Music Review: Pet Shop Boys "West End Girls"
Pet Shop Boys
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West End Girls
Album: Please
Year: 1985
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, a British disco group, discuss class distinction between West End and East End of London in the remarkable "West End Girls."
Unfortunately, the recent terrorist attacks in London occured in the West End, close to Hyde Park (which if it weren't for Wikipedia I wouldn't know this at all.) Take care, Britons. I'm pulling for you.
Opening with the a bleak synthesizer and the ocean sounds (like water crashing to the sand), which setting a despondent tone. Tennant's destined to be a poor East Ender all his life.
Tennant, an East Ender, has left Newham to visit Bloomsbury in the West End area. As he walks around the area, he crumbles. Bloomsbury is flourishing with the British Museum and well-groomed gardens. University students walk to their classes while young professionals take in business lunches at the expensive restraurants. Lowe wishes he was fortunate enough to have grown up in the area. Stations are broken down and in dire need of repair. According to Wikipedia, Newham is "one of the more deprived areas."
He's angry that due to what side of the city he lives on, he does not have the same advantages as though who do live in the West End. He starts causing a public disturbance at a restraraunt, which causes the attention of the local police. However, he's headed to the subway (American term, I know.) to escape to a run down bar where at least he's feels comfortable and equal. ("Sometimes you're better off dead/There's a gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head/You think you're mad, too unstable/Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables/In a restaurant, in a West End town/Call the police, there's a madman around/Running down underground to a dive bar/In a West End town.")
He views the West End as substance-free and plastic. Everyone is the same. As an East End guy, he will never marry a West End girl. However, he wishes he could see how the rich half lives by dating a West End girl. ("In a West End town a dead end world/The East End boys and West End girls/In a West End town a dead end world/The East End boys and West End girls/
West End girls.")
He sees that part of the city as corrupt as is. There are too many people milling about, making dirty deals. There are bulletin boards which advertise the latest in European chic. There are too many places and people to turn. It's overwhelming in its spaciousness. However, money is necessary to make the decisions. He wonders if the West Enders are the same as him or if they really don't have much money but appear only to do so. He wants to ask someone how would be able to move up a class and how often he would have to do it. Do any of the decisions involve learning many of life's hardest lessons or is it something as easy as getting a job in one of the corner stores? How much money does it take to get there?("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?")
After the chorus is a jazzy, urbane saxophone solo accompanies Tennant's religious, choral-like "ahhs." A splendid moment. The chorus is sung again.
He wonders if the West Girls are fragile or rough. However, once he is able to snare one, their attitudes will change. He says they are just like him: directionless and impulsive. People like them exist everywhere, in the United States to Manchester. He asks a West End girl if she has traveled to many places. ("You've got a heart of glass or a heart of stone/Just you wait 'til I get you home/We've got no future, we've got no past/Here today, built to last/In every city, in every nation/From Lake Geneva to the Finland station/(How far have you been?") The religious, choral-like "ahhs" are underneath the Lowe's vocals, creating a worshipful tone. Although Lowe may despise that part of the city, he respects it and hopes to live in the flats overlooking the British Museum one day.
The chorus ends the single.
The perceptive "West End Girls" finds Tennant wandering the city and observes the people there. However, its bring up two major questions: could living in a better, rich section of the city change the path of your life? Lowe answers yes to the first question. Living there, he would accomplish his dreams and wouldn't have to struggle through working at the docks like he has to now. The second question: are the rich the same as the poor? Lowe answers yes to that question also. He believes, whether well-off or working-class, people do not know who they are. People will live their lives without much thought of how the decisions they make now will affect them in the future.
Album: Please
Year: 1985
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, a British disco group, discuss class distinction between West End and East End of London in the remarkable "West End Girls."
Unfortunately, the recent terrorist attacks in London occured in the West End, close to Hyde Park (which if it weren't for Wikipedia I wouldn't know this at all.) Take care, Britons. I'm pulling for you.
Opening with the a bleak synthesizer and the ocean sounds (like water crashing to the sand), which setting a despondent tone. Tennant's destined to be a poor East Ender all his life.
Tennant, an East Ender, has left Newham to visit Bloomsbury in the West End area. As he walks around the area, he crumbles. Bloomsbury is flourishing with the British Museum and well-groomed gardens. University students walk to their classes while young professionals take in business lunches at the expensive restraurants. Lowe wishes he was fortunate enough to have grown up in the area. Stations are broken down and in dire need of repair. According to Wikipedia, Newham is "one of the more deprived areas."
He's angry that due to what side of the city he lives on, he does not have the same advantages as though who do live in the West End. He starts causing a public disturbance at a restraraunt, which causes the attention of the local police. However, he's headed to the subway (American term, I know.) to escape to a run down bar where at least he's feels comfortable and equal. ("Sometimes you're better off dead/There's a gun in your hand and it's pointing at your head/You think you're mad, too unstable/Kicking in chairs and knocking down tables/In a restaurant, in a West End town/Call the police, there's a madman around/Running down underground to a dive bar/In a West End town.")
He views the West End as substance-free and plastic. Everyone is the same. As an East End guy, he will never marry a West End girl. However, he wishes he could see how the rich half lives by dating a West End girl. ("In a West End town a dead end world/The East End boys and West End girls/In a West End town a dead end world/The East End boys and West End girls/
West End girls.")
He sees that part of the city as corrupt as is. There are too many people milling about, making dirty deals. There are bulletin boards which advertise the latest in European chic. There are too many places and people to turn. It's overwhelming in its spaciousness. However, money is necessary to make the decisions. He wonders if the West Enders are the same as him or if they really don't have much money but appear only to do so. He wants to ask someone how would be able to move up a class and how often he would have to do it. Do any of the decisions involve learning many of life's hardest lessons or is it something as easy as getting a job in one of the corner stores? How much money does it take to get there?("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?")
After the chorus is a jazzy, urbane saxophone solo accompanies Tennant's religious, choral-like "ahhs." A splendid moment. The chorus is sung again.
He wonders if the West Girls are fragile or rough. However, once he is able to snare one, their attitudes will change. He says they are just like him: directionless and impulsive. People like them exist everywhere, in the United States to Manchester. He asks a West End girl if she has traveled to many places. ("You've got a heart of glass or a heart of stone/Just you wait 'til I get you home/We've got no future, we've got no past/Here today, built to last/In every city, in every nation/From Lake Geneva to the Finland station/(How far have you been?") The religious, choral-like "ahhs" are underneath the Lowe's vocals, creating a worshipful tone. Although Lowe may despise that part of the city, he respects it and hopes to live in the flats overlooking the British Museum one day.
The chorus ends the single.
The perceptive "West End Girls" finds Tennant wandering the city and observes the people there. However, its bring up two major questions: could living in a better, rich section of the city change the path of your life? Lowe answers yes to the first question. Living there, he would accomplish his dreams and wouldn't have to struggle through working at the docks like he has to now. The second question: are the rich the same as the poor? Lowe answers yes to that question also. He believes, whether well-off or working-class, people do not know who they are. People will live their lives without much thought of how the decisions they make now will affect them in the future.
