What are your favourite Pet Shop Boys lyrics?

I always thought it was from ‘Lake Geneva to the filing station.” Ha ha…

Hehe, R1! I love that.

What a performance tonight Should I react or turn off the light? Looks like you're picking a fight In a blurring of wrong and right How your mood changes You're a devil, now, an angel Suddenly subtle and solemn and silent as a monk You only tell me you love me when you're drunk

Remember when you were more easily led

Behind the cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed

Trembling as your dreams came true

You looked right into those blue eyes and knew

It was love

And now you can't pretend

You've forgotten all the promises of that first friend

It's bad enough she knows how you feel

But she's not prepared to share you with a memory

The last few lyrics of "Your Funny Uncle" make me teary. It's not an experience I've ever had, but I can see it and imagine it very clearly:

[italic]And at the end

Your funny uncle staring

At all your friends

With military bearing

And stopped to stand

To smile and speak of you directly

Goodbye, shake hands

Like you did everything correctly

To wipe away the tears

No more pain, no fear

No sorrow or dying

No waiting or crying

These former things have passed away

Another life begins today[/italic]

It paints the story so well, I feel.

The Queen said, "I'm aghast. Love never seems to last. However hard you try" And Di replied That there are no more lovers left alive. No one has survived. So there are no more lovers left alive And that's why love has died. Yes, it's true. Look, it's happened to me and you.

I've always loved that song R4, from a kid. Wasn't until I grew up that I realised what it was about exactly. I'm revisiting a lot of their work now and see a lot so much more clearly now, haha. But even as a kid their songs painted such vivid stories in my head.

R5, FYI the last portion of that passage is from The Book of Revelations.

Ahh yes, R8 - if I recall correctly, Neil read from that at the actual funeral?

I was faced with a choice at a difficult age

Would I write a book? Or should I take to the stage?

But in the back of my head I heard distant feet

Che Guevara and De'bussy to a disco beat

Now I sit with different faces

In rented rooms and foreign places

All the people I was kissing

Some are here and some are missing

In the nineteen-nineties

I never dreamt that I would get to be

The creature that I always meant to be

But I thought in spite of dreams

You'd be sitting somewhere here with me

I've always liked the first lines of It's a Sin, but not because they're personally relevant

[italic]When I look back upon my life[/italic]

[italic]It's always with a sense of shame[/italic]

[italic]I've always been the one to blame[/italic]

The lyrics to The Dictator Decides. Very timely.

Will someone please say the unsayable? Will someone please tell me I'm wrong? I live every day like a sad beast of prey For I have to appear to be strong

And that's wrong I'm too weak to be strong Today I met with the generals And the head of my secret police

Discussing conspiracies and prison facilities For opponents I can never release And there'll be no peace Until they're released

Of course I'm in league with the army It's not like I've got any choice They officially adore me and my father before me But gunpoint has a firm voice

The joke is I'm not even a demagogue Have you heard me giving a speech? My facts are invented I sound quite demented

So deluded it beggars belief It would be such a relief Not to give another speech Can someone please say the impossible?

Crowds should be out on the street I've lost any will to threaten or kill I'll be easy for you to defeat And any resistance I meet

I'll beat a retreat I'd rather that you didn't shoot me But I'd quite understand if you did Watch out for the army

The generals will go barmy At the thought of a takeover bid Oh please will somebody put me Out of my misery?

This sad old dictator must sooner or later Flee so that you can be free If you get rid of me We can all be free

^Incidentally, I recently watched some of that performance and was really confused why he was writhing on top of the piano like Roxie Hart during a rendition of this particular song.

R10 and R11 - yes and yes!

Sorry, R14 was in response to R12.

R13, what album is that from? I'm not really familiar with them post-Bilingual.

Bury the past, empty the shelf, Decide it's time to reinvent yourself

In "Young Offender" I like the line:

[italic]Is that fire in your eyes

Or the glow of the machine?[/italic]

[quote] If, when, why, what?

[quote] How much have you got?

[quote] Have you got it, do you get it, if so, how often?

[quote] And which do you choose, a hard or soft option?

Then we posed for pictures with the competition winners

And argued about the hotel rooms, and where to go for dinner

And someone said, "It's fabulous you´re still around today,

You've both made such a little go a very long way"

[italic]Very[/italic], "Can You Forgive Her?"

...You drift into the strangest dreams, of youthful follies and changing teams. Admit you're wrong, oh, no, not yet, then you wake up and remember that you can't forget.

She's made you some kind of laughin' stock because you dance to disco and you don't like rock. She'd make fun of you and even in bed said, "She was gonna go and get herself a real man instead".

