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Losing My Mind

Writers - Stephen Sondheim
First released - 1989 (Liza Minnelli); 1991 (PSB)
Original album (PSB version) - Alternative
Producer (PSB version) - Pet Shop Boys; (Liza Minnelli version) - Julian Mendelsohn, Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Introspective 2001 reissue Further Listening 1988-1989 bonus disc
Other releases - b-side of single "Jealousy"; 1989 single by Liza Minnelli, produced by PSB (UK #6, US Dance #26)

Neil shares Liza Minnelli's great fondness for musical theater, so when the Boys agreed to produce her Results album, it was only natural that they would decide to collaborate on a song written by one of the giants of contemporary musical theater, Stephen Sondheim. The Minnelli version was released first, later followed by the PSB version on the b-side of the "Jealousy" single. Interestingly, the backing tracks of the two versions seem virtually identical aside from their being in different keys, no doubt to suit the respective singers' ranges. Otherwise, aside from the lead vocals themselves, the most notable difference is the inclusion in the Boys' version of what can probably best be described as "mad screams" suggestive of one who is indeed losing his mind. Liza felt that these screams were inappropriate and distracting, perhaps even somewhat disrespectful of the song itself, and requested that they be deleted from her version. Neil and Chris decided to keep the screams in their version, although, in retrospect, they've conceded that Minnelli's instincts were correct and that the track is better without them.

The song itself is quite direct. Taken from Sondheim's 1971 musical Follies, it describes the extreme disorientation and regret felt by someone over a missed opportunity at love. In the show, a female character is reunited at a party with a man with whom she'd had a brief fling many years before. She now would like nothing more than to renew their relationship on a more passionate, ongoing basis, but her wishes come to naught. In "Losing My Mind" she describes all the pain and anguish she experiences over thinking of what might have been.

Annotations

As noted above, this song was written by the celebrated American songwriter Stephen Sondheim (born 1930) for his 1971 stage musical Follies. Interestingly, Follies was originally one of Sondheim's less-successful musicals, losing money during its initial run despite its having won several Tony Awards, including Best Score. Critical opinion of it has been mixed. It has, however, enjoyed a number of successful revivals, including one in London's West End that ran for about a year-and-a-half, from mid-1987 to early 1989. In fact, this production closed only about a month before the Boys began working with Liza Minnelli to record "Losing My Mind" and the rest of Results. Neil actually attended the final performance of that particular production, which gave him the idea of covering "Losing My Mind" in the first place. As he subsequently told an interviewer, "The first Sondheim show I saw was Follies, and I remember thinking 'Losing My Mind' would make a good hit record."
"Losing My Mind" is by far the most popular number from Follies, having been covered by more artists than any of the show's other songs. If I'm not mistaken, Sondheim's opinion at the time of the Minnelli and PSB renditions was reportedly that he didn't much care for the arrangement, but he did like the songwriting royalties they earned him. Sondheim wrote in his 2011 lyrics-with-comments collection Look, I Made a Hat that he wrote this song as a pastiche of George and Ira Gershwin's 1920s classic "The Man I Love." (To be honest, I have difficulty seeing this myself, at least from a lyrical perspective, though I can discern some similarities in the melodic structures of the two songs. But how can anyone dispute Sondheim on a point like this? Besides, I'm undoubtedly far less attuned to the nuances of Ira Gerswhin's lyrics than Sondheim.)
One of my site visitors has noticed some fascinating parallels between this song and "Left to My Own Devices." (For details, see the annotations to my entry for that song.)

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Pet Shop Boys rendition:

Mixer: David Jacob
- 7" Version (4:34)
  - Available on Alternative
- Disco Mix (6:09)
  - Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Introspective reissue

Liza Minnelli rendition:

Mixer: Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn
- Album version (4:11)
- 7" Mix (4:09)
- Extended Remix (7:01)
Mixer: Julian Mendelsohn
- Ultimix, aka "Full Length Ultimix" (7:32)
- Ultimix Edit (6:37)
- Ultimix Dub (5:07)
Mixer: The Almighty
- Almighty Mix, aka Almighty Club Mix, aka Almighty Anthem (8:33)
  - On the 2009 CD and download release Almighty Essentials.
- Almighty Dub (8:38)
- Almighty Transensual Mix, aka Almighty Remix #2 (7:16)
  - On the 2017 "Expanded 4 Disc Edition" of Results

Official but unreleased

Performed by Pet Shop Boys (probably as demos for Liza):

Mixer: unknown
- Demo aka "Monitor Mix" (4:33)
- At least two additional demo-type versions of "Losing My Mind," each a little over 4 minutes in length—one of them an instrumental—have also come to light on bootleg releases.

List cross-references

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