Yes - Track by Track commentary by Neil and Chris-Pet Shop Boys

[00:00.00] 作曲 : Brian Higgins/Chris Lowe/Jason Resch/Kieran Jones/Miranda Cooper/Neil Tennant/Nick Coler/Non Music Work/Owen Parker/Tim Powell [00:02.69]N: Hello! This is Neil. [00:03.81]C: I'm Chris. [00:04.75]N: We are the Pet Shop Boys, this is our audio commentary for our new album Yes. [00:09.78]This album was, we started writing at the beginning of 2007 when we were asked to write songs for Kylie Minogue [00:19.11]and then we continued to a year later, we'd been on tour. We decide we would like to work with the producers in Xenomania. [00:26.27]Because we'd liked the productions particularly for Girls Aloud. And this is the first single from the album, it's called [00:33.67]"Love, etc", and it's the first co-write on the album, first of three co-writes with Xenomania. [00:51.20] When we went to Xenomaina studios, they played us a few backing tracks that they sort of prepared thinking these has a bit [00:58.06] Pet Shop Boysy. At the end, … this is a very basic track with that synth riff at the top, and Chris was in particular, very struck by [01:11.81]it. On successive days get asking if we could hear it again, and it was explained to us that it's for a different project. Then we went back, [01:24.45]anyway we'd finally agreed that we would start to write over this backing track. [01:31.95] It was a basic backing track, with a "Doodoo Ding~" the riff, [01:38.68] Brian ought to had an idea for chant, which is where the "Don't Have To Be" idea, [01:49.01]I just thought the line "Don't have to be beautiful but it helps". [01:54.14] This melody here, is by Miranda Cooper in Xenomaina. [02:03.65] it's a very clever melody actually. [02:11.16]Pepole singing is like everyone in Xenomania. [02:16.33] Programmers, and guitarists and all sorts of people. But not Brian Higgins. [02:24.31]C: Or me… Is it? [02:27.49]N: You did! You took it loud. [02:29.69]C: I think Brian might take it. [02:34.04]N: It's got me in those. [02:37.77]C: It's a very different sounding record for us. I saw them working in Xenomania, it all depended upon getting the first single right and everything [02:48.63]else is slide into place. Normally we making album and sort of choose the singles afterwards, but with this we start with the single, then everything [02:58.40]else came afterwards. And we progressed with the whole project after we got this done. [03:10.78]N: It's been ages writing these lyrics done, believe it or not. They are very simple, [03:14.63]it was a very long discussion about " big bucks Hollywood star", [03:19.75]C: and Starbucks Hollywood star. [03:32.25](All Over The World) [03:35.68]N: This song All Over The World has a quite complicated history. [03:40.55]Because we wrote it as a totally different song called I'm Not Crying (I'm Laughing), [03:46.21]and it had sort of Swingbeat melody. [03:52.20]C: We actually tried to do this thing a bit like a dance record we heard in Monterrey in Mexico, [03:57.10] very complicated rhythm and impossible for us to dance to. [04:02.63] We tried to do it for memory but it didn't manage, it's just sound like some old swingbeat record. [04:10.05]Then we took it to Xenomania, we still didn't really like it, [04:14.34]with words on the backing track. Then we decided to progress [04:16.46]the Tchaikovsky elements and carry on the chord [04:22.00]progression from the Nutcracker Suite, kept the verses [04:25.79] as it was, but the new melody on top of them. Completely transformed it, really quite happy with it…… [04:36.96]Could be a Coca-Cola advert couldn't it? It's that good. [04:43.24]N: I had the chorus lyric in my notebook, "This is a song about boys and girls / you hear it playing all over the world" [04:52.11]it was meant to be a song about love songs, [04:54.66]I was worried it was too banal, but singing over this new backing track, I really liked it. [05:03.65]I think the verse melody sounds like David Bowie. [05:38.22]N: We leached choirs and chorus. For that x-factor moment. [05:57.82] When we finished it Brian Higgins said we just made the album 10% better. [06:19.84]C: Good bit. [06:24.82]It's a bit Kermit, but it's still very good. [06:28.25]N: Kermit? I think it's more Bowie than Kermit. [06:31.56]C: Oh, sorry. [06:33.37]N: Easy and predictable. [06:36.84]C: Now the lyrics changed here. You used to say "I love you". [06:46.99]N: I changed it because I think pop songs are more about sexual desire…than love. [07:02.30]Hence "I want you" more of "I love