So ask yourself now, can you forgive her if she begs you to? Ask yourself, can you even deliver what she demands of you? Or do you want revenge? But that's childish, so childish. But that's childish, so childish.

Remember when you were more easily led behind the cricket pavilion and the bicycle shed. Trembling as your dreams came true, you looked right into those blue eyes and knew.

It was love and now you can't pretend you've forgotten all the promises of that first friend. It's not enough, she knows how you feel, but she's not prepared to share you with the memory...

As already mentioned at r4

I often giggle at that bitchy line in "The Theatre":

It's another world here

Somebody's singing

I was only wishing

For a bit of cash

From a patron of the arts

(or, at least, The Phantom of the Opera)

Where to start. So many great songs!

I have been to the Finland Station in St. Petersburg. A friend and I took the train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg.

We were never being boring; We had too much time to find for ourselves

And we were never being boring; We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"

And we were never being boring; We were never being bored

'Cause we were never being boring; We were never being bored

I want a dog, a Chihuahua When I get back to my small flat I want to hear somebody bark

R25 Sorry I left off the important lines

Now I sit with different faces; In rented rooms and foreign places

All the people I was kissing; Some are here and some are missing

In the nineteen-nineties

And we were never holding back or worried that; Time would come to an end

It's about all the friends that were lost during the AIDS epidemic. Very poignant lyrics. probably their best song.

Oh God, "Can you forgive" her is do brutal. Such a merciless lyrics in dissonance with dancy tune.

I bought you drinks, I brought you flowers

I read you books and talked for hours

Every day, so many drinks

Such pretty flowers, so tell me…

What have I….what have I….

what have I done to deserve this?

Love etc.

Don't have to be

a big bucks Hollywood star

Don't have to drive

a super car to get far

Don't have to live

a life of power and wealth

Don't have to be

beautiful but it helps

And from the same song:

Too much of anything

is never enough

Too much of everything

is never enough

I always thought he said From Lake Geneva to the foot land station. And I had no idea what the fuck that meant. Between this and a rash, I had a lot things cleared up today. Thanks OP!

I only wanted something else to do but hang around

I don't know why, I don't know how

I thought I loved you but I'm not sure now

I hear the thunder crashing, the sky is dark

And now a storm is breaking within my heart

And look at the two of us in sympathy

And sometimes ecstasy

Words mean so little, and money less

When you're lying next to me

But look at my hopes, look at my dreams

The currency we've spent

I love you, you pay my rent

R34

I love "sometimes ecstasy". It paints such a vivid picture of complicated relationships.

Sometimes you’re better off dead

There’s a gun in your hand and it’s pointing at your head

You think you’re mad, too unstable

kicking in chairs and knocking down tables

in a restaurant in a West End town

Call the police! There’s a madman around

Running down underground

to a dive bar in a West End town

I am always hoping you'll be faithful But you're not, I suppose We've both given up smoking 'cause it's fatal So whose matches are those?

I always wondered who was this guy who cheated on Neil?

So devastating.

All the love that we had

and the love that we hide

Who will bury us

when we die?"

I always assumed it was Tom Stephan, R37.

You always wanted me to be something I wasn't

You always wanted too much, oh, oh

Now I can do what I want to, forever

How am I gonna get through?

"Someone told me Monday, someone told me Saturday Wait until tomorrow and there's still no way Read it in a book or write it in a letter Wake up in the morning and there's still no guarantee"

(King's Cross)

From a less known but gorgeous album track "I Made My Excuses And Left":

A silence filled the room

Awkward as an elephant

In the crowded court of your love

I was now a supplicant

I've got the brains

You've got the looks

Let's make lots of money

You've got the brawn

I've got the brains

Let's make lots of money

R39

It was before they met.

Mother's got her hairdo to be done She says they're too old for toys Stood by the bus stop with a felt pen In this suburban hell And in the distance a police car To break the suburban spell

I think Lowe is not good enough of a musician for Tennant's lyrics.

[quote]Where to start. So many great songs!

Agreed!

[quote]I have been to the Finland Station in St. Petersburg. A friend and I took the train from Helsinki to St. Petersburg.

Wow! I bet that was a fascinating trip!

[quote]All the people I was kissing; Some are here and some are missing

R34 and R41

All these are very poignant and evocative. Just reading them makes me want to listen to these songs right now.

They really do well with finding a kind of sad beauty (or beautiful sadness) in their music.

Where've you been?

Who've you seen?

You didn't phone when you said you would

Do you lie?

