Johnny Marr has said he supports Prime Minister Andy Burnham's cover of The Smiths, performed during Burnham's first visit to Ukraine as prime minister.
On 24 August, Burnham visited Ukraine's military and artistic unit and was handed a guitar by a soldier, then played the riff from 'Rusholme Ruffians', from The Smiths' 1985 album Meat is Murder.
Speaking on Absolute Radio on 25 August, Marr reacted to Burnham playing a riff he wrote more than four decades ago, saying: "I've only just been told about it in great detail. I think it's an amazing thing. In all honesty, I think it's a victory for the guitar".
Marr added: "I can't quite get my head around it. I don't know if pride's the word, but it probably is".
The guitarist said his "overwhelming feeling was that it was a victory of the guitar", but acknowledged the serious situation regarding the "plight of Ukraine", adding: "The more I think about it, the more I think how insignificant I am in it, really."
Burnham said while playing: "I'm out of practice, a little bit", and later commented that music can help "lift spirits" on the front line.
Burnham's connection to The Smiths is well documented. He once told FourFourTwo: "I saw The Smiths in 1986 at Salford University and I was a big disciple of the band." After becoming Mayor of Manchester in 2016, Burnham met Marr at the Etihad Stadium. Speaking to The Guardian in 2023, he said The Smiths "came along at a time when the north-west of England was probably at its lowest ever ebb in recent history", adding that Morrissey's lyrics suggested "you can kind of aspire to be more than this".
On the same day as the Absolute Radio interview, Marr released a new single 'It's Time', taken from his forthcoming album The Age Of Everything, due 2 October. He said of the track: "'It's Time' is my way of singing about some worldly issues but finding defiance, in idealism. I wanted a lyric that matched the exuberance of the music but is actually about resisting cynicism and corruption: 'Everybody ain't making it, change the weather and breaking it. Mobilise to know the truth. Open eyes to know the truth.' I guess it's about the assholes with dodgy views".
Morrissey has not yet commented on Burnham's performance.
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