you". If that bit had been in [07:07.09]twice I would have sung "I love you" the second time. [07:23.36](Beautiful People) [07:27.28]N: This is a rare example that Pet Shop Boys doing things sounds like the 60s. It's called Beautiful People. [07:36.58]It was suggested because our friend playwriter [07:38.79]Jonathan Harvey Email us one day when we were songwriting for this album. He said he was doing a new TV series called Beautiful People. [07:50.58]Chris and I just [07:51.71] finished writing a song, so we thought we'll write a song called Beautiful People. The song sounded a bit folky, [08:01.49]and we told Jonathan, and he or someone [08:07.40]told us that they wanted something very upbeat and disco-y, so when we sent it to him told he probably wouldn't like it. [08:23.55]However when we met Brian Higgins, [08:26.29]he love the song, and there's two guys work in the attics of their houses down there, [08:37.38]they came up with this feel. [08:41.72]C: We said we'd like it to sounds like Mamas and Papas, California In The Sun. [08:46.69]N: California Dreaming. [08:48.00]C: Yeh. That sort of thing, 60s, the Coca- Cola advert possibably. And that was Johnny that on the [08:56.40]harmonica. Johnny Marr, good friend. [09:02.29]N: The orchestra is arrang by Owen Pallett who also last year did orchestra arrangements for The Last Shadow Puppets album. [09:15.17]C: We really like one of them. Don't we? [09:17.72]N: (LOL) … Miles Kane. [09:28.81]This German journalist has interviewed 60 people… the last question he asked was "what do you think of the Pet Shop Boys? " [09:41.05]and he gave us the CD, it's like Die Toten Hosen (*A German punk band) people. A lot of them were English speaking, one of them is Miles Kane, "what do [09:49.71]you think of the Pet Shop Boys? ", he goes, "God awful." (Haha) I don't mind really. [10:01.02]N: Johnny marr on guitar. [10:08.14]C:And what's it about? [10:11.94](Chris's laughter) [10:13.57]N: What's interesting is it's the opposite of Love etc. Love etc. is saying being rich and famous is not going to make you happy. Beautiful people is [10:25.39]someone wishing they're rich and famous. [10:27.88]C: Is that something to do with someone sitting at a bus stop? [10:30.74]N: Yeh. Sometimes you walk through London, the weather's ghastly and you wish you can get away, sort about that. [10:46.01]C: We are very fortunate to be the beautiful people. [10:57.07]N: That's what we called a Walton's moment at the end. [11:04.67](Did You See Me Coming?) [11:05.94]N: Johnny. [11:11.04]N: That's like the Pretenders，isn't it? This is one of the first songs wrote for the album. [11:21.44]C: The demo sounded pretty much like this. [11:24.36]N: Brian Higgins said it was 80% there. [11:31.64]C: So we added an extra 30% to make 110%. [11:40.77]C: It's that happy little pop song. [11:44.32]N: Lot of harmonies in the chorus. [11:54.82]I was worried the title sounded obscene. : Wasn't meant it. My mother used to say "they must have seen you coming" [12:04.63]if you'd been overcharged for something. So the idea Did You See Me Coming came from that. A guy meet someone in the pub, falls in love. [12:30.54]N: You don't have to be who's who to know what's what. I don't think it's original, I think I knit from somewhere, a quote from someone. [12:46.65]C: Another love song, isn't it? [12:48.89]N: It's a very positive love song. [12:52.89]C: There's a lot irony missing on this album. Isn't it? [12:56.29]N: I like the harmonies and chorus. The harmonies make the chorus, I think. [13:03.99] I didn't do any harmonies until our third album. [13:15.84]Slightly 70s or something. Very Pet Shop Boys middle bit. [13:54.35]C: Great ad-libs. [13:58.10]N: I'm going 110% on the ad libs. [14:00.96]C: I think that's a Dusty influence there. [14:03.38]N: It is. This is me trying to be Dusty thinking "What will Dusty do?" [14:08.92]C: You normally get hand gestures in studios with this as well. Imagine that. [14:13.45]N: I can only sing like this with the hand gestures - to get into character. [14:46.33](Vulnerable) [14:52.80]N: This song sounds very French. [14:59.43]A bit like "Voyage Voyage" or something. [15:15.85] It's quite similar with the demo isn't it? [15:17.47]C: Yeh, doesn't change that much. [15:25.62]N: It's called Vulnerable. This is the song I'm not singing from my own point of view. I'm sort if playing a character. It's actually someone we [15:36.80]know, who's got a very strong personality. But it's also vulnerable. [15:52.12]N: EMI suggested we did