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'Being Boring'
Pet Shop Boys
Pet Shop Boys
Are you a fan of Neil Tennant’s songwriting? Do you think this song is the best thing he has written?

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Disclaimer:The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ will put up as many of your comments as possible but we cannot guarantee that all e-mails will be published. The Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ reserves the right to edit comments that are published.

Although it only got to number 20 in the charts, I think time has proved that this was sorely under-rated and has gone on to be a classic track from the 1990's.

Anon

L, Hanoi, Vietnam
Being Boring has always been one of my favourite songs. Thank you Chris and Neil for creating such a masterpiece!

Richard Minor Telford
I love the pet shop boys, their songs are so original and always have a story to tell about life in general. Being boring makes me think about all life has to offer when you are young and how quickly it can be taken away. I hope the pet shop boys continue to write and thrive becuase they are such an inspiration bringing people of all beliefs togather! Thank you neil and chris!

Valerie, Lethbridge, AB
I hadn't heard this song until I bought Discography, and it became one of my favourites.

Mike from New York City
After many years of not listening to the PSB, I recently came across the dusty CD's bought over 15 years ago. Loaded each and every song on the trusty iPod. Being Boring is absolutely the most superb song from these guys. The melodic and poignant words bring back such joyful and sad memories. I was travelling with a close group of friends around Europe when I first heard this song some15 years ago. I don't see most of them as some have either passed or moved on. How ironic though this song is exactly what happened and became of them and me.

Karen Clague, Montclair, NJ
Without trying to be morbid Being Boring will be one of the tunes I have played at my funeral - A beautiful tune with so much meaning for me x

Shelton D'Cruz - Brisbane Australia
This song is absolutely beautiful!!! It really deserves to be in the TOP 10, rather than TOP 20 - Can the PSB re-release it again?? to a new younger audience? Regards Shelton.

Andrew J Williams - Newport , Gwent
The Petshopboys ,deserve their place as the most sucessful pop duo.They entended the boundaries where electro pop is concerned.Still listen to their music today.Many of their songs reflected the eighties perfectly ,with little humour.Love suburbia as it mentions hooligans and mad songs ,they can be a particular issue when living on a deprived housing estate.Also the opportunities song reflects the eighties ,lets make lots of money.Did seem a very materialistic decade ,about greed.My favourity is jealously ,love the tune ,sort traditional music quality about it.Being boring ,comes second as it reflects from birth to death ,with thought provoking ideas expressed.People seem to do more when they young.

Daniel/BrasΓ­lia, Brazil
I remember the first time that I've heard this beautiful song. The 80's had finished and "Being Boring" starts a new age and a new musical "behaviour".

Derek from Texas
Being boring touched my heart and still makes me cry. It was a favorite before I know it was also one of their own.

Chris Beach Southampton
I agree, "Being Boring" is amazing, from the opening bars through to its poignant ending. Another song, I think was over looked first time round was "Before". Well done guys, I love the ironey and humour of "I'm with stupid". That's the trouble with other song writers today, there's no humour let alone genuine wit.

Daran Blackwell, Bourne Lincs / UK
A great song. Like the rest of the album it featured on (Behaviour) it was just so different to the Pet's previous work. That hurt it's chart position. But it doesn't detract from the quality of the song itself. Which is timeless.

Eva, Barcelona
I remember buying Behaviour and going home to listen to the album. I got literally 'trapped' by all the work but especially by this song. At that time I didn't quite understand English but I could feel every single word. Now, I keep 'trapped' every time I listen to this song. It's a sad song but it gives me strength and confidence to keep on trying for all the people we love and the people we are loved by.

Rob Reel
The song had so much protential and become an icon of the Pet Shop Boys....Classic!

Darren from Nottingham
I first got into the Pet Shop Boys when I brought Oppotunities whilst still at school. They were not considered cool by my U2 loving friends, but i perservered relentlessly. My favourite track is a Left to my own Devices, especially the remix featuring an aeroplane taking off half way through. Why? I don't know but brillant!!!

London/Bilbao
Being Boring: still moves me as the first time I listened to it, at 16 or 17 years old. A little diamong that gets more beautiful at times goes by.

Chris, Bournemouth
Being Boring is, quite simply, sublime. Easily their finest work, although they set themselves pretty stiff competition. I have always been enthralled by the soundscapes that they create in their music. This song is not only melodically gorgeous but, for me, continues to reveal new layers, both lyrically and sonically, with every listen. A song that I will never tire of. Thank you Neil and Chris

Little Joe from New Orleans
Absolutely one of their best. When I first heard it, I was amazed at how different it was from the earlier Actually and Please stuff. It seems now to mark a change to a deeper, more mature and yes, as others here have said, melancholy tone. If I had to describe the track in one word, I'd say what Mins said: evocative.

