a quote he gave the BBC about the first draft, just because it’s so awesome.   

“I’m really not that interesting, so I don’t know why I’ve written so much,” Moz said (via the Guardian). “I have been through the whole life. I just wonder if 660 pages are too much for people to bear. And then I sit down and think, well, are six pages too much for people to bear? I really don’t know. [It’s] baffling.”

Really though, is it that surprising this happened so close to Friday the 13th?! And has anyone thought about how maybe, just maybe, Morrissey is having such rotten luck this year because he’s cursed by 2013? Double pneumonia. A concussion. A bleeding ulcer. Barrett’s esophagus. Food poisoning. A lack of funding for his tour. And now, this mess with the autobiography. Maybe we should have just skipped this year and gone straight to 2014. All we know is that trouble loves him.