this as a duet. [16:00.11]There was talk of doing this, what's he called? Carla Bruni. [16:24.87]N: It's almost electro sounding track so far. [16:27.55]C: Hmm [16:47.95]N: The guitar is actually a sample played by Chris. [16:58.87] I love that bit. [17:00.74]C: That's the Xenomania. [17:02.42]N: Yeah, Ad-lib overdub. [17:18.40]C: We're all a bit vulnerable really, though, aren't we? [17:20.70]N: I think so. I think it probably really is about me. [17:36.51]C: Always like Spanish guitar. You'll get quite a bit of an… what's that album we did? Bilingual? [17:43.43]N: Yes. [18:02.99] 4 o'clock in the morning moments. [18:37.63]C: More love. [18:38.44]N: More love. [18:40.37]C: In Germany they've been called this the Love album. The journalists. [18:45.03]N: Is that what they said? [18:46.10]C: A lot of them did. [18:50.71]N: Actually Billborad wrote things saying our ablum is called Love. [18:53.38]C: There you go. What have we called it? …Yes. Yes. [18:59.91]N: It's the same thing really. [19:01.41]C: Yeh. It's a very positive album. [19:04.72]N: "Do you love me?" " Yes!" [19:07.46]C: Someone told us about this journalist. They could only answer Yes to things, and they took them halfway around the world. [19:14.69]N: A strategy. [19:16.37]C: A strategy. Whilst Pet Shop Boys actually would say NO to everything. Doesn't get you very far. [19:33.29](More than a dream) [19:34.22]C: That's an Xenomania backing track. [19:37.46]N: This had a quite long history. This start as a song called "Where the wild things are", me talking over this bit. This is pure Xenomania. While [19:57.58] I was in Xenomania, I will be singing melodies on dictaphone with Miranda Cooper. Chris was upstairs playing molodies on a keyboard. [20:09.34]This bit now, this melody I'm singing was one of Chris's melodies, it's so moody against it's chords. And I really like this bit. [20:33.90]It was written at the same time Barrack Obama was during the primaries against Hilary Clinton. I think there's a slight influence on it. This is Biblical, "Though the mountains [20:48.27] may divide, we can reach the sea". [20:51.50]C: Yes, it's our promise land. [20:53.93]N: Yeh, it is. [20:54.92]C: For the rave generation. （XD） [21:07.51]A little bit funky. [21:09.50]N: Funky. Love Is The Drug by Roxy Music. This sounds very French, that chord change. [21:29.28]This is the last chart we finished, in terms of writing. [21:45.33]C: I love that backing robot things. [21:49.87]N: They quite not what they mean, that's irrelevant. [22:08.86]C: So much hope on one album. It's unbelievable, isn't it? [22:11.78]N: What's gone wrong? [22:16.26]N: Now the middle bit coming up. Chris wrote the melody for, upstairs on the keyboard. It's a very different style to the rest of the songs. [22:31.81]C: We call it the Belinda Carlisle moment. [22:38.97]N: This bit of the song actually is come out of the original song Where the Wild Things Are. [22:52.78]C: She didn't sing Heaven is a place on earth, did she? [22:55.31]N: No, she sang "heaven is a place on earth", we are "Heaven is a better place" [22:57.58]C: Oh, okay. [23:10.02]N: Electronic noises. [23:16.55]C: We should point out Tim shall we? He's a wizz on the keyboard. Actually all of them are amazing in Xenomania, [23:23.07] there's roomfuls of talent, [23:25.00]all beavering away. It's quite a place. [23:41.38]N: When we wrote this I thought I was slightly cheesy. Now actually it's really grown on me. [24:27.36](Building A Wall) [24:34.64]N：This track changed quite a lot since the demo. [24:38.56]C: Yeah, it was Four on the floor (*A rhythm pattern used in disco and electronic dance music). [24:41.48]We paid a lot time working on this. [24:56.32]There's some really great musicians there, you just call someone in and a great bass player just suddenly appear. We weren't sure about the song at first, then [25:09.76]it ended up really good. [25:12.31]N: It's sort of New-Wave, I think. The words started of a poem I thought walking down the street. [25:18.84]I just thought the thing about a Berlin wall, fine wall. Actually my house did build a wall. Also big in Berlin. Coming from New Castle, we got the Roman Wall. [25:37.20] This is last bit of the song. I'm amazed about the Cold War. When I was a kid there was the atmosphere of the end of the war, New Castle's like bombsites. And [25:53.99]on the television the most thing we used to watch the The Man From UNCLE. Spy things. I like this…. [26:05.21]C: It's Beastie Boys moment, isn't it? [26:15.10]N: I like this