The Pet Shop Boys are probably the most successful duo in british chart history, consisting of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe - they were producing intellectual synth pop long before it became fashionable. They've been hugely influential in the development of dance music but, they only really came together as a result of a long list of cooincidences. Neil was a journalist, at the time he was working for pop magazine 'Smash Hits', Chris was training to be an architect - he'd always enjoyed 'designing houses' since he was young. Both of them had performed with rock bands, Neil played hippy guitar music, Chris played rock and roll standards. But they both liked the new euro-Disco / Hi-NRG sounds and in particular the work of american dance producer Bobby 'O' Orlando. They cut a demo tape and for 90% of bands that would be it.... but Neil was sent to New York to review a Police concert and interview Sting. In the same building Bobby O had offices, so Neil pitched the tape to him and the rest is history.
Anyway, back to this record, it was their first collaboration with 60's legend Dusty Springfield, but, Neil started writing the song back when he was still working as a Journalist. Later, during the recording of the first album they Neil and Chris fleshed out the song with the help of Allee Willis, but the duet wasn't arranged in time. Which is probably a good thing, if the record company had pushed we may have ended up with some lesser collaborator, but, Dusty Springfield was Neils first choice for the song.
The lyrics are essentially a conversation between a young man and an older woman who've had an affair which has since ended. You can pretty much guess where it goes from there, Neil is never the greatest singer in the world but his songwriting is always brilliant. Dusty adds some real strength to the vocals that's lacking in any other PSB release, easily the best thing they ever recorded.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000002UD7/002-2299184-2356832?SubscriptionId=15AZP1DJ4V427Z6NMB02
