Suffer Little Children (Demo) by The Smiths

[@danileo13]

Sorrow has never sounded so eerily beautiful.

[@zyjeszwmatrixie]

Oh my lord. This demo makes me feel things i never felt in my life. Oh god. Morrisseys voice here, it feels like he sings very, very quietly at night sitting outside alone while crying and begging god for miracle in his life. His voice is so, kinda, natural here. I dont know how to describe it, it just feels like he is singing to himself only, and doesnt care if other people will hear it. Only morrisseys voice and, my god, this absolutely amazing music.

[@michaelsnow7252]

the raw version of this song is so much better....

[@sexobscura]

more ... authentic

[@doomrat]

I got this version on a bootleg CD back in 1994 and after listening to the original for probably 6 years, this one affected me much more...especially the piano ending. It gives you just enough time to absorb the whole song, the lyrics, the story behind it all. It's the definition of haunting and I've always preferred this version. Like you said, it feels like it comes from somewhere visceral...the polished, mastered version is great but this one is just more powerful and hits harder.

[@laikathestardog]

beautiful

[@wasint3727]

the piano at the end with the twinkle gets me every time

[@newdawnfades5725]

the piano ending evolved into what later would become Asleep!

[@jfle819]

⁠​⁠@@newdawnfades5725what’s mad is I think I just heard the same piano riff in the first verse of meat is murder

[@zyjeszwmatrixie]

THIS SONG FILLS ME WITH A FEELING. WITH A FEELING I NEVER FELT BEFORE. I FEEL LIKE ANOTHER SOUL IS IN MY BODY, I FEEL LOVE I FEEL SO MANY EMOTIONS LISTENING TO THIS. KINDA CRYING. LOVE IT

[@codyeastwood6217]

YOU MIGHT SLEEP BUT YOU WILL NEVER DREAM

[@rosiewilson365]

Haunting yet eerily beautiful

[@ghuleh816]

Rest In Peace to the best bassist there ever was.. Rest in power, ANDY ROURKE.🌹❤️

[@BurtonRdForever]

When I was around 11 we camped up on the moors about 2 miles past Greenfield. It was fucking terrifying, it was about a year after the second search in 1987 and there was poles used for roping areas to dig off still there. It was eerie. Talking about the Moors murders, up there in the dead of night!! Weird noises,.In the morning about 6am two fighter jets came over loud as fuck and woke us all up with another fright!! We didn't even have a tent we just had a fire. It's a lonely place, not somewhere anyone should be buried. We walked back down to Greenfield, had some breakfast and spoke with a woman who was telling us one of the fathers of the kids buried up there was in the local pub with a knife when they brought Hindley back in 87'.

[@TheWWEfanatic93]

That is such an interesting story but crazy too! Must of felt weird considering Hindley and Brady had been up there attempting to locate bodies around that time. Tell me more...

[@localresidentofgortonmarke8415]

that's honestly cool mate, you mustve been ten then? cause of 1977, may be right, may be not. I see why he brought the knife with him.

[@ethanc1719]

@skinny from the south I often drive over that moor

[@internethuman420]

This is why I love youtube, finding demos of the smiths and getting storys from people who lived there.. just wow, this is such a great story thanks :)

[@chocmint]

i prefer this over the original... this demo gives me a different sort of feeling...

[@jfle819]

It’s definitely less rigid

[@tskitishvili3]

Reflects the story more.

[@Oh_I_Will]

sure doesn’t sound like a demo at all…more like an earlier Take…

[@chocmint]

@@Oh_I_Will only said demo cause it says that in the title..

[@Oh_I_Will]

@@chocmint gotcha…the UL either doesn’t know what a “demo” is or is posting the term in the subject line as “click bait”

[@tyh7529]

Songs like this make you realise just how invaluable Rourke and Joyce really were.

[@tyh7529]

@@hcwxx12 Do you know what invaluable means?

[@ophiolatreia93]

Mickey and James?

[@ScottQ1]

Bruh moment

[@tyh7529]

@@ScottQ1 Deez nuts

[@patrickcrain2448]

@god I want millions of dollars to fall in my lap so yeah......... and thank you. Amen....

[@TheWWEfanatic93]

The piano at the end is so frightening.

[@maggieescobedo4891]

Holy shit, I gasped when this started playing. So beautiful, never heard the demo before.

[@Oh_I_Will]

It’s an early take….not the actual Demo….but I digress

[@care1essange1s]

i always come back to this version of the song. my favourite by far.

[@RandomPerson-qg1mk]

God, what a sorrowful song. I actually cried a bit in the end.

[@RandomPerson-qg1mk]

zabadoo yoinks I agree, not everyone can make something so sad so beautiful. I expecially love the outro.

[@SrGoldenCat]

It's interesting because actually is the main theme in "Meat is Murder"

[@ianbrady9527]

This song is about murder chase

[@sixT4T]

really? I sharted and sneezed atst

[@anthonyaylmer1704]

This song goes beyond music. It's important never to forget what happened to those poor kids. It's a statement in time of the horror evil people are capable of. Pair of sick bastards. Rott in hell.

