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King's Cross

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1987
Original album - Actually
Producer - Stephen Hague
Subsequent albums - (none)
Other releases - Pandemonium

King's Cross is one of the busiest and most well-known railway/subway station in London. Back in the 1980s it was recognized as a common "gay pickup" spot as well as a notorious hangout of prostitutes, with many of the nearby hotels offering rooms "by the hour," although apparently the area has been "cleaned up" considerably in recent years. Whatever the case, the album cut that takes its name from this station has proved a favorite among PSB fans, perhaps acknowledged by Chris and Neil in that they have performed it live on many occasions.

A rather ominous-sounding track, it took on an even greater sense of foreboding—in the most literal sense of that word—in late 1987 when King's Cross became the site of an underground fire in which 31 people died. Neil sang about seeing "dead and wounded on either side, you know it's only a matter of time," leading some fans to believe that the song was written in response to this disaster. Yet the Actually album, including this song, was released before this terrible event. To add to the general eerieness of it all, the scene during which this song plays in the Boys' film It Couldn't Happen Here features a man dressed in a suit, carrying a briefcase—and on fire.

Setting aside the possibility that our musical heroes may be clairvoyant, just what is this song about? The opening image of a man who feels "the smack of firm government" waiting in a long line suggests general social decay and dissatisfaction. The lyrics seem to offer social commentary on the conditions in and around this crowded railway station—although Neil tosses in a more personal observation when he notes, almost in passing, that he (that is, his persona) "went looking out today for the one who got away." It has been suggested elsewhere that these images and feelings may be based on those that Neil himself observed and felt when he left home and moved to London as a very young man. Taken altogether, perhaps King's Cross serves as a "double metaphor" for sociopolitical conditions in Britain at the time as well as for the confusion and disorder in the narrator's own troubled mind. As Neil has described it, the song is "a hymn to the people getting left out of Thatcherism" (the economic policies of the government of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher).

Given the fact that, as already noted, King's Cross was at the time this song was written (and possibly is still) a notorious area for gay "cruising," it has been suggested by more than one of my site visitors that this is precisely what the song is about. Several lines readily lend themselves to such an interpretation, such as the references to "lingering" and "hanging around" as well as the especially poignant line "So I went looking out today for the one who got away"—possibly cruising aimed not merely at a quick sexual encounter but as the start of something longer-lasting and more fulfilling. On the other hand, the recurring language of violence employed in the song ("smack," "fight," "hurt," "dead and wounded," "murder") evokes thoughts of something darker, including rough trade and S&M. Even if this is not what the song is "about," the use of such words may be a way of teasing or "playing with" the audience, or at least that portion of the audience attuned to such things. (For another take on this "gay cruising angle," largely inspired by Derek Jarman's video for the song, please see the bullet-point annotations below.)

Other site visitors have suggested that AIDS may also play a role in this narrative, which could explain the air of narrative guilt that seems to permeate it. Is the narrator expressing "survivor guilt" because he has had "good luck … waiting in a line," whereas others no less deserving have had "bad luck"? The line "Dead and wounded on either side" may refer to the fact that both gay and straight people are affected by the disease. Neil, in fact, confirmed that the lines "Dead and wounded on either side, you know it's only a matter of time" indeed refer to AIDS in the booklet that accompanied the 2001 reissue of the album.

