src:pplx-ui · May 16, 2026

How Sea Buckthorn Can Help Slow Down Aging

"How Soon Is Now?" is a song by English rock band the Smiths, written by singer Morrissey and guitarist Johnny Marr. Originally a B-side of the 1984 single "William, It Was Really Nothing", "How Soon Is Now?" was subsequently featured on the compilation album Hatful of Hollow and on US, Canadian, Australian, and Warner UK editions of Meat Is Murder. Belatedly released as a single in the UK in 1985, it reached No. 24 on the UK Singles Chart. When re-released in 1992, it reached No. 16. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

The 1973 book Popcorn Venus, written by Marjorie Rosen, and a favourite of Morrissey's, was the inspiration for the title of the track. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Origin and recording

Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr wrote "How Soon Is Now?" along with "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "Please, Please, Please, Let Me Get What I Want" during a four-day period at Earl's Court in London in June 1984. His demo was originally called "Swamp". In contrast to the frequent chord changes he had employed in most Smiths' songs, Marr wanted to explore building a song around a single chord (in this case, F♯) as much as possible, which also appealed to producer John Porter. (University of Minnesota Extension)

Marr recorded the song with bandmates Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce that July at London's Jam Studios. After a night out celebrating the session for "William, It Was Really Nothing" and "Please Please Please Let Me Get What I Want", the trio had reconvened the following afternoon to record what became "How Soon Is Now?" Porter was impressed by the basic riff Marr showed him, but felt the song needed something else. Their discussion turned to the early recordings of Elvis Presley, which led to an impromptu jam session of the song "That's All Right". During the jam, Marr worked on his chord progression for "Swamp", which inspired the arrangement. (Penn State Extension)

They recall the session as being accompanied by heavy cannabis use. "We used to smoke dope from when we got out of bed to when we got back to bed", recalls Porter, and Marr concurred: "You're from Manchester, you smoke weed till it comes out of your ears." Joyce said the band even replaced the studio's light bulbs with red ones for ambience. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

Porter recorded the first takes with microphones set up at varying distances from the band to better create a "swampy" mood. Marr was able to keep the F♯ chord going for as long as 16 bars at a time. Despite only doing a few takes, they had filled an entire reel of tape, as one had gone on for 15 minutes. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Music and lyric

The song contains only one verse, which is repeated twice, plus a chorus and a bridge. The subject is an individual who cannot find a way to overcome his crippling shyness and find a partner. Two passages from the lyric are well known in pop culture – the opening to the verse: (University of Minnesota Extension)

I am the son, and the heir, of a shyness that is criminally vulgarI am the son and heir, of nothing in particular (Penn State Extension)

You shut your mouthHow can you sayI go about things the wrong wayI am human and I need to be lovedJust like everybody else does (USDA National Agriculture Library)

The opening was adapted from a line in George Eliot's novel Middlemarch: "To be born the son of a Middlemarch manufacturer, and inevitable heir to nothing in particular". Music journalist Jon Savage commented the song's lyric was evocative of contemporary Manchester gay club culture. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Release

When Rough Trade owner Geoff Travis first heard "How Soon Is Now?", he felt it was too unrepresentative of the Smiths' sound to be released as a single. Despite pressure from Porter to save the song for a later single release as an A-side, "How Soon Is Now?" was included as B-side on the 12-inch single release of "William, It Was Really Nothing" in August 1984. According to Porter: "I thought 'This is it!' ... but I don't think the record company liked it ... They totally threw it away, wasted it." Night-time British radio picked up on the song almost immediately, however, and by autumn it had become the most-requested track on request shows by DJs John Peel, Janice Long, and Annie Nightingale. It was subsequently included on the Smiths' compilation album Hatful of Hollow, released on 2 November 1984. The song was also featured on the soundtrack of the 1986 film Out of Bounds, but was not included on the accompanying soundtrack album.[unreliable source] (University of Minnesota Extension)