Do you try

To keep in touch? You know you could

I've tried to see your point of view

But could not hear or see for jealousy

I never knew 'til I met you

^and I've just learned today that this was the very first song Neil and Chris wrote together and it was inspired by a friend of Neil's who was upset over how much time Neil was spending with Chris.

As A Brit, this kind of encapsulates our state of being: the repression and downplaying of all things emotional and affective. Outer calm hiding inner turmoil.

The coda - a big pause before the blurting out of our response to almost any situation ".I'm sorry" Both simultaneously hilarious and heartbreaking in equal measure.

"It's only the wind They say it's getting worse The trouble that it brings Haunts us like a curse My nerves are all jangled But I'm pulling through I hope I can handle What I have to do

When life is calmer I have no doubt No angry drama A storm blows itself out A storm blows itself out...

I'm sorry..."

I never knew time pass so slow

I wish I'd never met you or that I could bear to let you go

At dead of night 'til break of day

Endless thoughts and questions keep me awake

It´s much too late

Where've you been?

Who've you seen?

You didn't phone when you said you would

Do you lie?

Do you try

To keep in touch? You know you could

I've tried to see your point of view

But could not hear or see

For jealousy

(sorry r49!)

🎵 The men from the circus are juggling with knives, the acrobats fall just like you 🎵

🎵 What have you got to hide? What do you need to prove? You're always telling lies, and that's the only truth 🎵

🎵 Somewhere on a Monday morning In a rush hour of another day Standing on a crowded platform Carelessly we lost our way 🎵

Xenomania may have had some input into the final lyric as PSB's demo is different to Girls Aloud verison.

[quote] They really do well with finding a kind of sad beauty (or beautiful sadness) in their music.

Their interest in Dusty Springfield made so much sense, since she too often had that beauty and melancholy mixture in her music.

Eastern Boys and West end Girls. Love that song.

It's EAST END BOYS, R56.

[quote]Eastern Boys and West end Girls

Oh, DEAR.

I don't know why, I don't know how I thought I loved you, but I'm not sure now I've seen you look at strangers too many times The love you want is of a, a different kind Remember when we felt the sun? A love like paradise, how hot it burned A threat of distant thunder, the sky was red And when you walked, you always turned every head

Oh shit. Sorry.^^

You can live your life lonely

Heavy as stone

Live your life learning

And working alone

Say this is all you want

But I don't believe that it's true

'Cause when you least expect it

Waiting round the corner for you

Love comes quickly

Whatever you do

You can't stop falling

Love comes quickly

Whatever you do

What are you referring to r60 because you didn’t right r59 - I did.

Write (at r61)

Sorry R58 and R57.

All is forgiven r64

Thank you baby.❤^^

Ha the replies are coming so fast on this thread it’s hard to do the arrow thing or reference posts accurately. I love the pet shop boys !

I love those lyrics, too, OP!

Liz before Betty,

She after Sean,

Suddenly you're missing

Then you're reborn

Me too R 67. So did my Mom!

Lake Geneva to the Finland Station is the journey Lenin took from exile in Switzerland to Russia in 1917.

What these suggestions indicate, is that the majority of their best lyrics are from the Imperial Phase, with a spattering from Very and the odd scrag end of post 2000 lyrics.

R72

Not the case. It's just most people know their imperial phase.

“Darling, you were wonderful, you really were quite good. I enjoyed it, though, of course, no one understood a word of what was going on, they didn't have a clue. They couldn't understand your sense of humour like I do"

“You're much too kind,” I smiled with murder on my mind. Yesterday, when I was mad, and quite prepared to give up everything. Admitting I don't believe in anyone's sincerity, and that's what's really got to me

“You have a certain quality, which really is unique. Expressionless, such irony, although your voice is weak. It doesn't really matter 'cause the music is so loud. Of course, it's all on tape, but no one will find out"

You hated me too, buy not as much as I hated you. Then when I was lonely, I thought again ane changed my mind.

Then we posed for pictures with the competition winners and argued about the hotel rooms, and where to go for dinner And someone said: "It's fabulous you're still around today. You've both made such a little go a very long way.”

I wonder is Neil getting more action now as an ancient out gay than when he was a good-looking closet case.

I'm guessing his relationships now are more transactional. He probably missed out on a lot of cock and ass back in the day.

🎵Tell him it's a problem, tell him it's too hard🎵

🎵Say you phoned your best friend and Scotland Yard🎵

🎵Swear that there'll be murder, tell him that I'm ill🎵

🎵Say you know it's blackmail, but that I'll kill🎵

R75

Oh please. He broke up with his last girlfriend when he met Chris - he was 25 years old. He got plenty ass and cock.

I love the song they wrote for Liza Mineli, "I'm Losing My Mind".

