Very. A blog about Pet Shop Boys.

I’m fairly sure my long-held apathy for “West End girls” stems from overexposure to the song. As Brandon Flowers from The Killers pointed out on Pet Shop Boys: A Life In Pop, “West End girls” shows up on every 80s flashback lunch hour radio program across the country and I’d long ago reached the point would rather hear a remix or live version of the song than the original. In fact, I think the writing of this prompted the first self-chosen listening of the song in over a decade. (Shuffle play, however, does ensure that I do hear it as often as the iPod algorithm dictates.)

“West End girls” wasn’t an instant hit, despite what many people believe; in fact, the track was released twice, with two other singles (”Opportunities” and “One more chance”) being released in the interim. The original, Bobby Orlando-produced version of the track was put out through on Epic Records in April of 1984, failing to enter the the UK charts while becoming a minor dancefloor hit in France, The Netherlands, and the States.

It was only after Stephen Hague significantly reworked the song, removing the stripped-down New York City “street” sound that Orlando championed in acts like The Flirts and replacing it with a slightly gloomy atmosphere while slowing down Tennant’s delivery, that a genuine “hit” was created. The redone version of the song was released in October of 1985 and rapidly climbed charts worldwide, ironically giving the duo the American success they’d implicitly been asking for by having Bobby Orlando create the original version of the record.

This combination of roundabout origins and uniquely English nature of the lyrics makes the album and Hague versions of “West End girls” sound surprisingly funky, a stark groove and minimal bassline contrasting nicely with Tennant’s infamously deadpan vocals that alternate rapping and singing from verse to chorus.

I remember being fascinated by the places named when I first heard this track: “Lake Geneva” and “Finland Station” were huge, imaginary spaces to me, imagined London Underground stops instead of ports of call during Lenin’s retreat to Russia just before the Revolution, and I’d only known of the “West End” vaguely, at best knowing that it was a part of London. Especially fascinating to me is the nature of the lyrics, especially when taken holistically with the rest of the track. “West End girls” serves as a quirky pop song and quasi-fictional travelogue, a sexual undercurrent readily apparent not just because of the seductive bassline and beats, but for the verbal content:

Too many shadows, whispering voices
faces on posters, too many choices
If? When? Why? What?
How much have you got?
Have you got it? Do you get it?
If so, how often?
Which do you choose
a hard or soft option?
(How much do you need?)

And, later:

You got a heart of glass or a heart of stone?
Just you wait ’til I get you home

I distinctly remember these lines standing out, the first time anything overtly sexual had hit my ears as such. You’ll have to bear with me: I was 12. I’d just started to figure out what girls were for besides annoying the crap out of me.

It may not be my favorite Pet Shop Boys song, but it’s certainly the most important Pet Shop Boys song. A worldwide number one that still gets regular airplay today while establishing the group’s aesthetic early on, not just through “West End girls” itself, but in the sleeve’s design as well as the music video directed by photographer Eric Watson and Andy Morahan? Hard to beat that. On a personal note, the dour lyrics (how many other pop songs at the time told you “sometimes, you’re better off dead?”), combined with a danceability probably helped define tastes I still have to this day.

My Favorite Version(s): Sasha’s 1994 remix, the live versions from Concrete or Montage, or the Extended Dance Version featured on Disco.

This entry was posted on Monday, July 16th, 2007 at 10:00 am and is filed under Song Commentary.