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A Man Could Get Arrested

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1985
Original album - Alternative
Producer - Bobby Orlando, Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Please 2001 reissue Further Listening 1984-1986 bonus disc
Other releases - b-side of single "West End Girls"

In the booklet that accompanied the Alternative collection, Neil states that this song (written and originally recorded in 1984 and first appearing as the b-side of "West End Girls") was inspired by events that took place the evening that he and Chris met Peter Andreas, who would soon become their good friend. The three of them were walking through London and somehow became involved in an altercation with some "yobs" in Russell Square. Afterward, Neil and Peter were briefly detained by police (Chris had escaped). PSB fans familiar with London have pointed out that Russell Square has long been a popular nighttime "cruising area" for gay men. But Neil has stated that the underlying "story" of the lyric is heterosexual: it's about a guy who can't get his girlfriend to go to bed with him. "He's so frustrated that 'a man could get arrested.' … It's a song about sexual frustration."

Neil has also noted that this song is in part a "portrait" of their first producer, Bobby "O" Orlando (who in fact co-produced this track with them). The lyrics apparently even draw upon a couple of near-direct Bobby "O" quotes:

"'If you've got your health, you've got everything,' that's what my doctor said."

"Of course I told her I loved her—not just 'cause she insisted." (The lyrics themselves, however, modify the objective pronoun to the second-person "you.")

But perhaps most significantly, the chorus is, according to Neil, "totally Bobby 'O''s approach to life: 'If you want to earn, learn how to do it.'"

Annotations

"A Man Could Get Arrested" very nearly made it onto Disco, and was actually listed as a seventh track (in the next-to-last position) on an early EMI press release. I have no idea who made the decision to remove it or why.
The first part of the melody of "A Man Could Get Arrested" is extremely similar—virtually identical aside from being in a different key—to that of the earlier and officially unreleased PSB song "Oh, Dear" (aka "Walking Down the High Street"). As one of my site visitors has pointed out, this is likely a case of the Boys not wanting a perfectly good melody to go to waste.
"You want to see a doctor before our love is tested" – It's been suggested that this line might refer or at least allude to HIV testing. The first HIV tests, however, weren't available until 1985—the same year this song was released, meaning there's a good chance it was written before HIV tests became available. Considering the immediately preceding line ("You've got so many problems and a split personality"), it's perhaps more likely that the doctor being referred to is a psychiatrist. Ah, but then there's that later line, a familiar cliché reportedly invoked by Bobby "O" Orlando: "You got your health, you got everything…." There does seem to be an awful lot of concern about health in this song. But that's hardly surprising considering the sociological climate of the mid-1980s, colored as it was by AIDS.
Author Paul Flynn, writing in his 2017 book Good As You: From Prejudice to Pride – 30 Years of Gay Britain, describes "A Man Could Get Arrested" as an instance of how the Pet Shop Boys, early in their career, "hid [their gayness] in plain sight." In so doing, he claims that the song is about "the lively gay cruising ground at London's Brompton Cemetery." I thought that perhaps Brompton Cemetery might be very close to the aforementioned Russell Square locale, but that's not the case; the two are roughly five miles apart. So I'm afraid don't know where Flynn got his Brompton Cemetery setting for the song.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Steven Spiro
- 7" b-side mix (4:51)*
- Extended Mix (5:37)
  - There's a good deal of uncertainty about the allegedly "official" status of this Extended Mix. It's often listed in PSB catalogues and discographies, yet I've been unable to find it on any "authorized" releases—only on some bootlegs and online. Because of its widespread availability, I'll continue listing it here for the time being. But the question remains: is it truly "officially released"?
Mixer: Frank Roszak
- 12" Alternative Mix (aka Alternative Version) (4:19)
  - Available on Alternative
Mixer: Pet Shop Boys, Bobby Orlando, and Frank Roszak
- 12" b-side mix (4:11)
  - Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Please reissue

*There are conflicting reports as to who precisely mixed the 7" b-side mix of "A Man Could Get Arrested." Some sources cite the mixer as Steven Spiro; others cite the Pet Shop Boys and Frank Roszak. All reliable sources agree, however, that Spiro produced the track. I've since learned (from a very reliable source within the PSB organization) that the credit actually belongs to Steven Spiro only.

List cross-references

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