[@sidmicheals9739]

what a completely depressingly sad song.. well written by moz

[@ivannext1425]

& Johnny marr

[@315Bodhi17]

so true. can't add to your comment. ty

[@decaffeinatedafrican5997]

@@315Bodhi17 my man i see you eveywhere

[@AbuseForViews]

I love this more than the final product. Everything just has more oomph, ya know?

[@samwright8500]

this sounds so og and nostalgic i cant even describe how these sounds feel its likd they were engrained into ur brain before u were even born fucking weird beautiful

[@KristoferProphet]

I know exactly what you mean.

[@wasint3727]

I fucking know exactly what you mean wtf, gives me chills

[@GreenshirtMr1023]

I too know exactly what you mean. I grew up in the 1990s and the music of the 80s is embedded in my subconscious apparently... plus the sort of "stranger danger" personified in Brady and Hindley was very much something our parents warned us about in the pre-Internet age, when AIDS was still a major threat and everyone feared their kids being killed or worse by a creep...

[@zyjeszwmatrixie]

My lord. I just heard last seconds of it. Im crying, this music makes me feel something, a feeling i always have wanted to feel.

[@monkeyymilo]

bro just busted 💀

[@tomwright4969]

The lower pitch of morrissey voices and the way it vibrates makes this sound so ghoulish. Scarily enough I've been through Saddleworth Moor, which only makes this song more chilling.

[@ophiolatreia93]

Why are the moors scary? Ghosts don't exist mate. God is fiction.

[@tomwright4969]

@@ophiolatreia93 I didn't say anything remotely about ghosts?

[@berniehoe9960]

the fact that Keith Bennett is still out there and will most likely always be out there is both depressing and extremely chilling

[@therajaofashbourne8483]

@@ophiolatreia93 probs cos of all the dead kids he's singing about lol

[@mancredgaming3920]

Such a hauntingly sad song but so beautiful at the same time, RIP those poor children.

[@sharkybb]

This song has always gutted me in the most wonderful way. Hearing this version for the very first time right now, and I may just shed a tear. Thank you

[@Thesmithsfan82]

I share the same sentiment... also just found this version for the first time, absolutely in love with this song

[@Incizive]

I really hope this gets an official release one day, I'd love to have it on Spotify. Might be their best demo.

[@nobodyanderson4353]

Im an old lump and it still makes me fill up. Ive been trying to learn it on guitar but Johnny your to good. Rip Andy.

[@quite.unloveable]

heart-wrenching and so hauntingly beautiful. the genius that lies in this song…something sensitive people only can create and cling to.

[@hertegovinul7564]

Over the moor, take me to the moor Dig a shallow grave And I'll lay me down Over the moor, take me to the moor Dig a shallow grave And I'll lay me down Lesley-Anne, with your pretty white beads Oh John, you'll never be a man And you'll never see your home again Oh Manchester, so much to answer for Edward, see those alluring lights? Tonight will be your very last night A woman said, "I know my son is dead I'll never rest my hands on his sacred head" Hindley wakes and Hindley says Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes Hindley wakes and says "Oh, wherever he has gone, I have gone" But fresh lilaced moorland fields Cannot hide the stolid stench of death Fresh lilaced moorland fields Cannot hide the stolid stench of death Hindley wakes and says Hindley wakes, Hindley wakes Hindley wakes and says "Oh, whatever he has done, I have done" But this is no easy ride For a child cries "Oh, find me, find me, nothing more We are on a sullen misty moor We may be dead and we may be gone But we will be, we will be, we will be right by your side Until the day you die This is no easy ride We will haunt you when you laugh Yes, you could say we're a team You might sleep, you might sleep You might sleep but you will never dream" "Oh, you might sleep but you will never dream" "You might sleep but you will never dream" Oh Manchester, so much to answer for Oh Manchester, so much to answer for "Oh, find me, find me, find me I'll haunt you when you laugh Oh, I'll haunt you when you laugh You might sleep but you, you will never dream" Over the moors, I'm on the moor Oh, over the moor The child is on the moor

[@sethvicious]

dark and brilliant

[@pittman1996]

The album version is depressing enough but this version just takes it to an even lower level

[@synthesaurus]

What makes demos special is that the is gold found in them, the trouble is that often in an effort to refine it the gold is lost :(

[@twon6604]

that outro 100% turns into asleep

[@IAmTheBigBoy]

Sounds like Meat is Murder

[@michaelsnow7252]

this is better than the album version

[@AlexSerenylan]

Ohhh to have another take of this song to love. Marvelous

[@dalehibbert]

Just to clarify, the piano outro was provided on cassette, it was recorded in Bowden. It was then mixed with a recording Stephen had from outside a local primary school ( the vision of him hanging around outside a school with a tape recorder should bring smiles to many faces). I actually think the outro morphed into "asleep". Yes it was played by Johnny. The original is here: kzbin.info/www/bejne/mZbKmZh5bK-Yrbc. Cheers.

[@sharkybb]

YES - I can hear a little of what could be "Asleep" in that piano.. man, that was great!! First time ever hearing this version!!!!!!!!

