Track-by-Track: From Please to Nonetheless

[leesmapman]

Are you using an app or viewing the web page?

The web page. It seems to be a privilege thing, because I just discovered that I actually do see this button in threads in the Administration sub-forum (for example in ths related thread: viewtopic.php?p=632184#p632184 ) but not in threads here in the "Pet Shop Boys Community" sub-forum.

Could be a caching issue. Clear cache and reload page.

[leesmapman]

I got into PSB because Frankie goes to Hollywood split up and It's a sin was basically PSB doing Trevor Horn, so I "jumped ship" to PSB.

Now onto What Have I Done... I heard the 12" version because a Dutch radio show played it from the CD single. I was surprised how different it sounded from It's a sin and the previous songs I knew of them. I also didn't know who this Dusty person was. So all in all I found this a strange record. But it really clicked after a few listens and cemented my love for their music. I had to get their upcoming album Actually now.

[petshopgrrl]

Screenshot 2024-04-13 105324.png

Errr, not seeing that, just the report and quote buttons. ETA: OK, I just read back a bit further. Maybe I'm too fresh a noob for the like button.

Anyway, on to What have I done to deserve this?: Looking back, this is one of those tracks that make me realize that I should have cottoned on to PSB a lot earlier if it hadn't been for stubborn teen fanatic logic (posts passim). It has all my favorite elements - electronic, melancholic, the bitter non-rap, the lift from Dusty (thanks, Allee Willis). The sheer audacity of releasing this in face of formula chart pop was breathtaking and I had to admire it.

[Lleonard Pler]

What have I done is truly special. Their best duet (I'd even say their only truly good duet), one of their popiest and most mainstream moments, some of their best melodic hooks with beautiful verdes, great bridge and a triple chorus (I'm counting the "we don't need to fall apart..." as a third chorus, I recall that some covers used it as the main chorus, actually)...

Also I always wondered if the song title is taken from Almodovar's 1984 film of the same title (Qué he hecho yo para merecer esto in Spanish, which means What have I done to deserve this).

[Pinhead44]

What Have I Done to Deserve This ?

After the huge success of It's A Sin, I can imagine there must have been a lot of pressure to pick the right follow up single, especially after the relative commercial disappointment of Love Comes Quickly, after West End Girls on album 1.

I don't think any other track on Actually could have been chosen to provide them with that follow up success other than What have I done to deserve this?.
The story behind them getting a music icon in Dusty Springfield out of retirement, in itself would have created huge publicity, and so credit must be given to the boys for insisting that they didn't want anyone else to do the track with them.

Of course, publicity will only get you so far, and it still needs to be a great song ! Dusty's vocals are the star of the show, they feel so effortless, and yet so unique, that you couldn't possibly now imagine the song being sung by anyone else. The spoken part for Neil before each chorus is also wonderful, especially before the 2nd chorus.

Shout out to another brilliant 12" on this, with a great extended version (which is on the FL disc), and another cracking remix from Mr Pettibone ! (8/10)

[Disco.]

Should have been Mr.1 in both the U.S and U.K, mostly disappointed they it didn’t reach nr.1 in The U.S. Held back in the U.K by Never Gonna Give You Up, the best selling single in the U.K in 1987, and that song is just a perfect pop song, even Chris has acknowledged that by saying how good he thinks that one was.

[Pinhead44]

Does anyone know what song kept it off the no1 spot in the US ?

[Drico One]

Does anyone know what song kept it off the no1 spot in the US ?

Seasons Change by Expose and Father Figure by George Michael.

[Disco.]

Expose’ produced by Lewis Martinee’ of Domino Dancing fame.

[Sandy Shaw]

Great, Rashomon!

I think sometimes it's easy to forget how much of an impact the Dusty duet had. I was 15 when it came out, and I remember my parents being intrigued at the reappearance of the '60s icon on a record with the two mischievous '80s trouble-makers who had spectacularly skewed Catholicism with such gleeful abandon in the summer. There was a definite sense of cutting across the generations, here. On the face of it, this was them going "mainstream" rather than subverting it as outsiders. Yet, in hindsight, the duet of a gay man and a lesbian in what was, ostensibly, a song recounting an imblanced heterosexual relationship in the homophobic '80s is far more subversive than anybody ever gave it credit for. A classic.

Drico.

Also a co-write with the (closeted but industry open secret) Allee Willis!

[Pinhead44]

Does anyone know what song kept it off the no1 spot in the US ?

Seasons Change by Expose and Father Figure by George Michael.

Thank you.

At least it wasn't Glenn Medeiros !

[Sandy Shaw]

I was working in Our Price Kingston when this was released and used to walk there from Ham on the Thames path, blasting What have I done to deserve this? through my headphones. Happy days...

[Patrick Bateman]

Why on earth was this dropped for shows like Glastonbury? One of their signature hits.

[minimal]

As much as I like deserve, I don’t consider it suitable for festivals.

m+

[leesmapman]

I remember Dutch music magazine Oor being outraged that a quality star like Dusty Springfield would dare to do a duet with something like the Pet Shop Boys who write things like going Shopping.

Imho, Oor has been quite nasty in the 80s and 90s, they've been a lot better since the 00s.