In addition to the controversial mixing of the song, there was also a songwriting controversy. Additional guitarist Craig Gannon claimed that he deserved publishing credit for devising the chord sequence used on "Ask" (from The Complete Guide): "Me and Johnny were sat in the library playing acoustic guitars and they must have been miked up as we were probably putting down the acoustic tracks for 'Panic'. I just started playing the chord sequence which would later become 'Ask' in exactly the way it appears on the record. Johnny then joined in playing the same... I then forgot about the idea and left it at that... Johnny must have played Morrissey this idea or given him the recording I already mentioned. I was completely surprised as we were now recording this for the next single. The only section of the chord structure that I didn't come up with for 'Ask' was the middle eight section with the chords E-minor, D and C. That was actually what Johnny came up with. All the way through the song there is an overdub with me and Johnny sat around a mike with acoustics, playing a riff that he came up with towards the end of the recording of the song. That is a great riff and a real hook but it was still just an overdub and I felt the song was nearly complete without it. Up until the release of 'Ask' I still thought I'd be given a writing credit. When I found that I wasn't given a writing credit, it didn't really bother me, but I thought it was pretty bad that no one even acknowledged that it was my idea in the first place."

Johnny Marr heatedly denied this claim (from The Complete Guide): "When he did come up with his own parts, others said it was like something I'd played on the last single. It wasn't exactly his own style. Craig really threw it away. He really screwed it up for himself." Another telling quote by Johnny (from The Severed Alliance): "That really hurt me. That's one of the things in The Smiths that you don't do. We were always very careful from the very first day all the way through the sessions to bring in our own songs. It was ridiculous. no one ever had any inclination to write any songs, and that was fine." John Porter agreed with Johnny: "I didn't ever imagine him having any input."

Eventually, the matter was settled out of court and the original song credits remained.

Smiths-Speak
"... it was quite crucial to release a single that was a slight antidote to 'Panic', because if the next single had been a slight protest, regardless of the merits of the actual song, people would say, 'Here we go again.' That's why we put out 'Ask'. The idea there is... Well, restraint is a decent thing really, but it's nice to throw caution to the wind as well -- to jump in at the deep end."
Morrissey, Record Mirror, 2/14/87

"On 'Ask,' Craig Gannon and I are playing Martin acoustics. I play the G-Am-C-D progression on a Rickenbacker 330. The highlify part is played on a '63 Strat. I'm also vamping on a G harmonica through a Urei Boom Box, an early '70s piece of outboard gear that we also used a lot on guitars, as well. It's like one of those vulgar 'loudness' buttons on a hi-fi. It pushes things slightly out of phase, but gives them a bottomy, dense sound., It's a big chrome box with one knob: 'intensity.' Hey, maybe one of the readers can write in and tell us about it."
- Johnny Marr, Guitar Player, January, 1990