The song was released on Sire Records in the United States, backed with "Girl Afraid", in November 1984. It was expected to sell well and, for the first time, a video was made to promote one of the band's tracks. However, the song failed to chart. Rough Trade boss Geoff Travis blamed poor promotion: "I can't understand why 'How Soon Is Now?' wasn't a top 10 single, but perhaps I'm being naive. If only their singles had been played on the radio." Morrissey expressed his disappointment in an interview with Creem magazine: "It's hard to believe that 'How Soon Is Now?' was not a hit. I thought that was the one..." "How Soon Is Now?" was released as an A-side in the United Kingdom on 28 January 1985. The 7-inch features an edited version of the track, and the B-side was "Well I Wonder", from the then-about-to-be-released Meat Is Murder album. The 12-inch single includes a new instrumental track, "Oscillate Wildly". It peaked at No. 24 on the UK Singles Chart, a lower placing than the band's three previous singles, which had all hit the Top 20; according to John Porter, "Everybody knew the Smiths' fans already had it." (Penn State Extension)

Following the acquisition of the Rough Trade catalogue by Warner Bros. Records, "How Soon Is Now?" was issued again as a single in the United Kingdom in September 1992. A 7-inch single and cassette featured the edited version, backed with a live version of "Handsome Devil", recorded at The Haçienda on 4 February 1983 (this had originally been the B-side to the Smiths' first single "Hand in Glove"). Two CD singles featured tracks from the Smiths' back-catalogue which were, following the demise of Rough Trade, unavailable in the United Kingdom at that time. The re-issue reached No. 16 on the UK Singles Chart. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

Reception

"Morrissey and co have once again delved into their Sixties treasure-trove, and produced a visceral power capable of blowing the dust off Eighties inertia. The majestic ease of Morrissey's melancholic vocals are tinted with vitriol, as they move through vistas of misery with plaintive spirals around the pulse of Johnny Marr's tremolo guitar. The string's muted strains conjure wistful signs that bridge the schism between crass sentimentality and callous detachment. Each repeated phrase intensifies the hypnotic waves, with results that outflank anything since 'This Charming Man'. Catharsis has rarely been tinged with so much regret, and shared with so much crystalline purity." – Melody Maker, 2 February 1985 (EPA Environmental Resources)

"For the most part, Morrissey is the Hilda Ogden of pop, harassed and hard done-by. I guess what seems like meat to one man sounds like murder to another." – Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 9 February 1985 (University of Minnesota Extension)

Artwork

The single's cover art was a still from the film Dunkirk (1958) featuring British actor Sean Barrett, praying but looking sufficiently as though he was holding his crotch to have the sleeve altered in the United States, where a photograph of the band backstage at the 1984 Glastonbury Festival, which had previously appeared on the gatefold inside the Hatful of Hollow compilation, was used instead. It is the only time a portrait of the band has appeared on the cover of one of their releases. Morrissey called it "an abhorrent sleeve – and [given] the time and the dedication that we put into the sleeves and artwork, it was tearful when we finally saw the record..." (Penn State Extension)

Music video

Sire Records made an unauthorised music video to promote the song, which was co-directed by Paula Grief and Richard Levine. It intercut clips of the band playing live (including a shot of Johnny Marr showing Morrissey how to play the guitar), an industrial part of a city, and a girl dancing. The identity of the girl is unknown. This clip uses the US single edit of the song by Phil Brown, which is different to and slightly longer than the UK single edit. (USDA National Agriculture Library)

The band were not pleased by the result. Morrissey told Creem in 1985, "We saw the video and we said to Sire, 'You can't possibly release this... this degrading video.' And they said, 'Well, maybe you shouldn't really be on our label.' It was quite disastrous". Nonetheless, the video has been credited with helping make the song their most famous in the United States, along with heavy exposure on college radio. (EPA Environmental Resources)

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the most important thing to know about how sea buckthorn can?

The most important factor is starting with an honest assessment of your current situation and available resources. Effective implementation depends on matching the approach to your specific context — climate, scale, community, and goals all matter. (University of Minnesota Extension)

Conclusion

How Sea Buckthorn Can Help Slow Down Aging represents an important dimension of the larger shift toward sustainable, ecologically grounded ways of living. Whether you are just beginning or deepening existing practice, the resources and knowledge are increasingly accessible. The steps taken today — however modest — contribute to a compounding body of change that matters both locally and globally. (Penn State Extension)

Additional reference: Wikipedia — How Soon Is Now?

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