You have doubts about just how big a cultural presense The Smiths were in the 80s? Consider the following quote taken from the very first paragraph (it is, in fact, just the second sentence in the book) of a distinguished and deservedly well-respected text in the philosophy of language published in 1992: namely, the book Belief and Meaning, by Akeel Bilgrami, Johnsonian professor of philosophy at Columbia University (and also my mentor and friend):
Content is what is specified by sentences or propositions in that-clauses when we attribute intentional states to agents. Thus, in the attribution, "Smith believes that Bigmouth has struck again," the sentence or proposition (Bigmouth has struck again) which follows the "that" specifies the content.
Given that instance of how seriously The Smiths were taken, or at least how ubiquitous they were in terms of cultural reference, it shouldn't surprise that there is a website devoted to visually illustrating their songs. And here it is.
Just a quickie to let you know about typo with illustration - first line is repeated is repeated!
love your pages. many thanks.
Posted by: oliviab | Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 05:10 AM
No, it's repeated like that in the song.
Great post. The Smiths + philosophy of mind are just about two of my favorite things.
Posted by: Riva | Wednesday, May 02, 2007 at 05:52 AM