On Celibacy

Kerouac's celibacy is funny - he has to grit his teeth and close his eyes to shove sex and women out of his mind. Morrissey, on the other hand, is pretty lax and doesn't have to try so hard.

It was Kerouac who said "pretty girls make graves," meaning that beauty leads to lust, which leads to sex, which leads to birth, which of course leads to death. Morrissey lifted the quote and used it to title a Smiths song, giving us more proof that Morrissey really likes the idea of celibacy.

Both, however, have gone back and forth defining celibacy as not marrying and not having sex, and both have gone through 'un-celibate' periods. Especially Kerouac. For more on this, refer to his 'wild sexballs' in the short novel Satori In Paris.

Further, check out the Morrissey track "November Spawned A Monster," where he sings about a crippled child who goes through life suffering in a wheelchair. He then calls the child a "symbol of where mad, mad lovers must pause and draw the line." Mad lovers gave birth to the child, who now has to suffer due to their uncontrollable lust.

Moz and Ti Jean were serious weirdos. Celibacy isn't that cool.