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Neil Tennant on his songs about Morrissey in Behavior reissue liner notes
posted by davidt on Wednesday May 09 2001, @09:00AM

 Joemoz writes:

This is what Neil Tennant from Pet Shop Boys says about a couple of his songs ('Miserablism' and 'Getting Away With It') in the liner notes to the reissue of their album Behaviour. Reissues of all their albums excluding the latest will be out next month.

Miserablism:
"I think we wrote this in the beginning of 1990, during the shoe-gazing period, when Morrissey was huge as a solo artist. It's another song sort of written from the point of view of being Morrissey - the first song like that being 'Getting away with it', The Electronic single, which I wrote most of the words of. 'Getting away with it' is looking at Morrissey's persona of being miserable and all the rest of it, and saying that he's been getting away with it for years. It's meant to be humorous. 'Miserablism' is a satire, a little like 'How can you expect to be taken seriously?' What bugged me about the shoe-gazers always looking really miserable is that people think someone like that is really serious. It's something that endlessly bugs me in pop music - that someone with the style of being serious is always accepted as being serious. And also that anyone being playful is then not taken seriously, whereas actually being playful is actually more difficult than being 'serious', and possibly can end up being a lot more serious at the same time. The words to this song were inspired by someone telling me that they asked their father on his deathbed what it was like, and he said: 'is is, isn't isn't'. And I thought that was a great quote, and a very kind of miserablist way of looking at the world. There's no romance - the only thing that exists is what really exists."

Lyrics for the two songs:
Miserablism
Getting Away With It

 
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    Neil Tennant on his songs about Morrissey in Behavior reissue liner notes | Log in/Create an Account | Top | 23 comments | Search Discussion
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    Amazing!!!!! (Score:0)
    I have always thought that "Miserablism" was one of the best Pet Shop Boys songs! If you have not heard it, check it out!
    Anonymous -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @10:11AM (#10938)
      is is and isn't isn't. (Score:1)
      God bless neil tennant!
      neal -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @12:05PM (#10952)
      (User #799 Info)
        so many songs (Score:1)
        Almost every singer has a song about Maudlin Maurice and he's being told off in so many of 'em. (' want titles?).Hey , that's because they resent him , but care , in a twisted pissed off way .They're trying to help. Is he listening though?
        "make sure you always frown"
        "so English , frowning "
        he's listening ,somehow . A part of him is listening and taking notes.
        But it stops right there.
        1230 -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @12:48PM (#10956)
        (User #2345 Info)
         "In the shadow of your sun."
          Go Neil Tennant! (Score:1)
          Now this is awesome! I used to be the biggest PSB fan around (I'm still a member of the fan club), I have all PSB releases, a bunch of rarities, articles, interviews, books, etc. However, you should put emphasis on 'used to be' when reading this. What happened was that back in '97 when I read 'Pet Shop Boys Literally' and 'Pet Shop Boys vs. America' (both by author Chris Heath) I noticed that Neil Tennant kept referring to some guy called Morrissey - saying stuff about how fabulous Morrissey was and how he thought Morrissey was the best song writer Britain had ever given birth to, etc. I had heard the name 'Morrissey' mentioned millions of times before but I'd never really bothered to check him out - not until I decided that if Neil Tennant recommended Morrissey then he'd definitely have to be worth a listen...........ironically that 'listen' marked the ending of my time as PSB worshipper number 1 but it also marked the beginning of my time as a Morrissey fanatic. However, I have to say that PSB still has a great great place in my heart and even now, when I listen to songs like 'A new life' and 'Bet she's not your girlfriend' I can still be in doubts whether I really prefer Moz to PSB..........but I guess Moz wins with a few points ;) My point is that Neil Tennant is the only songwriter that comes close to owning some of the same songwriting talent that we all love so much about Moz and it makes me happy to see that Neil Tennant is quoted on these pages - quotes that show his appreciation of Moz
          mozzergirl -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @12:55PM (#10957)
          (User #2801 Info)
           Will you put your arms around me, I won't tell anybody
            getting away with it (Score:0)
            bernie summer of electrics hates morrissey! he would be devastated if he realised that the brilliant 'getting away with it' was written about his least favourite singer!

            neil o'peel
            Anonymous -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @01:03PM (#10959)
              What's his point? (Score:2, Interesting)
              I'm not sure what Tennant is trying to say here. He says what bugs him about the "shoe-gazers" is that they are taken seriously because they have a serious style...is he counting morrissey among this crowd? Or is he saying that Morrissey is playful and therefore not taken seriously as an artist? I find that the latter is much more of the case with Morrissey. As far as American critics are concerned, 9 out of 10 references to him represent the cliched, reductionist view that "Morrissey is just so depressing," with no greater appreciation.