chord change. I think I got quite moving tunes. [26:27.28]I had to fight about the ***the line Chris put on the record. I was always sing "where's that line?" [26:35.24] and in the middle bit it's very odd. This is me at school, doing Latin. We used to have trips through Roman Wall form school. [26:53.53]C: Yeh, I like this bit. The duet is a poem from someone else? [26:57.95]N: No, it's original. (It's original?! ) All by me. (Oh, okay. You just nick it.) No. [27:05.72]C: That's me. I was told to say that. [27:09.14]N: It's so romantic the other bit I thought. You did deflating. [27:12.19]C: That's my job~ [27:13.41]N: … ┑(￣Д ￣)┍ (SIGH) Hahaha…. [27:26.16]N: This line, comes from the novel More Work for the Undertaker by Margery Allingham. I'm building a wall~ they write the end ad-libs. Johnny's on this. And [27:49.16] Jason from Xenomania played guitar too. [28:19.08](King of Rome) [28:22.25]C: It's gone moody. [28:23.93]N: Second half of the album. If it's vinyl album, side two would be very different from side one. Side one's got more up songs, not all of them but most of them. [28:34.94]Side two's got stranger, more experimental songs. The idea of King of Rome comes from son of Napoleon Bonaparte, Emperor Francis. When he was born, he's called the [28:51.61]king of Rome, Napoleon is king of Italy. Four or five year after his birth, his father was defeated and sent to exile. His mother went to Italy or somewhere. [29:11.50]He had a quite lonely life, he died quite young of tuberculosis or pneumonia or something. [29:18.65]He haven't seen his father again. I was reading about it thinking it was a idea for song. [29:25.48]It's sort of emblem of loneliness, in the midst of wealth. [29:32.34]In the song the guy was singing traveling the world because his marriage or whatever was broken up, and [29:42.49] he's hoping his love or wife or husband, is gonna get back and contact with him. Like Noel coward traveled too. [29:52.57]To escape from…the sadness of a failed love affair not what his time. [29:59.45]C: Doesn't work, does it? [30:01.75]N: I think it works for a while, but not for ever. [30:03.99]C: You can't escape. [30:06.73]N: Lovely chord change. [30:07.97]C: Gorgeous. There's only a sentence. [30:18.36]N：I love this bit. My girly voice. [30:39.48]Brian Higgins used to this song " Baby Come Back To Me" [30:43.21]C: Or I Couldn't Be More Tragic. That was his other title for it. [30:54.13]There's a mixture of real brass and sample brass play that line and later on you get orchestral. [31:07.25] At this stage you don't know what's doing what. What sounds like a real drummer could be programmed, [31:11.48]a real drummer could be playing electronic sounds so really [31:15.61]nothing is what it seems anymore. [31:23.14]N: The idea this bit is like he's arrived in some wealthy estate in Middle East, [31:29.90]Dubai or somewhere, so The desert moon, and he's floating on a man made lagoon. [31:36.25]C: You got to look at that rhyme? [31:39.08]N: There's not many rhymes for "moon". As we all know. Haha [31:55.07]C: Breathy vocals there. [31:58.61]N: Yeah, treble breathy vocals. [32:02.98]Actually Tim in Xenomania does a very good personation of my breathy "Love Come Quickly". [32:15.86]That's heroic with those in it. There was a slight influence of the novel Rebecca [32:21.21]by Daphne de Maurier. That's why in the first line of first verses says Away from Manderley. There was a moment where the end [32:30.81]of the song I actually recited the first sentence of Rebecca, [32:39.42]something about "Last night I dreamt I went to Mandalay again" the gates were locked, entrance's forbidden, something like that. [33:15.56]The chord change for this bit is taken from from Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss. [33:28.56]Very good chord change. [33:51.51](Pandemonium) [33:53.81]C: We are back. This track sounds bit boozy to me. [34:09.49]C: To me this always sounded like a Knock On World. [34:13.66]N: By Amii Stewart. [34:14.59]C: By Amii Stewart. [34:19.75]N: Very 60s wooz. This was as we said before was written for Kylie Minogue. [34:30.71]It's called Pandemonium. When we were writing this song, I was thinking of it being [34:36.44]sung by a woman i.e. Kylie Minogue. [34:39.67]We had the title Pandemonium. [34:44.11]I also thought the Spice Girls could done this song really well. [34:48.78]I was thinking, the time was 2 years ago, when Kate Moss was going out with Pete Doherty, [34:54.44]so I actually sort of sung form the point of view