Pet Shop Boys Community

dVTB wrote:Scatman John died a few years ago, by the way...

Did we have an "RIP" thread in the off-topic section?

amandote wrote:
If people will remeber PSB many years later, then "Go west" will be one of the reasons... just a personal opinion

One would hope they would be remembered for 'Being boring', 'Rent', and 'Can you forgive her?' instead.

Alas....

nickname wrote:
More or less in the middle of the song, the sound of the trumpets while Silvia is singing is amazing too.

I miss the sound of trumpets in a PSB song. Some people think it sounds very 80's but I don't think so. It's so ellegant.
In Suburbia the sound of the trumpet is brilliant (the last part of the song), in How can you expect to be taken seriously?? (extended mix) is amazing too and Westend Girls (but I know this sound is similar to a trumpet but it's not a trumpet really, it was made with the keyboards by Stephen Hague).

How can you miss them? They're all over the bloody Potemkin soundtrack.

I'm sick of them myself. Go West, Shameless, The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on, Delusions.... they've done the horn/trumpet synth thing TO DEATH. Lets move on!

jamie1978 wrote:

nickname wrote:
More or less in the middle of the song, the sound of the trumpets while Silvia is singing is amazing too.

I miss the sound of trumpets in a PSB song. Some people think it sounds very 80's but I don't think so. It's so ellegant.
In Suburbia the sound of the trumpet is brilliant (the last part of the song), in How can you expect to be taken seriously?? (extended mix) is amazing too and Westend Girls (but I know this sound is similar to a trumpet but it's not a trumpet really, it was made with the keyboards by Stephen Hague).

How can you miss them? They're all over the bloody Potemkin soundtrack.

I'm sick of them myself. Go West, Shameless, The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on, Delusions.... they've done the horn/trumpet synth thing TO DEATH. Lets move on!

But not with the same elegance of the songs above.

jamie1978 wrote:

amandote wrote:
If people will remeber PSB many years later, then "Go west" will be one of the reasons... just a personal opinion

One would hope they would be remembered for 'Being boring', 'Rent', and 'Can you forgive her?' instead.

Alas....

The two first are sad and the lyrics of the third one are not emotive (I don't like another PSB's story of a person who becomes gay and I hate the part when it says her girlfriend makes a fool of him in public. I don't understand the funny thing of that).

Another thing, only with Being Boring (not the others) everybody can feel identificated.

nickname wrote:

jamie1978 wrote:

amandote wrote:
If people will remeber PSB many years later, then "Go west" will be one of the reasons... just a personal opinion

One would hope they would be remembered for 'Being boring', 'Rent', and 'Can you forgive her?' instead.

Alas....

The two first are sad and the lyrics of the third one are not emotive (I don't like another PSB's story of a person who becomes gay and I hate the part when it says her girlfriend makes a fool of him in public. I don't understand the funny thing of that).

Another thing, only with Being Boring (not the others) everybody can feel identificated.

Well, I'm not gay, but I identify with "Go West" very much

amandote wrote:

nickname wrote:

jamie1978 wrote: One would hope they would be remembered for 'Being boring', 'Rent', and 'Can you forgive her?' instead.

Alas....

The two first are sad and the lyrics of the third one are not emotive (I don't like another PSB's story of a person who becomes gay and I hate the part when it says her girlfriend makes a fool of him in public. I don't understand the funny thing of that).

Another thing, only with Being Boring (not the others) everybody can feel identificated.

Well, I'm not gay, but I identify with "Go West" very much

Yes, because it talks about freedom and about love (it's similar to "somewhere" in some ways), the only thing which makes this song "gay" is the dialogue between Neil and the male choir but nothing else.

nickname wrote:
The two first are sad and the lyrics of the third one are not emotive (I don't like another PSB's story of a person who becomes gay and I hate the part when it says her girlfriend makes a fool of him in public. I don't understand the funny thing of that).

Another thing, only with Being Boring (not the others) everybody can feel identificated.

Well its not meant to be funny, really. Can you forgive her? is just a great song. And the 6/8 timing adds to a generally 'sinister' feel.

Songs do not HAVE to be upbeat, you know.

nickname wrote:
But not with the same elegance of the songs above.

I have to say that I think most people of a sound mind would find the Battleship Potemkin soundtrack more elegant than 'The boy who couldn't keep his clothes on'... (!)

jamie1978 wrote:

nickname wrote:
The two first are sad and the lyrics of the third one are not emotive (I don't like another PSB's story of a person who becomes gay and I hate the part when it says her girlfriend makes a fool of him in public. I don't understand the funny thing of that).

Another thing, only with Being Boring (not the others) everybody can feel identificated.

Well its not meant to be funny, really. Can you forgive her? is just a great song. And the 6/8 timing adds to a generally 'sinister' feel.

Songs do not HAVE to be upbeat, you know.

Well, I have told you why people don't feel the same. Overall, Go West is much better song and PSB know that (they always include it in their concerts) and it's the first track on POPART.

nickname wrote:
Well, I have told you why people don't feel the same. Overall, Go West is much better song and PSB know that (they always include it in their concerts) and it's the first track on POPART.

Well, you are wrong I'm afraid.

Neil has actually said that 'Can you forgive her' is one of his all-time favourites.

What the PSB's know is that Go West was a bigger hit, but appealing to the lowest common denominator does not make it a better song.

For a start, they actually wrote 'Can you forgive her?', do you really think they would hold a cover version like Go West in as much affection?

I do not deny the song was a hit, of course it was, but that doesnt make it any good. Crazy Frog anyone?

Can You Forgive Her won the 'Rank The Singles' topic, so Pet Shop Boys fans like it a lot. The general audience prefers the big hits like Go West, It's A Sin and West End Girls.

I prefer Can you forgive her? to Go West, but I also rate the latter pretty high.

I'm not agree. Neil think Can you forgive her? is one of the best songs for him. But he thiks Love is a catastrophe is as good as Being Boring (for example) or better and it's not true.

You can't compare Go West to Crazy Frog. Crazy Frog is a stupid thing but THE ORIGINAL SONG AXEL F by Harold Fatemeyer WASN'T A BAD SONG.

The opinion of PSB fans for me is as important as NO PSB fans. I think Go West is much better because it likes to everyone (psb and no psb fans) and Can you forgive? is more or less, only apreciated by PSB fans (which is not a good thing).

Can you forgive her? had the chance of being a GREAT hit (it was the first single of very, Go West was the second). EMI supported Very because they knew Go West was going to be a massive hit.

In their latests concerts PSB ALWAYS play Go West but they don't play Can you forgive her?. So I think it means something.

Go West does have meaning; it's an elegy to those who died of AIDS (including Pete Andreas). That's why Postscript follows it on the album.

Can You Forgive Her? is the better PSB record of the two, Go West is the better pop single. There would be precisely nothing wrong with being remember for Go West, at the end of the day, music is all about what the people like. If people prefer Go West (or Crazy Frog, for that matter) so be it.