Meaning of "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" by The Smiths

The lyrics of "This Night Has Opened My Eyes" by The Smiths depict the unsettling and tragic story of a baby being abandoned. The opening lines, "In a river the colour of lead, Immerse a baby's head, Wrap her up in the News Of The World, Dump her on a doorstep, girl," paint a vivid but disturbing image. This scene serves as a metaphor for a harsh reality that exists beyond the surface of everyday life. The act of abandonment represents the darker consequences of actions and the potential for innocence to be discarded and forgotten.

The narrator is deeply affected by this experience, as seen in the lines, "This night has opened my eyes, And I will never sleep again." This event becomes a profound turning point, stripping away any illusions and forcing the narrator to confront the harshness of the world. The image of the "shoeless child on a swing" serves as a reminder of the narrator's own past struggles and experiences, and the similarity evokes both empathy and pain.

There is an underlying theme of responsibility and the consequences of one's choices throughout the song. The lines, "You kicked and cried like a bullied child, A grown man of twenty-five," reveal the vulnerability and regret felt by the narrator. The mention of someone promising to "cure your ills" but failing to do so adds to the sense of disappointment and disillusionment.

The conflicting emotions of the narrator are evident in the repetition of the lines, "Oh, you did a good thing, She could have been a poet, Or she could have been a fool, Oh, you did a bad thing, And I'm not happy and I'm not sad." There is an awareness of both the positive and negative outcomes that could have resulted from the abandonment. The potential for greatness (being a poet) or a life filled with mistakes (being a fool) looms over the narrator's conscience.

Ultimately, the lyrics suggest that the narrator is filled with a sense of loss and ambiguity. The repeated line, "And I'm not happy and I'm not sad," emphasizes their internal conflict and the complexity of their emotions. This emotional state could stem from the realization that their actions have permanently altered the course of a life.