I'm With Stupid (A Lyrical Discussion)
Posted: Fri 17 Mar 2006, 7:11 pm
“The great Bermuda Triangle’s a mystery to be sure…” trills Spitting Image’s Neil Tennant on the latest Pet Shop Boys single “I’m with Stupid.” Well, maybe not, but in the rush to identify which dust-blown PSB track the new single harks back to, I felt the satirical puppet show spoof was as close a match as any to the worryingly generic I'm with stupid. Thankfully, the track is saved by a lyric worthy of Tennant’s name and comes replete with couplets that stand comparison with any he has penned.
It’s been unusual this week listening to I'm with stupid for the first time. In the past, when hearing the debut of an album-trailing single, I’ve been intoxicated with excitement or left flattened by disappointment. This one heralded a new experience: ambivalence. There’s sparse drama in a production that tries terribly hard to add excitement to a tune that offers little in the way of thrills, and there’s precious little pathos to compensate. Whereas PSB singles tend towards bombast or poignancy, I'm with stupid walks its own faintly ridiculous path to the White House, plays it for laughs, and gets a few.
“See you on the TV, call you every day, fly across the ocean just to let you get your way,” hums Tony Blair sadly in his Downing Street office. “No one understands me where I’m coming from, why would I be with someone who’s obviously so dumb,” he continues in a stark reference to how his “special relationship” with Glennjridge is perceived by his less xenophobic countrymen. This, of course, is a couplet that deserves a place in the rarefied pantheon of classic one-liners that made Rent, So Hard, and Can You Forgive Her? discographical monuments. Soon we’re on the steps of the White House, as Tony recounts his love: “Love comes, love grows” – oooer missus – “When you rise to meet me, take my hand to greet me,” and later we have the perfect picture of that moment: “You grin, I pose, it’s not about sincerity, everybody knows…”
The lyric is tremendously clever and self-consciously hilarious, but not as subtle as some may contend. While Joe Public will hear it as the usual gay PSB love song (believe me, he will - if he hears it at all), it isn’t deft enough to double-up as a gay love song involving anybody other than our two favourite war criminals – with the possible exception of lovelorn couple Satan and Saddam of South Park fame. The meaning is savagely obvious to anybody prepared to decipher Neil’s sometimes veiled diction. From the very first line, we’re dealing with an obviously famous object of affection. The “special relationship” is quickly invoked, and we’ve even got a reference to hawks and doves. The million-dollar moron could only be from Texas, though less affluent types have been known to come from the New York area.
Moving swiftly on, the busy lyric chatters away excitedly and always keeps you interested, but I wonder how much of a novelty it will sound a few years from now. Therein lies the irony. It is something of a novelty record in that its subject matter is so cuttingly specified to make it almost redundant to any other time and place. This is the satirical second movement of “I Get Along,” at once brilliantly obvious and perfectly aimed. Essentially, while the former hid its apparent inspiration behind an oblique sing-along lyric, I'm with stupid is far too preposterous to be anything other than the razor-sharp spoof of our beloved Christian fundamentalist power brokers that it is. In that sense, it ties its meaning so closely to its protagonists as to be the antithesis of the usually timeless PSB record. This one’s as timeless as a dinosaur.
Nevertheless, that’s a strength here. The sheer ludicrousness of it all makes for biting satire. Whether it makes for a great PSB single is a matter for another day.
Now, kiss me. I'm Irish.
Drico.
It’s been unusual this week listening to I'm with stupid for the first time. In the past, when hearing the debut of an album-trailing single, I’ve been intoxicated with excitement or left flattened by disappointment. This one heralded a new experience: ambivalence. There’s sparse drama in a production that tries terribly hard to add excitement to a tune that offers little in the way of thrills, and there’s precious little pathos to compensate. Whereas PSB singles tend towards bombast or poignancy, I'm with stupid walks its own faintly ridiculous path to the White House, plays it for laughs, and gets a few.
“See you on the TV, call you every day, fly across the ocean just to let you get your way,” hums Tony Blair sadly in his Downing Street office. “No one understands me where I’m coming from, why would I be with someone who’s obviously so dumb,” he continues in a stark reference to how his “special relationship” with Glennjridge is perceived by his less xenophobic countrymen. This, of course, is a couplet that deserves a place in the rarefied pantheon of classic one-liners that made Rent, So Hard, and Can You Forgive Her? discographical monuments. Soon we’re on the steps of the White House, as Tony recounts his love: “Love comes, love grows” – oooer missus – “When you rise to meet me, take my hand to greet me,” and later we have the perfect picture of that moment: “You grin, I pose, it’s not about sincerity, everybody knows…”
The lyric is tremendously clever and self-consciously hilarious, but not as subtle as some may contend. While Joe Public will hear it as the usual gay PSB love song (believe me, he will - if he hears it at all), it isn’t deft enough to double-up as a gay love song involving anybody other than our two favourite war criminals – with the possible exception of lovelorn couple Satan and Saddam of South Park fame. The meaning is savagely obvious to anybody prepared to decipher Neil’s sometimes veiled diction. From the very first line, we’re dealing with an obviously famous object of affection. The “special relationship” is quickly invoked, and we’ve even got a reference to hawks and doves. The million-dollar moron could only be from Texas, though less affluent types have been known to come from the New York area.
Moving swiftly on, the busy lyric chatters away excitedly and always keeps you interested, but I wonder how much of a novelty it will sound a few years from now. Therein lies the irony. It is something of a novelty record in that its subject matter is so cuttingly specified to make it almost redundant to any other time and place. This is the satirical second movement of “I Get Along,” at once brilliantly obvious and perfectly aimed. Essentially, while the former hid its apparent inspiration behind an oblique sing-along lyric, I'm with stupid is far too preposterous to be anything other than the razor-sharp spoof of our beloved Christian fundamentalist power brokers that it is. In that sense, it ties its meaning so closely to its protagonists as to be the antithesis of the usually timeless PSB record. This one’s as timeless as a dinosaur.
Nevertheless, that’s a strength here. The sheer ludicrousness of it all makes for biting satire. Whether it makes for a great PSB single is a matter for another day.
Now, kiss me. I'm Irish.
Drico.
