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Young Offender

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1993
Original album - Very
Producer - Pet Shop Boys, Stephen Hague
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - (none)

The history of rock and pop music is full of songs that deal with the "generation gap." But rarely do they do so within the context of a possible sexual relationship. In "Young Offender," a middle-aged man speaks to someone much younger, defensively expressing his uncertainties about their actual or, perhaps more likely, prospective relationship. The lyrics could be read either as the older man speaking directly to the younger man or as the secret thoughts of the older man, imagining what he might say to a young guy whom he is merely observing.

The lyrics include one of Neil's most celebrated lines, "I've been a teenager since before you were born." It clearly serves a double purpose. Most obviously, it calls attention to the age difference between the narrator and the younger person to whom he's speaking—at least 13 years, and possibly a good deal more. But the fact that he uses the present-perfect tense ("I have been") rather than the past tense ("I was") also suggests that he still thinks of himself, at least in some ways, as quite youthful. In other words, while he may "chronologically" be around 40 years old (as Neil was at the time this song was released—although, of course, we shouldn't assume that the narrator really is Neil), he may still feel emotionally or "spiritually" like a teenager. In that sense, he's never stopped being a "teenager." So the present-perfect tense for an ongoing action or state of being is appropriate.

Meanwhile, the music has a distinctly "techno" feel that includes "beeping" sounds common to computer games, highly appropriate to the scenario described in the lyrics of the younger man playing a computer game while the older man looks on somewhat bemusedly. ("I haven't a clue," he confesses.) The Boys have, in fact, noted that this and certain other Very tracks were influenced by the music of computer and video games of the period. As it turns out, both the music and the title originated with Chris, with Neil building his narrative upon a strong foundation provided by his musical partner.

Annotations

In the introduction to his 2018 book One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem, Neil revealed that the title of this song was inspired by that of a paperback he spied in a used bookstore: The Young Offender by British psychiatrist/author Donald J. West, on the subject of juvenile delinquency.
"Drive to distraction and crash on the way" – "Drive to distraction" is a common metaphorical cliché in English, meaning to push someone to the point of exasperation (as in "He's driving me to distraction!"). What Neil does here is something he somewhat specializes at, which is to "un-cliché a cliché" by extending its metaphor in a new and unexpected way. In this case he very cleverly takes the word "drive" at its literal rather than figurative meaning and, by extending it (crashing the vehicle being driven), suggests a new figurative meaning. It's just one of the many instances of Neil's sheer brilliance as a lyricist.
It's an interesting coincidence—and that's surely just what it is—that the New Order album Republic, released less than five months before the Pet Shop Boys' Very, contains a completely different song also titled "Young Offender." Enhancing the coincidence is the fact that Republic was co-produced by Stephen Hague, who happened to provide "additional production" on Very as well.
For a possible (emphasis on possible) update, more than a quarter-century later, on the "young offender" of this song, consider the 2020 PSB track "Will-o-the-wisp."
Both ASCAP and BMI records contain an egregious error in their writing credits for this song, citing Nick Lowe rather than Chris Lowe along with Neil Tennant as the writers. It's hardly, however, the only instance of such errors I've found in their files related to the Pet Shop Boys. For instance, they list Chris and Neil as the writers of their recording of "Somewhere" rather than its actual writers, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Stephen Hague and Mike "Spike" Drake
- Album version (4:50)
Mixer: Jam & Spoon
- Jam & Spoon Trip-to-Matic Fairy Tale Mix (7:20)
  - Available with the "Liberation" CD single and on the bonus third disc ("Mix") with the "Special Edition" of PopArt
- Remix No. 2 (9:16)
  - Available with the "Liberation" 12-inch vinyl single ('2x12"')
Mixer: [unknown at this time]
- Live from the 2000 Glastonbury Festival (7:10)
  - Available on a bonus CD accompanying the July 2007 issue of Q magazine

List cross-references

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