              And as far as the song "Miserablism" is concerned, to me it hints of easy-answer pop-psychology with its implicit critique of, well, miserablism. It's basically saying "life is only bad because you define it that way."

              Sell it to Oprah, honey.

              If anyone could appreciate Morrissey's sense of irony, it should be Tennant, since he professes an admiration of ironic wit. Still, though I find much of what PSB do amazing ("Can You Forgive Her" would make a great cover for Morrissey, I think), I find their wittier moments are too often undone by a contrived, saccharine kind of vibe. And sometimes they're downright boring. Sometimes they are far worse then even Erasure when it comes to gay melodrama. I think Tennant is much closer to the kind of crap Elton John (particularly the Tim Rice songs) churns out than he is to Morrissey.

              Xhris -- Wednesday May 09 2001, @01:50PM (#10967)
              (User #1858 Info)
              • Re:What's his point? by Anonymous (Score:0) Wednesday May 09 2001, @02:05PM
                • Re:What's his point? by blurjose (Score:1) Wednesday May 09 2001, @05:36PM
                  • Re:What's his point? by TOTBCR (Score:1) Wednesday May 09 2001, @07:44PM
                    • being boring? by Anonymous (Score:0) Thursday May 10 2001, @02:37AM
                      • Boring by Anonymous (Score:0) Thursday May 10 2001, @02:31PM
                        • Re:Boring by delicado (Score:1) Wednesday June 06 2001, @08:31AM
                      • Re:What's his point? by Anonymous (Score:0) Thursday May 10 2001, @02:46AM
                        • Re:What's his point? (Score:2, Interesting)
                        The statements he made are rather unorganised and a bit confusing, but perhaps someone who's much more versed in Pet Shop interviews and lyrics will have and easier time getting at his point than those who aren't. I'm a fan of their albums and have have been for years to this day, but I really never knew about what either of them thought about Morrissey.
                            It really seems to me that a whole lot of artist and wannabe artist always have something to say about Morrissey. I guess the case might be that the more Moz ignores them all, the more they all obsess over him.
                            Some of the singers and musicians that have said things(and some who've written songs) about him over the years I think are cool, but I've yet to come across any songs at all where Morrissey himself has ever bothered to say much about any one from his generation or of the more modern one.

                        Either way, Tennant is a solid writer, at least. One of the best of his generation easily. And it never hurts to have someone the ranks of Tennant to talk about you, much less to have your work in good favor with him.
                        Golden Lights -- Sunday May 13 2001, @05:32PM (#11083)
                        (User #100 Info)
                         "There were 2 many of us.We had access 2>2 many of 2 much money...2>much equipment and little by little we went insane."
                        [ Parent ]
                        Neil Tennant (Score:0)
                        ...and Morrissey reportedly hates the Pet Shop Boys..ah well...
                        Anonymous -- Friday May 11 2001, @02:34AM (#11039)
                          Murder was the case (Score:1)
                          Dear Jim,

                          It is not right for people to be 'getting away with it'.

                          Sincerely,

                          Orenthal James Simpson
                          Jim Rome -- Friday May 11 2001, @10:14AM (#11052)
                          (User #720 Info | http://www.jimrome.com/ )
                           Rome's Smack-tionary coming soon....yeah, this time I mean it.
                            I love Marr more than Marr loves me (Score:1)
                            After first reading this a couple of weeks ago, it just dawned on me the ultimate irony. Didn't Marr play on that Electronic album. I wonder how he feels about that song?
                            herverylowness -- Monday May 21 2001, @07:36PM (#11615)
                            (User #2398 Info)
                              Ouch! (Score:0)
                              Miserabilism is a sharp and humourous critique of a "comfortable" attitude some artists adopted (Morrissey included) and that became a trend in the shoegazer period. Of course this doesn't mean
                              that Morrissey is also a brilliant songwriter. I also like the shoegazers but I really think Neil Tennant has a point.
                              Anonymous -- Wednesday June 20 2001, @04:51PM (#13182)

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