Pet Shop Boys' 1990 single Being Boring is one of the songs that summarises life, one of those songs that hits hard and resonates emotionally, that seems to be somehow 'about' you (even though the autobiographical details are all specific to Neil Tennant and not me). The tune is lovely beyond words with swelling keyboards and a memorable melody line but it's Neil's words about growing up that really strike home- along with the reference to Zelda Fitzgerald's quote about not being boring because she was never bored- and the details of the verses that show how people change as they get older.
It's stuck with me also I guess because as I've got older I've moved through the verses (as they chronicle Neil Tennant getting older). It's a proper bittersweet and happy/sad song too, the pain and joy caused by sifting through the 'cache of old photos and invitations to teenage parties'. Neil Tennant would have been in his mid-to-late thirties when he wrote it and that seems to be telling- this isn't a song that a twenty something would write. Maybe that's why it keeps giving- when I first heard it in 1990 I was twenty so roughly the age the narrator is singing about in the second verse. Then as you get older you become the narrator of the third verse. A friend said recently this is 'the finest pop' which it is but it has a depth that much pop music doesn't- that's not to criticise pop music but it's often at its most effective when it is ephemeral and surface rather than depth. Being Boring is pop and much more than pop.
Being Boring
The extended mix is over ten minutes long but doesn't feel forced or anything like ten minutes long.
Being Boring (Extended Mix)
The video, shot by fashion photographer Bruce Weber, is like a Vogue shoot come to life and has the young and the beautiful enjoying themselves immensely.
11 comments:
Good post SA. I unfortunately am very boring, my achievement yesterday, defrosting the freezer, ffs!
Great piece of writing.
PSB are national treasures. But I shied away from their recent tour - £70 for the better seats in the house? It's well seeing that their target market is an older one nowadays that is supposed to have a bit more disposable income. I just couldn't justify it (which is also why, for the first time in living memory, I won't be at the Nick Cave gig later this year)
The increasing price of gig tickets is a scandal. Its no wonder we end up defrosting our freezers on a Saturday night.
Lovely post, which enticed me into listening to a band and track I had never given much time to before. Those lyrics really do resonate, as you say - especially now I'm older too and looking back on a greater chunk of time than I can expect to have ahead of me (oh that sounds morbid) - anyway, yes, beautifully written.
I'm sure this must've been said many times before and I might embarrass myself but this is also the first time I have thought of a similarity to New Order!
The album it comes from is well worth hearing C (Behaviour) and there's a lot of crossover with New Order in sound and approach.
This song got me starting to think of a series- songs that are 'about one's life'. Drew posting A Bang On the Ear would fit as well. Time and place and words with an autobiographical theme.
'Time and place and words with an autobiographical theme' - yes, would love to see those SA, I particularly like that kind of post - go for it!
Great post, I'm off to listen to more PSB,Starting with Always On My Mind/House.
I like your blog so will return with a better-thought out comment another day (deleted my ill-thought out one above).
Love the Pet Shop Boys though and really liked what you wrote here.
Thanks Alyson- I wouldn't worry too much about better thought out comments though!
I have been an ardent Pet Shop Boys fan from the beginning. I agree Being Boring may just be their zenith. Your thoughts on how it resonates has never been lost on me as well. One of their greatest assets is the ability to say something in their music. It needn't be political, it may be emotional or social commentary, but few of their songs lack a depth of meaning.
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