[@tmantonytv1166]

dale hibbert piano is best part

[@whattohearwhattosee]

it's hidden, can you please make it available again?

[@thegamingalien5476]

The video is private please link another one

[@diegoaparcanagranda6160]

Could you reupload it please?

[@josefnicholson1516]

The outro Piano is what I imagine dying sounds/feels like.

[@Oh_I_Will]

Nah….more uplifting notes is how I imagine death to be…

[@joshbaino3087]

I imagine death as silent and confusing

[@HaysBoyf]

​@@joshbaino3087death is always scary to think about. i think it sounds like nothing but emptyness and everything is dark

[@alvantra]

That outro, just beautiful😢

[@eoinryan3275]

That piano bit at the end though...

[@WowAndle]

These demos are very spooky

[@heyitshuttz3705]

Why so

[@mrovantes]

That piano outro tho!

[@orvenator]

To those 6 who thumbed down this version should be buried neck deep in the moors and be forced to listen to A Flock of Seagulls track in a loop. ;) First time hearing this. Like it.

[@HaysBoyf]

wishing by a flock of seagulls is good!

[@martinleonidas5973]

Beautiful ❤

[@mimikibere]

Wow! This is melancholic. I liked the version!

[@fajarnuralam5463]

I think demo version better than original version

[@ginix44]

i listen this song every morning and the vibes that it get are so beautiful

[@decaffeinatedafrican5997]

The first demo they recorded.

[@ophiolatreia93]

Really? Holy shit ..

[@therajaofashbourne8483]

this isn't the original bedroom recording, although that is on KZbin i believe

[@fairlady300]

@@therajaofashbourne8483 first with all 4?

[@pg6917]

The first one is 'i want a boy for my birthday', i guess

[@decaffeinatedafrican5997]

that's false they had made like 2 unreleased songs prior which they didn't like, but they recorded i want a boy for my birthday, suffer little children and the hand that rocks the cradle which are all on youtube.

[@gerald2540]

way prefer this version

[@ophiolatreia93]

The slightly dodgy sound is more authentic...

[@newdawnfades5725]

The is the birth of what is Asleep!

[@venedikterofeev5861]

oh whatever he have done... I have done...

[@WingZeroSymphonics]

.75x speed, rhythm section is legit!

[@JMill-bs6xt]

Makes morrissey sound even more like a doomed haha

[@geralt.of.arabia9766]

This song reminds me of better times and days...

[@Oh_I_Will]

The 80’s weren’t better times for most of us…Lennon had been killed a few years earlier and set out a most trying decade to recover from including these murders…

[@CruceEntertainment]

The 80’s weren’t good for everyone.

[@altamir____]

hundred times darker

[@simonedgbaston]

💚

[@joshbaino3087]

Reminds me of red house painters, definitely inspired them

[@freezinfrog]

it has some of the same notes as katy song, and similar chord progression

[@joshbaino3087]

@@freezinfrog good notice, they're based around Cmaj7 but Marr tunes up to F# standard and Kozolek uses a capo on 1st fret. Though I think it's the slowly played arpeggios with the steady bass line that makes them most similar in my mind

[@philhine3370]

Wow !

[@caiqueramos1473]

😊💓

[@M1KEYWAY]

This demo is sososo good

[@michaelsnow7252]

wtf they got rid of the outro i dont know

[@rockstartled]

why aren’t any of the demos on spotify 💔

[@rockstartled]

the good ones at least

[@BloggerMusicMan]

Crash cymbal on this is far too loud, doesn't have that gorgeous guitar line in the second half of the chorus, and sounds too "bright." This song and its subject matter works much better when it's subdued, as it is in the album version. Interesting to see how it first started developing though.

[@Oh_I_Will]

Well…this is NOT a demo…early Take, maybe

[@craigb1232]

i met andy rourke ...Nice Chap ...I met Mike Joyce ...Miserable ....Both without Marr wouldn't have got further than Salford Precint

[@Ct-rq8zy]

Who played the piano at the end

[@joelhassig6099]

Probably Morrissey.

[@notordinarynothing]

Marr

[@cuzcuzcuzcuzcuzcuz]

It was Marr

[@Lancer7117]

Sure it’s not Morrissey? Cause he does talk about him playing piano in the Queen is dead

[@notordinarynothing]

@@Lancer7117 no, it was Johnny

[@emmaoswald8043]

Sorry but I like the original lol this is good but I like the crisp sound of the original

[@johnlennon4274]

Sounds sort of like vaporwave.

[@ivydavidson7873]

well:/

[@tskitishvili3]

😳

[@Tom______________]

The Demo version has an Ariel Pink quality about it.

[@melbounerose1862]

ahuevooo. reflection691_

[@robert3258]

pianoo

[@darlinjacq1552]

You could say, "We're a team" because I do not dream (or, I do not remember them, anyway) &, though I just might, I do not sleep 😂much😂 either, My Vacant, Back Scurbbing GniKers. I Luff j'Yah eVen MORR My Mighty Master Swine ~who flu off without MeMeMeeeeeee...

[@CallMeConnorYT]

dshouldve kept piano