Kevin Carhart, San Francisco CA
I happened to surf by... on the day the music died, in the form of losing a Go-Between. "Being Boring" is pretty great, not necessarily NT's best.. the rivals would be "Decadence", "Up Against It", "Can You Forgive Her".. gosh, there are several. There are several just from Behaviour. I'm glad to see this songwriter-centric site.

kieron from coventry
being boring was one of my favorite songs as I left school and still feels as fresh today on my ipod as it did then

Paul, Perth Australia
I utterly love this song. I am continually playing even up until today. It is beautifully written with fantastic chord arrangements right through the song, especially the part "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" Long live this song!!!

Chris Stephens, Cheltenham
I have always believed that this song was one of there best compositions. It was with some regret that because of it's poor chart success it was not played during the performance concert at Birmingham. I understand that it was later introduced into the set through popular demand.

Timothy London
Quite simply one of their many peaks. A wonderful opening to their best cd.

Christopher Westcott / Wimbledon
Being Boring may not have been THE best IMHO of the songs/lyrics written by Neil & Chris, but its well up there. Their 1990 album Behaviour, on which this song appears, still stands the test of time when relistening to it 16 years after its release. There can be no better traibute to a piece of work than that! As for the PSB's best work, epics such as 'Its a sin', Domino Dancing' or 'A red letter day' elipse 'Being Boring'. The variety of musical styles employed by the UK's best duo are also evident in the range of cover versions they have performed such as 'Go West' or 'Always on my mind'. I look forward to 'Fundimental', released towards the end of Mya, with great anticipation. Regards Christopher Westcott

Clive, London
A great song - but in the late 1999, Neil and Chris revised "Being Boring" drastically changing many of the song's original chords to introduce a lot more melancholy and suspense into the song. The song, in this greatly improved form, was performed live on the "Nightlife" tour and it can be heard on the "live" CD single of "You Only Tell Me You Love Me When Your Drunk" or their 2001 "Montage" DVD.

judith swarbrick Preston Lancashire
it is so clever how Neil can tell a moving story in so little amount of words. For me this song is one of their finest. Neil covers the subject of the suffering of aids so diplomaticly long live your beautiful lyrics.

Gregory Martinez/London
This is my favourite Pets shop boys song and, finally, one that I actually knew the meaning too. It makes me feel very lucky to be alive when I know some of my friends have died of AIDS. It always makes me feel very happy when I listen to it. Thanks for such a beautiful song.

Chris Lodder, Blackheath
Definately their best single. Beautiful chord structure, beautiful video and of course beautifully sung. A commercially under-rated classic for sure

craig peter frost stoke on trent
One word, brilliant.Tennant/lowe comes very close to Lennon/McCartney in my opinion and i think they ve proved it by staying together for the last 21years and still knocking out catchy tunes, always one step ahead of everyhing else and definately never boring,you only tell me you love me when your drunk is my personal favourite amongst others, cant wait too see em again in concert and maybe meet em both again.

Andrew Morrison, Portsmouth
This song has really stood the test of time - hope it gets an airing on their 2006 tour dates. I read that this was one of a "trio" of songs about Neil's friend and AIDS, beginning with 'It Couldn't Happen Here', when it began to hit British shores, then 'Your Funny Uncle', about his friend's funeral, before ending with the reflective 'Being Boring'. All three songs together are some of Neil's finest lyrical work, with 'Your Funny Uncle' for me being even more of a tear jerker, when you realize what the song is actually about. Worth listening to all three tracks one after another. Great stuff.

laura Duff/Aberdeenshire
Heard this song recently for the first time in ages. It still brings me nearly to tears. Been a big fan of PSB since WEG, and had forgotten that this song had only reached no 20 in the charts. It is and always will be one of my top 5 PSB songs. Neil and Chris can't go wrong with this type of songwriting.

Liz, Saffron Walden, Essex
I particularly like the lines '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'as it speaks volumes for how I feel about someone who i lost when i was young and who missed out on seeing the person i have become and watching me grow up.

Richard, London
The best song from the duo best album. This was the musical pinnacle of 1990 and it's criminal that it only reached #20! For years the Petties thought it a failure and refused to play it live. One story goes that Axl Rose came to see them perform in L.A. and went backstage pleading with the duo to add his favourite song of theirs (Being Boring) to the set list. Absolute cracker of a track, the remixes are great and the b-side (We all feel better in the dark) is just a wonderful moody composition, especially the BIR remixes.

Jenny, London
I stumbled over this web page accidently and am staggered as I thought I was the only person in the world that regarded this tune as the best PSB song ever!!

Justin. West Midlands
So terribly beautiful and moving this is one of Tennant/Lowe best tunes to date. Wonderful lyrics combined with truly fitting music, this in my opinion should have hit the charts much higher. Also has a wonderful video.

Ben, London
Every time I hear this I'm moved close to tears but am always uplifted by the message: live your life, it's the only one you've got!

Hrvoje, Croatia
Being only 12y.o. when the single was released, I was way too young to appreciate it. Only some eight or nine years later when I've heard it again it became my PSB favourite. Very frequently played in my home/car/office.

