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Don't Drop Bombs
by Liza Minnelli

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1989
Original album - Results (Liza Minnelli)
Producer - Julian Mendelsohn, Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - single (UK #46)

A surprisingly simple and direct song in which the narrator asks (or "demands" might be more like it) her lover or husband to stop "dropping bombs"—that is, telling her things that she'd rather not hear about, such as his affair with his secretary or the other women on his "expense account." It's a form of mental cruelty, and if he doesn't stop, she threatens that she'll "start playing rough!"

It's just possible that this song may have been at least partly inspired by The Gap Band's 1982 hybrid funk/new wave hit "You Dropped a Bomb on Me," although that record wasn't nearly as popular in the U.K. (where it didn't even chart) as it was in the States. The title "Don't Drop Bombs," and perhaps some of the final song itself, was derived from an early "pre-PSB fame" song that Neil had written for a prospective girl group who called themselves the Saturday Girls, consisting of three young ladies with whom he worked back in his days with Smash Hits magazine. Nothing ever came of it—except, of course, for the germ of this track.

Chris and Neil both provide keyboard support on this track, while Neil also contributes the recurring "Don't drop bombs!" utterance that links the verses to the chorus.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

• Mixer: Pet Shop Boys and Julian Mendelsohn
• Album version (3:39)
• Mixer: Keith Cohen
  • 7" version (3:34)
    • There seems to be very little difference between the 7-inch single version and the album version. It may be only a matter of the single fading out a little more quickly (a sustained note on a synth-flute sound) and/or the single have a very, very slightly faster tempo, virtually imperceptible to the "naked ear," so to speak, but enough to account for a few seconds over the course of more than 3½ minutes. Crediting it to a different mixer (Keith Cohen) may therefore be an error.
  • Instrumental (3:39)
  • Extended Remix (5:53)
  • Dub Mix (5:44)
  • Acapella (3:40)
  • "Percapella" (3:40)
  • "New 7" Mix" (3:39)
• Mixer: Disconet
  • Disconet Remix (7:16)
    • Origninally labeled "Remixed by the Pet Shop Boys," but this is apparently an error
• Mixer: Fabrice Potec
  • Exterminator Remix (aka Club Mix #1) (8:59)
• Mixer: Bibi Fricotin
  • Peace & Love Remix (aka Radio Mix #1) (4:58)

List cross-references

• This song doesn't appear in any of my lists.

 

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