Suedehead

Released by HMV on 15 February 1988, it came from the first solo session, with Stephen Street on bass, Vini Reilly on guitar and Andrew Paresi on drums. Morrissey wrote the words and Street the music. The B-sides were "I Know Very Well How I Got My Name", "Hairdresser on Fire" and, on CD only, "Oh Well, I'll Never Learn".

The song is about a figure from his teenage years whom he declined to name. The title comes from the suedehead subculture and Richard Allen's novels, and is not in the lyrics. In Spin in 1988 he described that subculture as having a great velocity of hate.

It reached number five in Britain, higher than any Smiths single, and New Vinyl Villain notes it was his biggest hit until 2004. It also reached number two in Ireland and number eight in New Zealand. Tim Broad directed the video in Fairmount, Indiana, James Dean's hometown, where it shows his school, his family farm and his grave. Stereogum ranked it his best solo song, Spin placed it second and Consequence fifth. Sparks made a "Mael Mix" of it for Record Store Day in 2012.