"the sun comes up and I think about you, wash coffee cups and I think about you, I want you so bad it's like I'm losing my mind".

But didn't they have dishwashers in 1989! LOL

R78

I don't think they wrote it.

[quote][R78]I don't think they wrote it.

They did they wrote Liza's album Rezultz. I also loved Twists in My Sobriety.

Did Pet Shop Boys also write Lisa Millenni's New York, New York City Boy?

Isn't "Losing My Mind" written by Sondheim? They did get Liza to recite a Shakespearean sonnet over a dance beat, which, even as an idea, is a stroke of genius.

I also love a bit of pre-WW2 history of the Balkans in "Don Juan" (one of their B-sides). Who else but Neil Tennant would write lyrics like these:

"At the end of the day when everyone's resigned

to the heart of the matter and the measures in mind

King Zog's back from holiday, Marie Lupescu's grey

and King Alexander is dead in Marseilles."

I'm always hoping you'll be faithful But you're not I suppose We've both given up smoking 'cause it's fatal So whose matches are those? Tell me why don't we try Not to break our hearts and make it so hard for ourselves?

Any bets on the OP actually knowing where the Finland Station is?

And look at the two of us in sympathy

And sometimes ecstasy

Words mean so little, and money less

When you're lying next to me

But look at my hopes, look at my dreams

The currency we've spent

I love you; you pay my rent

Love PSB, love this thread.

If someone cried, you'd sympathize

It's just a boy or a girl

It's not the end of the world

At midnight in desperation

Imagine total... TEENAGE DESTRUCTION

When the sun goes down I open up my window for hours and I watch

Every passing stranger, every early shadow I wonder if it's you

[quote]Any bets on the OP actually knowing where the Finland Station is?

Please do bet against me, I could use the money.

This song is so lovely. I first heard it when I was around 7. Even though I didn't know they were gay, or even what gay was particularly. Even though most of their songs I saw in my mind as happening between a man and a woman, [italic]this[/italic] song I always saw as being about two boys. I loved it from the very first time I heard it:

[italic]A nervous boy in several ways

I never knew the world could operate this way

I was nervous when we stopped to speak

And the world came crashing around my feet

We don't talk of love

We're much too shy

But nervously we wonder when and why

A nervous boy, in spite of which

I never thought I could tremble as much as this

Your flashing eyes and sudden smiles

Are never quite at ease, and neither am I

Oh, we'll talk about it all some night

But nervously we never get it

Right

From the start I approved of you

Right from the moment you turned to face me

A nervous boy from another town

With a nervous laugh and a concentrated frown

I spoke too fast with watchful eyes

Of a recent past and some nostalgic surprise

We don't talk of love

We're much too shy

But nervously we wonder when and

Smile

Knowing why I approved of you

Right from the moment you turned to face me

A nervous boy

Yes, but out of Chris and Neil, who was chewing pillow in that relationship?

I loved Pet Shop Boys when I was younger, but when I listen now, I realize the lyrics express the very worst things about gay life- hiding in the shadows, bitterness, unrequited love, and seem somewhat passive aggressive in nature. They speak of forming relationships that aren’t equal, but codependent upon each other, and yes, a few have vein of toxicity to them. Torch songs at their finest!

However, the bulk of their music was debuted upon the backdrop of the AIDS crisis, so they seemed bright then.

R92, it's funny but when I listen, I don't really think of it as a gay sensibility as such, but a British one. It's also worth noting they do also have songs showing the euphoric feelings involved in relationships ("I Wouldn't Normally Do This Kind of Thing", "Heart" etc.)

Something about ……..

“I took you to cafe to tell you who I am”

^ sorry. It was the following……

You took me to a restaurant off Broadway To tell me who you are

The have plenty of happy euphoric songs about love. I am a firm believer in long-term relationships between Neil and Chris, and I think they are happy now.

You're are the one I want, the one You are the one I want, the one Driving down to Zehlendorf I buy the lick on a summer afternoon Laughing at some mis-translation Order coffee and cake then take the train Back into Mitte to see a film About love and liberation And after 'round the corner to a bar you know Where you like to go You are the one I want, the one You are the one I want, the one Winter, spring and summer, autumn Always in my heart Live like this forever And we'll never be apart You are the one I want, the one It's like a drug It's like a dream

CLASSIC DL thread...

I don't think anyone has quoted a lyric from Bilingual yet.

🎵 You can sneer or disappear behind a veneer of self-control 🎵

🎵 But for all of those who don't fit in who follow their instincts and are told they sin, this is a prayer for a different way 🎵

The lyrics to PSB's The Loving Kind differ to Girls Aloud's version.

