Jealousy (Pet Shop Boys song)

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"Jealousy"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Behaviour
B-side"Losing My Mind"
Released27 May 1991 (1991-05-27)[1]
GenreSynth-pop
Length
  • 4:47 (album version)
  • 4:14 (7-inch version)
  • 7:54 (extended mix)
LabelParlophone
Songwriter(s)
Producer(s)
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You)" / "How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously?"
(1991) 		"Jealousy"
(1991) 		"DJ Culture"
(1991)

"Jealousy" is a song originally written in 1982 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, recorded for their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). It was released on 27 May 1991 as the album's fourth and final single in a slightly remixed form, which appears on both Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits albums. It has also been covered by British band Dubstar, and was performed by Robbie Williams at the Pet Shop Boys' 2006 BBC Radio 2 concert at the Mermaid Theatre, a recording of which was released on the Pet Shop Boys' live album Concrete.

Background[edit]

In the Further Listening 1990–1991 booklet (enclosed with the 2001 two-CD re-release of Behaviour), Neil Tennant states that "Jealousy" is the first proper song ever composed by the duo. Chris Lowe composed the melody at the piano in his parents' home and, as he felt it should be a ballad, asked Tennant to write an intense-sounding lyric. Tennant complied by writing a lyric about the simplest form of jealousy: infidelity suspicions aroused by someone's indifferent or disrespectful attitudes towards another person's feelings (such as making his/her partner wait all night for a phone call which never comes). The song was then left off three albums because the duo were waiting for legendary film composer Ennio Morricone to agree to score the orchestral arrangement for the song. Morricone's answer never came, and Harold Faltermeyer ended up doing the arrangement for the song's release on Behaviour.

Versions[edit]

The album version, coming at the end of Behaviour, closed off the album with a sampler-based orchestral outro. The single version is slightly remixed, and uses a real orchestra instead during the outro. The extended version of the single version lengthens the outro while adding an orchestral intro as well; in addition, Neil Tennant recites a quote from William Shakespeare's Othello (Act III, Scene III) over both sequences:

Not poppy, nor mandragora,
Nor all the drowsy syrups of the world,
Shall ever medicine thee to that sweet sleep
Which thou owedst yesterday.

The extended version is also the arrangement performed live with Robbie Williams.

Dubstar's version, recorded for a covers album produced for EMI's centennial anniversary, is more sparsely arranged and comes to a full stop, with no additional instrumentation, with the last word of the lyrics.

"Jealousy" is also one of the songs covered on Goes Petshopping, the debut album by Pet Shop Boys tribute band West End Girls.

B-side[edit]

"Losing My Mind", taken from the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, was based on a demo originally recorded as a proposal for the Liza Minnelli album Results. Its release here follows the releases of Minnelli's version on both Results and as the lead single from the album. As with the A-side, "Losing My Mind" was released in an extended mix (the "Disco mix") on the 12-inch single. The Disco Mix of "Losing My Mind" also appears on the 2001 re-release of Introspective, which implies it was recorded between 1988 and 1989.

Critical reception[edit]

Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Introducing Neil Tennant in a new role as balladeer. Different but still 'pet sounds' as usual."[2] Barbara Ellen, writing for NME, described "Jealousy" as "a romantic ballad with a subtext viciously outlining the darker side of love". She added, "It flows along beautifully, made all the better for Tennant sounding less sure than usual, more open to the soul that shrieks inside."[3]

Track listings[edit]

  • 7-inch: Parlophone / R 6283 (UK)
  1. "Jealousy" (7-inch version) – 4:16
  2. "Losing My Mind" (7-inch version) – 4:34
  • CD: Parlophone / CD R 6283 (UK)
  1. "Jealousy" (7-inch version) – 4:16
  2. "Losing My Mind" (Disco Mix) – 6:07
  3. "Jealousy" (Extended Mix) – 7:54
  • CD: Parlophone / 20 4224 2 (UK)
  1. "Jealousy" (7-inch version) – 4:16
  2. "Losing My Mind" (7-inch version) – 4:34
  3. "Losing My Mind" (Disco Mix) – 6:07
  • CD: Parlophone / CDRS 6283 (UK)
  1. "Jealousy" (Extended Mix) – 7:54
  2. "This Must Be the Place I Waited Years to Leave" (Extended Mix) – 7:24
  3. "So Hard" (Eclipse Mix) – 4:02
  • Limited edition in digipak
  • 12-inch: Parlophone / 12 R 6283 (UK)
  1. "Jealousy" (Extended Mix) – 7:54
  2. "Losing My Mind" (Disco Mix) – 6:08

Charts[edit]

Chart performance for "Jealousy"
Chart (1991) Peak
position
Australia (ARIA)[4] 147
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[5] 19
Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[6] 4
Germany (Official German Charts)[7] 20
Ireland (IRMA)[8] 8
Spain (AFYVE)[9] 19
Switzerland (Schweizer Hitparade)[10] 14
UK Singles (OCC)[11] 12

References[edit]

  1. ^ "New Releases: Singles" (PDF). Music Week. 25 May 1991. p. 21. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Review: Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. 22 June 1991. p. 16. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  3. ^ Ellen, Barbara (1 June 1991). "Singles". New Musical Express. p. 20.
  4. ^ "Response from ARIA re: chart inquiry (submitted to charts.mail@aria.com.au), received 2015-07-15". Archived from the original on 16 July 2015. Retrieved 2 August 2015 – via Imgur.
  5. ^ "Eurochart Hot 100 Singles" (PDF). Music & Media. Vol. 8, no. 26. 29 June 1991. p. 25. OCLC 29800226 – via World Radio History.
  6. ^ Pennanen, Timo (2006). Sisältää hitin – levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla vuodesta 1972 (in Finnish) (1st ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 233. ISBN 978-951-1-21053-5.
  7. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Jealousy" (in German). GfK Entertainment charts. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  8. ^ "The Irish Charts – Search Results – Jealousy". Irish Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  9. ^ Salaverrie, Fernando (September 2005). Sólo éxitos: año a año, 1959–2002 (in Spanish) (1st ed.). Madrid: Fundación Autor/SGAE. ISBN 84-8048-639-2.
  10. ^ "Pet Shop Boys – Jealousy". Swiss Singles Chart. Retrieved 2 May 2020.
  11. ^ "Pet Shop Boys: Artist Chart History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 9 November 2016.
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