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Discoteca

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1996
Original album - Bilingual
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Pandemonium, Format
Other releases - bonus track with single "Single-Bilingual"

Bilingual opens with this intense song, ostensibly set in a foreign land in which the lost protagonist is asking passers-by for directions to the nearest discoteque. This scenario actually serves as an extended metaphor about one's sense of alienation and inability to communicate adequately in the modern world. Backed by a driving wall of percussion and a minor-key chord progression that augment its impact, it offers one of Neil's most profound lyrics, the first stanza of which ranks among the finest ever to come from his pen:

I don't speak the language
I can't understand a word
Where angels fear to tread
I've sometimes walked
And tried to talk
But how can I be heard
In such a world
When I am lost?
I'm doing what I do
To see me through:
I'm going out
And carrying on as normal

In short, it's the dilemma of trying to live an ordinary life in an extraordinary world, which may be even more challenging than the opposite, living an extraordinary life in an ordinary world, dealt with in one of the Pet Shop Boys' other lyrical masterworks, "Being Boring."

Neil has said that this song was inspired by a young friend of his with AIDS who was having difficulty finding understanding and a sense of belonging in the midst of this medical and emotional crisis. He summarizes his thesis as follows: "The point of the song is contained in the lines 'I'm going out and carrying on as normal.' What are you meant to do when something terrible happens to you? You carry on as normal. You go out clubbing or whatever to try and forget." Incidentally, the Spanish line "¿Entiende usted?" literally means "Do you understand?" but reportedly there's another idiomatic meaning, a "code" among gay people in various Spanish-speaking locales: "Are you gay?"

Another of the song's lines—the expressed hope "that one day we'll be free"—is given added weight in certain remixes, where it becomes a recurring refrain. This, too, surely emerged from its AIDS-related genesis. Neil and/or his narrative persona (almost certainly both) are longing for a time when we will be truly free of this horrible disease. Indeed, by the time "Discoteca" was released, the gay community in particular had been struggling with AIDS for well over a decade, and some commentators had observed that "AIDS fatigue" had set in: a form of collective psychological exhaustion over its unescapable shadow. At least to this writer's ears, "Discoteca" seems like one of the most powerful expressions of AIDS fatigue ever recorded.

Incidentally, the large number of official remixes strongly suggests that the Boys had seriously considered releasing this song as a single in its own right as opposed to a bonus track with "Single-Bilingual." It's tempting, in fact, to regard that release as a double-sided single, though that doesn't seem to be its formal designation; only "Single-Bilingual" counted on the charts.

Annotations

"Where angels fear to tread" – A familiar, even somewhat clichéd expression that originated with the British neo-classical poet and satirist Alexander Pope (1688-1744), who wrote, "Fools rush in where angels fear to tread" in his 1711 work An Essay on Criticism. It also served as the title of a 1905 novel by the British author E.M. Forster (1879-1970).
"Understand the man who could talk in tongues" – This line occurs not in the Bilingual album version but rather in the "New Version" that accompanied the "Single-Bilingual" single. To "talk in tongues" can mean two things. The more mundane meaning is simply that someone can speak several languages. But a more esoteric reference might be to the documented phenonenon of glossolalia, better known as "speaking in tongues," in which people in a state of religious ecstasy engage in speech-like vocalizing that generally has no actual discernable meaning. The fact, however, that the Boys chose to use say "talk in tongues" as opposed to the far more familiar "speak in tongues" mitigates somewhat against that second interpretation.
"You're ready to speak like a Shakespeare" – Another line—in fact, the very next one—in the "New Version" of the song. Some fans have expressed some confusion about the use of the article "a" before Shakespeare's name, but it's a figure of speech in English and many (if not most) other languages to use the name of a famous person as a shorthand means of assigning similar attributes to someone less famous. (To get specific and technical about it, such a figure of speech is a synecdoche, whereby you refer to a class of things by the name of a specific thing that's emblematic of the class.) So just as one might say, "He thinks like an Einstein" to refer to a genius, to say that someone speaks like a Shakespeare simply means that he or she is highly skilled in the use of language, as the great English playwright and poet William Shakespeare (1564-1616) was.
The lyrics contain a number of Spanish words and phrases:
- ¿Hay una discoteca por aquí? - "Is there a discotheque around here?"
- Te quiero - "I want you" (though it can idiomatically also mean "I love you," which is apparently what Neil had in mind).
- ¿Entiende usted? - "Do you understand?" (although it's also a subcultural idiom that can mean "Are you gay, too?").
- Digame - "Tell me."
- ¿Cuanto tiempo tengo que esperar? - "How long must I wait?" It can also idiomatically mean "How long must I hope?" which also seems acceptable in the context of the song, although the "wait" meaning is perhaps more apt.
The "New Version" of the song remixed by Pete Schwier (see below) features some additional background vocals, including the shouted word "bacalao," which in Spanish literally means "cod" (as in the species of fish) but which is also used to refer to a techno dance music style popular in Spain.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Bob Kraushaar
- Album version(4:38)
  - Available on Bilingual
- Single version (5:14)
  - Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Bilingual reissue
Mixer: Baby Doc
- Baby Doc Mix - Full Length (8:31)
- Baby Doc Mix (7:18)
Mixer: Pete Schwier
- "New Version" (3:47)
  - Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Bilingual reissue and on Format
Mixer: Pet Shop Boys
- Pet Shop Boys Extended Mix (7:02)
  - Available on the Japanese Bilingual "Special Edition" bonus disc
Mixed by Trouser Enthusiasts
- Trouser Enthusiasts' Adventures Beyond the Stellar Empire Mix (9:29)
  - Available on the Bilingual "Special Edition" bonus disc
Mixer: Stuart Price
- Pandemonium CD live version in medley with "Se A Vida E," "Domino Dancing," and "Viva la Vida" (6:00)

List cross-references

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