of Kate Moss about Pete Doherty. [34:59.79]C: Sung by Kylie. Hahahaa. [35:02.71]N: Kylie's playing the role of Kate Moss. [35:05.40]C: Right, okay. [35:09.95]C: Johnny's back. He's on the harmonica again? [35:17.04]N: Johnny changed a few, he sort of adjusted. [35:24.19]C: Johnny hed this is a glam rock record. Then after we left the studio, took it back more electro. [35:33.00]N: This still sounds a bit glam rock. [35:39.53]C: Very up-lifting though, happy pop song. [35:48.05]More love. [35:49.73]N: More love, everyone. [35:51.04]C: We just feeling the love. [35:58.29]It's a euphonium. [36:03.79]N: Good little bit. [36:09.63]C: It's got a party atmosphere isn't it? [36:19.67]N: Back to Amii Stewart. [36:28.78]Brian Higgins said it was quint, the song. [36:45.35]We actually got a lot of people from Xenomania to do the "ooh"s and to go with "it's pandemonium", [36:55.57]including Bob Stanley from St Etienne. [37:00.30]C: the Dusty moment. [37:13.07]N: Great harmonica. [37:33.00](The Way It Used To Be) [37:35.73]C: This was the last of the three Xenomania backing tracks. [37:39.65]Loved this when I first heard it. [37:43.19]It's so vivid I just picture driving along the in the south France with this playing. [37:53.25]N: The song's called The Way It Used To Be, it's about two people meeting having a long love affair, [38:01.93]maybe married or something, and meet again years later, [38:06.28] the song's like filmed a story of a relationship. This bit is in the present. [38:12.89]Then the verse starts, goes back to the start of the relationship, when they [38:17.93]first fall in love. Love this bit, very French. [38:34.03]C: Another song about love. [38:39.69]N: Very nice bit of guitar there. [39:02.69]C: I like that line. "We're fearless when we're young." [39:14.20]N: Rome gets mentioned again. Miranda write this lyrics together. [39:28.44]C: It's a bit heartbreaking isn't it. [39:37.50]N: Love this electronic sound. [39:59.16]Now they're living in Manchester, in my film. [40:12.99]And they move to New York. Fatal mistake. [40:25.82]We thought doing this song as a duet, [40:28.25]with Tina Turner, imagine Tina Turner singing this bit. [40:44.59]Amazing synth by the piano. [41:15.45]C: Can't get enough of this song. If I was listening to this now I'll just rewind and start it again. [41:27.47]N: On my birthday last year, [41:35.80]we kept playing this track over and over again. [41:39.60]C: Just when you think this is (over), you know, you get more! Ugh. [41:44.51]N: Northern pain, I like that. [41:48.53]So they go to New York and want them ends up in Los Angeles Culver City blues, [41:54.38]and now they've met again. [41:57.37]C: On Facebook. [41:59.11]N: No, in person. Looking each other across the room. [42:04.72]Are they going to get back together? [42:06.77]C: We'll never know. [42:07.89]N: We'll never know. [42:12.70]C: Ping. [42:19.37](Legacy) [42:28.01]N: Very moody start. [42:39.91]N: I of course wanted the album to start with this track. [42:54.17]Those brass dubs remind me of " Nothing Has Been Proved". [43:03.06]C: The whole track's a bit like that. Isn't it? [43:04.74]N: It's got chords that most moody. I love the strange melody Chris wrote. [43:24.34]It's sort of about political leader, like Blair or Bush, someone leaving power, [43:30.06]and find it impossible to deal with. [43:38.64]Vocal of the song all the way through like Being Boring in octets, [43:43.13]low octive, double octive and a higher octive and doubled. [44:00.50]Owen Pallett fit the orchestra arrangement as well. [44:25.90]C: Good bit coming up, "They're raising an army". That's the moment. [44:42.99]N: I don't think it really matters whether the song actually means anything, I just like the sound of the words and the tune the chords there with orchestration. [44:52.60]Great string writing. [45:17.38]Brian put this little gap in, need a break. [46:26.78]Now I'm going to a Waltz, in French, for whatever reason. Sounds good. [47:04.75]I like the contrast of the Carphone Warehouse boy phoning about your mobile and this incredibly heroic background music in the background. [47:16.52]It's like returning to normal life - after Scapa Flow and raising an army and all the rest of it, [47:22.74]suddenly somebody's phoning you to ask whether you want to upgrade your mobile phone. [47:38.00]I'm so over it. Great build-up. [48:12.71]And that's the end, really. [48:16.32]C: That's it. It's all over. We are out of here. [48:34.24] What a legacy. (2333) [48:40.38] 混音工程师 : Pet Shop Boys