Paul, London
I'd never paid too much attention to the Pet Shop Boys, but this song grabbed me when I heard Lloyd Cole do a solo version of Being Boring with just vocal and acoustic guitar on London radio in the mid 90s. I was struck by the lyrics and tune/chord changes immediately, and went back to investigate the PSB original. I now think it's the best and most poignantly evocative thing they've recorded, simply one of the most moving and dignified songs of modern times. And mystifyingly their biggest flop single up to that point.

Neil, Brighton
This song gives me shivers down my spine everytime. Truly amazing.

Jude Pitt, London
The turning point of the Pets' career as they, to use one of Neil's favourite Smash Hits phrases, went "down the dumper" chart-success wise. But also the song that ultimately won over the "proper" music press and their peers and earned them the career-longevity that sees them still charting (just about) fifteen years later. It doesn't have the same defining resonance as their songs from 86/87 (covering the "Please", "Disco" and "Actually" releases) but, when juxtaposed against the music of the time (from the shoe-gazing and "Size of a Cow" indie-kids to the bedroom, children's TV programme samplers), provides a melancholic soundtrack to the Aids-affected years immediately following the end of the excessive late 80's; with the third verse's reference to friends "here" and "missing" being unbearably poignant. For me, the preference is for "Rent", "Suburbia" or any one of a host of Pets' b-sides/ album tracks but you can't argue with a track so beloved by Axl Rose amongst many, many others.

gautam bhakta, arroyo grande, california
a song about life...and the video does even further justice to the song

fabio
one of the 5 best song ever written...

Ian - Leeds
I love this song, Possibly the best they have done. The production was first class, The video even better. I remember seeing them play it live for the first time. I think they weren't even going to include it on the play list until the audience demanded they play it. Its a sad but uplifting song. A master piece.

Sarah Finn, Dublin, Ireland
This is one of my Top 5 Pet Shop Boys singles and has one of the best videos of all time to accompany it. Just hearing the laid-back qaulity of it makes me realise what a beautiful song it is! Despite it only peaking at #20 in the UK back in 1990, it still sounds beautifully haunting today - 15 years on. The album from which it is taken, "Behaviour", is also one of my favourite PSB albums - nay, of all time!!!! :-)

roy-ashtead
a song that raises goose pimples every time i hear it.nostalgia and sentiment perfectly packaged,a gem!!

olga, Russia
Being Boring is undoubtedly one of the most heartfelt songs I have ever heard, and is the triumph of the Boys' songwriting talents! It's about what we call life with its joys and sorrows, pleasure and pain, and dreams we have... Despite sadness, it is incredibly life-asserting. Never mind the charts, so many people all over the world fell in love with the song anyway! BRILLIANT.

Joanne Belfast
This is a truly marvellous song from a seminal album. Genius!

Tracey Perth Australia
I love this song - takes me way back - having a reminising time in my life right now and this song takes me too a great time in my life way back!

Alasdair, Oban, Scotland
Being Boring is the key track on the Pet Shop Boys fifth studio album, Behaviour (itself one of their best), and is the Boys at their melancholy, dabceable best. Neil's simple, heartfelt lyrics are poignant and moving, while the elegant rhythm and Harold Faltermeyer's production are timeless. This song is both touching and inspiring..

Cara/ Richmond, Virginia (USA)
I remember when I first heard this song, or rather when I was taken by it. It was Sophomore year at college, when my roomate and I just returned from Christmas break... I must've repeated that song like 50 times, easily. And each time I came back to the room ( see we were moving some stuff in) I remember just losing myself in the song...not being sad or anything. Just quite amazed and touched. How the third verse/chorus really soared and changed the feel of the song. I really appreciated it. Even to this day, now that I am a physician, married and anticipating the future, I always think back on that day and that song. And I can be heard singing it too! :)

Mins, Sydney
A beautiful soundscape of hope, love & dreams, 'Being Boring' is a evocative, mesmerising track -definitely up there with Neil's finest.

Shamim Haque/Melbourne
One of the duo's finest creations. Tennant repeatedly asserted that it was his most favourite. It has very deep meaning and a timelessness which stays with the listener.

r ob wallser Plymouth
with its sound of loss and yearning its comes in to its own at this time of year

Simon Gunns, Leicester.
This is surely one of my favourite tracks written by Neil. In my opinion the reason the song stirs the emotions is that it tells a sad story, and it goes right to the soul. A lot of people have simliar stories to tell about losing someone they love and wishing they were here with them now, myself included, so, no wonder it makes the eyes well up with tears when listening to the story.

S Cronin, Liverpool
Poignant and wonderfully paced epitaph. A real tear-jerker of a song. Lush soundscape and heartfelt, if perhaps slightly saccharine lyrics. Their best effort by a distance.

Ashokan Achari, Bangalore (India)
Brings back nostalgic memories of the oldies. I just love the Pet Shop Boys music.

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