The article argues that The Smiths’ decision to record a cover of Cilla Black’s 1968 single ‘Work Is a Four-Letter Word’ became the symbolic final disagreement between Morrissey and Johnny Marr. Marr reportedly saw the choice as evidence that the band’s creative direction had run its course, calling it “the last straw”, and left shortly afterwards.

The cover was recorded during the sessions for the band’s final studio work in 1987, shortly before their split was announced. Although the song itself was not necessarily the sole cause of the break-up, the article presents it as encapsulating wider tensions over artistic control, management and the group’s future.