August 2004 Archives

Pet Shop Boys, Madonna, and, er, "borrowing"

Plus an attempt to define my life using only Sting song titles

I’ve been meaning to blog about this for a while, but Chris’s post about her life in Pet Shop Boys song titles (no, really) spurred me into action.

Think of the intro of Madonna’s Frozen.

Now listen to the very similar intro to the Pet Shop Boys’ recent single, Miracles.

Serendipity? Coincidence? Borrowing? Plagiarism? I have no idea, but the resemblance is startling, especially towards the end.

As it happens, though, both tracks are pretty damn good; I’ve been listening to the Pet Shop Boys track on very heavy rotation these last few weeks. And there’s no law against Crowded House writing a song called “Four Seasons In One Day” and then Sting writing “All Four Seasons” - although, in perhaps an example of karma telling rich and famous people not to take the piss, Sting’s version is, uncharacteristically, not as good as the Neil Finn original.

Which ties rather neatly into Chris’s BSI-Certified ChallengeTM, so here goes, using Sting song titles for reasons that, upon a careful reading of my blog or a very quick perusal of my domain’s home page shoud be obvious. Warning: some of these are cop-outs.

1. Are you male or female?: Rock Steady
2. Describe yourself: It’s Probably Me (or, if covers are allowed, How Insensitive.)
3. How do some people feel about you?: Too Much Information, or, possibly, Don’t Stand So Close To Me ;-)
4. How do you feel about yourself?: I Was Brought To My Senses
5. Describe your girl/boyfriend: She’s Too Good For Me
6. Where would you rather be?: Inside
7. Describe what you want to be: Tomorrow We’ll See
8. Describe how you live: All Would Envy (wishful thinking, I think)
9. Describe how you love: A Thousand Years
10. Share a few words of wisdom: Love Is Stronger Than Justice - I’d like for it to have been Truth Hits Everybody but, sadly, I don’t believe that.

I refrained from saying, for question 5, “My Funny Friend And Me”. Similarly, the answer to question 9 is not “Fill Her Up” ;-) - and “Mad About You” would have been too obvious. And I am not renaming this blog “Book Of My Life”.