Tuesday, December 7, 2010

6. “What Have I Done To Deserve This?”

Pet Shop Boys (featuring Dusty Springfield), Actually (EMI, 1987); composed by Chris Lowe, Neil Tennant & Allee Willis

Before this duo formally came out (wryly observing that they surprised no one), their hits shared a decided delicacy toward gendered pronouns and a comparable indelicacy toward the moral collisions the songs were about. Although this song is as quintessentially chromed as a Fairlight-driven ‘80s pop tune could be (and it went to No. 2), it is as much punk rock as the Sex Pistols’ “Holidays In The Sun,” which, as Dick Hebdige once observed, is both about and an example of semantic disorder. Dusty Springfield’s guest performance is key, because she imposes her sound on any aesthetic without sounding like she is part of it. Effectively, she is no less detached than Neil Tennant purports to be. The song is not a duet. They are not singing about “their” relationship; they are singing about “relationships” breaking apart semantically as well as emotionally, notwithstanding even the most cynical motives. One line goes, “Now you’ve left me with nothing – can’t take it.” Its counterpart one verse later goes, “Now I can do what I want to – FOREVER!” As willed optimism it rivals the Velvet Underground’s “Beginning To See The Light,” and puts a lump in my throat every time I hear it.

Note: For Advent, 25 secular essays about 25 songs, one per day from Dec. 1 through Dec. 25. Each essay is exactly 200 words long.

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