Morrissey’s rescheduled U.S. tour kicks off Wednesday (January 9), and to prep for the stateside jaunt, Moz stopped by the Late Show with David Letterman last night to perform a long-floating-but-still-unreleased track, “Action Is My Middle Name.”
The three-minute rocker finds the English crooner in full “glam-meets-Frank Sinatra” form, pairing the gray-templed drama king’s signature death-and-sex witticisms (“Everybody has a date with an undertaker / A date they cannot break,” leads directly into “Tongue against tongue / And we’ve only just begun / Could I interest you in hours of fun?”), with robust, shimmery guitar and booming drums that sound right at home on Broadway. For the coda, the label-less Morrissey cedes control to his backing band, who usher in a wave of feedback. Never one to be outdone, the Pope of Mope topped things off with a resounding “Wowza!” If “Action” really is his middle name, this lively performance shows how the one-time Chairman of the Bored earned the moniker.