Annotations

King's Cross is a major London transportation hub, the site not only of one of London's busiest and best-known subway stations—with more lines running through it than through any other station in the system—but also of two railway stations: the King's Cross Station itself and the adjacent St. Pancras Station. The first connects to northern England and Scotland, while the second connects to Paris and Brussels via the Channel Tunnel (aka the "Chunnel"). The King's Cross name also applies to the surrounding neighborhood, which when Actually was released was one of the most run-down sections of London. More recently, however, it has undergone significant economic regeneration (largely on account of those very transportation connections). "King's Cross" as a name for the area dates back to the mid-1800s, coming from the fact that a monument to King George IV, including his statue, was built there at a crossing of the River Fleet. Although the monument and statue were demolished a scant decade later, the name stuck. It has also gained international fame via J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter novels, in which King's Cross is where wizarding students catch the train to Hogwarts.
"The man at the back of the queue was sent…" – Although the word "queue" is by no means totally unknown in America, it's not nearly as familiar there as in Britain, where it commonly serves as both a noun referring to a line of people and as a verb for the process of forming or standing in a line. In the U.S., most people would instead say "line" for the noun or some declension of the infinitive "to line up" for the verb.
"… the smack of firm government" – This phrase did not originate with the Pet Shop Boys. Rather, it dates back to 1956, when it was apparently coined by journalist and author Donald McLachlan in a critique of the administration of the Conservative U.K. Prime Minister Anthony Eden. Since then it has been used on many occasions by people both critical of and in favor of more conservative U.K. government policies; those critical of such policies generally focus on the cruelty of the "smack," whereas those in favor of such policies appreciate its disciplinary value. It has been noted, for instance, that at least one of Margaret Thatcher's cabinet ministers used the phrase approvingly during the 1980s, saying that what the United Kingdom needed at that time was "the smack of firm government." By contrast, it's being used somewhat ironically (and no doubt critically) in "King's Cross."
"Lingered by the fly poster for a fight" – "Fly poster" is another primarily English term that sounds strange to American ears. Most people in the U.S. would instead simply say "flyer" (if it's a fairly small posting) or "poster" (if it's a large posting) without ever putting the two words together. In British English, the word "fly" used in this way (or as an actual prefix) refers to something done without permission. Hence, a "fly poster" (two words in the official lyrics) or "flyposter" (commonly expressed as one word) is a poster put up without official permission.
In addition to the meanings discussed above in relation to the famous lines "Dead and wounded on either side/You know it's only a matter of time," one of my site visitor has observed that both St. Pancras Gardens, the burial ground for St. Pancras Old Church, and St. Pancras Hospital are very close to King's Cross, such that many people walking to the station might find themselves passing through an area where, quite literally, there are "dead and wounded on either side." Could this be a mere coincidence, or might it actually have inspired—consciously or subconsciously—those lines in the song?
One of my site visitors, Ian Innes, shared his quite detailed explanation (based on knowledge derived from having lived for some time near King's Cross) of why he feels that the music video for "Rent," directed by Derek Jarman, "provides myriad visual clues to explain what the song is about—and that is English guys cruising for gay sex" (an interpretation I've already noted above). Ian says that he believes Neil's lyrics "dwell on the emptiness and apparent futility of going back again and again for unrewarding experiences." Ian goes on to note:
- "Jarman shows the gas tanks at the back of the station which you looked straight up at if you were cruising on the Regents Canal towpath. (It was a very thrilling but dangerous place to chase sex, renowned for bashings and at least one murder.)"
- "One of London’s raciest gay pubs, the London Apprentice,* was on York Way [very near King's Cross], and the doorman could decide if you would get in or not: 'Good luck, bad luck, waiting in a line.'"
  
  *Another site visitor has pointed out that this pub was actually titled "City Apprentice," not "London Apprentice," which further research appears to confirm.
- "In the King's Cross station underground entrance there was a circular ticket hall shown in the video where you could check out hot guys. You went up some stairs to a circular corridor that led to a gents toilet where gay guys were always getting off (and frequently getting arrested).… The words 'Someone told me Monday, someone told me Saturday' refer to when various cottages [stalls] were going to be active—mostly not very reliable."

To summarize, Ian states, "In quite a few of his gay-themed songs Neil Tennant expresses a sort of weariness about interactions with men—fragmentary, lacking connection, plagued by doubt and hesitation, impersonal, detached, and cynical—and 'King's Cross' has all of these in spades. This is also reflective of the gay scene in London at the time when there was a lot of fear of AIDS and gay men were still highly stigmatised in mainstream society."

Personally, I can't attest to the accuracy of all this, nor to (assuming the facts are accurate) whether it might actually any bearing on a likely "meaning" of the song. I provide it here simply as another possible dimension for gaining greater understanding of its lyrics, which admittedly can be regarded as somewhat cryptic.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Stephen Hague
- Album version (5:11)
Mixer: Stuart Price
- Pandemonium CD live version (4:11)

Official but unreleased

Mixer: unknown
- Demo (5:01)
  - Rather questionable. Neil has averred the existence of a demo of "King's Cross," which he has described as "much slower, more hymn-like" than the released song. But this unofficial but widely distributed "Demo" sounds nothing like that description. In fact, it's extremely similar to the Actually track, albeit at lower quality and fidelity. I suspect it's, at best, a rough mix of the album cut as opposed to the actual "demo."

List cross-references

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