Born On This Day- July 10th...Pet Shop Boy Neil Tennant

I was driving across the University Bridge in beautiful, exciting Seattle on a rainy autumn afternoon circa 1985. I heard a song on the radio & I was gobsmacked. I had to pull over once I had crossed the bridge. The song was called West End Girls. I had crossed the bridge to the world of Pet Shop Boys & I have never been the same. The lyrics & singing of Neil Tennant have been a major part of my life since that afternoon. I think I have everything by them including imports, rarities & B sides, including a big fat "coffee table" book of their concert sets & costumes. Pet Shop Boys have sold 50 million records, & have had 42 Top 30 Singles & 22 Top Ten Hits. They released a terrific new album- YES in April of this year. Pet Shop Boys have been making original & literate music for 24 years. Before becoming a musician Neil was a writer & editor of comic books & he interviewed many rock stars for the music press. I think that the insightful, urbane, dry, witty lyrics by Neil Tennant are among the finest ever written:

BEING BORING
I came across a cache of old photos
And invitations to teenage parties
"Dress in white" one said, with quotations
From someone's wife, a famous writer
In the nineteen-twenties
When you're young you find inspiration
In anyone who's ever gone
And opened up a closing door
She said: "We were never feeling bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end"
When I went I left from the station
With a haversack and some trepidation
Someone said: "If you're not careful
You'll have nothing left and nothing to care for
In the nineteen-seventies"
But I sat back and looking forward
My shoes were high and I had scored
I'd bolted through a closing door
I would never find myself feeling bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend
Now I sit with different faces
In rented rooms and foreign places
All the people I was kissing
Some are here and some are missing
In the nineteen-nineties
I never dreamt that I would get to be
The creature that I always meant to be
But I thought in spite of dreams
You'd be sitting somewhere here with me
'Cause we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never holding back or worried that
Time would come to an end
We were always hoping that, looking back
You could always rely on a friend
And we were never being boring
We had too much time to find for ourselves
And we were never being boring
We dressed up and fought, then thought: "Make amends"
And we were never being boring
We were never being bored
'Cause we were never being boring
We were never being bored