In the Club or in the Queue

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
Unreleased

With its slow, stately electronic beat-box rhythm, this track was an early demo Chris and Neil recorded in 1983 at Ray Roberts's studio. They performed it "live" in the studio, with Neil on piano and Chris on electronic keyboard. It boasts one of the prettiest melodies of their earliest compositions, and is further distinguished by a somewhat primitive attempt at "atmospherics," with its synth "whooses" and filtered, distant-sounding fanfares. The dominant instrument, however, is the piano, Neil playing simple, repetitive block chords. Meanwhile, his voice sounds quite mature for such an early song, almost aching with sadness.

The lyrics deal with lost love, or at least love that the narrator is very much in the process of losing. He sings to an absent lover, "I wish I could come across you in the club or in the queue," finding that "you've changed your mind for an everlasting time." He also dreams of taking a continental train trip with that lover, simply going from "A to B and back again." In other words, it doesn't matter where they'd be going; he just wants them to be together, in a "shelter from the rain," suggesting that love itself provides such protection from much of the sadness and cruelty of life.

It's really quite a powerful track, and it's surprising that Chris and Neil haven't yet fleshed it out—perhaps giving it the full "orchestral" treatment—for official release. In fact, they did re-record it in the late 1990s during the Nightlife sessions, and even contemplated releasing it as a b-side. They also reportedly revamped it for possible inclusion in their 2001 stage musical Closer to Heaven. But it still hasn't seen the official light of day, primarily because they believe, as Neil asserted in Annually 2018, "It's just not good enough." In July 2024, on the U.K. radio show This Classical Life, he suggested to interviewer Jess Gillam that one of the main reasons they haven't released it is that they've never been able to replicate the demo's aforementioned unusual synth sounds to their satisfaction. Nevertheless, he also asserted that "one day 'In the Club or in the Queue' will make its appearance."

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