Girls Aloud's version:

🎵 Oh baby if you find I'm not the loving kind I'll buy you flowers and pour you wine, do anything to change you mind, you may be disinclined to find the love we left behind, kiss me and make up your mind 🎵

PSB has 1 of the above and 1 of the below

🎵 So baby if you find I'm not the loving kind don't think that I'm resigned to be the lover much maligned because I'll buy you flowers and pour you wine, do anything to make you mind, kiss me and make up your mind 🎵

Neil carelessly lost his way on an empty platform on Monday morning rush hour, whereas Girls Aloud were on a crowded platform. There are 5 of them and it was rush hour after all.

You, you're my lover, you're my hope, you're my dreams

my life, my passion, my love, my sex, my money

violence, religion, injustice and death

Ooh that's a good one, R98.

I like Bilingual and its b-sides a lot. I don't know if it gets as much love as the 5 albums before it, but I think it's really strong.

[italic]I don't know why

It always comes as a surprise

To find I'm here with you

You smile and I am rubbing my eyes

At a dream come true[/italic]

I hope to feel like this one day.

George Michael loved It Always Comes As A Surprise. I wish he'd recorded a version.

There you are

At another preview

In a pose

The artist and you

To look so loud

May be considered tacky

Collectors wear black clothes

By Issey Miyake

There's a boy standing by a river.

There's a girl lying with her lover.

There's a statesman standing at a crossroads.

There's a soldier polishing his gun.

From "Dreaming of the Queen" -- two splendid aural double-entendres

The Queen said, "I'm aghast

Love never seems to last

However hard you try,"

And Di replied:

and this:

Diana dried her eyes

And looked surprised

For I was in the nude

The old Queen disapproved

Attitudes are materialistic, positive or frankly realistic.

Which is terribly old-fashioned, isn't it?

Or isn't it?

¿ Hay una discoteca por aquí ?

R100

I think only lyrics Chris Lowe wrote.

Indifferent to much of their lyrics, but my favourite cover art by them is this;

Looking back now, I can see

The ghost of myself as I used to be

Looking back now I can see

The ghost of myself haunting me

It's an undistinguished room

With a single bed

I used to share with you

At the weekend

Books and records,

New wave and disco

We'll go for a swim and then the Cafe Picasso

Looking back now, I can see

The ghost of myself as I used to be

Looking back now, I can see

The ghost of myself haunting me

The view down to the pub

Of rockabilly boys

Camera crews in Flood Street For the election

Mohicans, Sloanes, Clones go their own way

You packed up your stuff and I went to the V&A

Looking back now I can see

The ghost of myself as I used to be

Looking back now I can see

the ghost of myself haunting me

Looking back now I can see

The ghost of myself wondering what to be

Looking back now I can see

The ghost of myself searching for the key

Haunted by my shy self

The things we used to do

The sudden ghost of myself

Getting it on with you

Now, it almost seems impossible

We've drunk too much, and woke up everyone

I may be wrong, I thought we said

It couldn't happen here…

You seem to be Inevitable to me Like a memory Of the future...

I've been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose

I've been forcing myself not to forget just to feel worse

I've been getting away with it all my life (getting away)

However I look, it's clear to see

That I love you more than you love me

However I look, it's clear to see

I love you more than you love me

That is more of a Barney Sumner lyric but a goodie none the less.

The Patience Of A Saint is more PSB influenced, as is Disappointed.

R114

I read interview with Marr, and he said it was 99 percent Neil.

Your solemn face, your eyes

Lit up at this surprise

My heart sped, raced ahead

For we were in love

🥱 🥱

I never dreamt that I would get to be The creature that I always meant to be

I just discovered "Hit Music" today. I enjoy this one a lot. I like how on the surface the lyrics seem fairly everyday, but as you listen more they are open to more interpretation. The song is quite sinister in parts and almost seems like it could go off the rails as it progresses.

[italic]It's all about love and it's about forgetting

Choose a song when the night's too long

We all need love and we want protection

I need a friend at the journey's end

In Kensington or Spanish Harlem

All night long to your desperate hit music[/italic]

It does that thing with lyrics that I always enjoy in songs, where there is a repeated line that changes slightly as the song goes on until it makes the true point of the song at the end, à la:

[italic]All night long to your favourite hit music...

All night long to the latest song...

All night long to your favourite song...

All night long to your desperate hit music...

I don't know you

You don't know me

I wonder what we share

It's just that now

and then you smile

and suddenly I know you care

and I'm the only one

for a while

The man at the back of the queue was sent

To feel the smack of firm government.

Lingered by the flyposter for a fight.

It's the same story every night.