Songfacts®:

• Guitarist and co-songwriter Johnny Marr recalled to Uncut magazine February 2008: "With 'Barbarism Begins At Home,' a lot's been made of the funky aspect of the bassline, but that track harks back to what I was doing with Andy (Rourke) before The Smiths. I guess it came out of this love of retro kind of James Brown records, and things like Rip Rig & Panic and The Pop Group. That period of anemic, underfed white funk. It's me and Andy being townies in Manchester, liking a bit of the American No-Wave thing. James Chance, I guess."
• The basis of this song lay in a riff that bassist Andy Rourke had in his head. He told Mojo magazine: "It is the song – I would say it's 80 to 90 percent bassline. I'm into my funk and this was the closest I could get away with. We used to jam along to it for hours and hours, even pre-Smiths. I was into Stanley Clarke, James Jamerson and, I'm almost embarrassed to say it, Mark King from Level 42. I think doing more in that style would have been a terrible idea, though. People would probably have assassinated us."