Home > Alternative >

Euroboy

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1994
Original album - Alternative
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Very 2001 reissue Further Listening 1992-1994 bonus disc
Other releases - b-side of single "Yesterday, When I Was Mad"

In Chris's own words, "a very Euro-disco track." Like most of his quasi-instrumentals, there's not much in the way of lyrics; the lines "You wanna lover," "You wanna new lover," and "You was my lover man" are repeated over and over again.

At the time this rousing, genuinely exciting dance song was released as b-side of the "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" single, Euroboy was the title of a U.K. gay soft-porn magazine. (It's no longer in publication, however.) Chris claims, perhaps facetiously, not to have known about this magazine prior to the release of this track. Although Chris has never commented publicly on his sexuality, it's generally assumed that he's gay, and some fans take this song—particularly the "You was my lover man" line—as one of many pieces of evidence. I can't say that I disagree, but it would be remiss of me not to assert that one should never confuse the narrative persona of a song with the person who wrote and/or sings it. Just because a singer or songwriter adopts a certain role in a song doesn't mean that he or she personally fills that role. For instance, Neil has assumed both heterosexual and female personae in certain songs—yet, of course, he's neither.

Annotations

As noted above, Euroboy was the title of a British magazine, now defunct, featuring soft-core gay porn—knowledge of which Chris professed (or perhaps jokingly feigned) ignorance. In the years since this song appeared, "Euroboy" has been adopted as a stage name by Norwegian guitarist Knut Schreiner. He in fact leads a band who have called themselves "the Euroboys" since 1997.
"You was my lover man" – A truly astounding instance of "bad grammar" in a PSB song ("You were my lover man" would have been "correct"), so blatant that its usage can only be interpreted as a totally intentional attempt to suggest a déclassé persona: someone of decidedly lower-class status and/or poor education. Incidentally, a possible inspiration for this line—perhaps even a sample, though that seems unlikely—is the 1993 "Ragga Mix" of the Aswad track "Smile," in which guest reggae artist Sweetie Irie raps several lines, including "You was my lover now" (though not "man," which right there decreases the odds of it having been sampled). It would have likely been available shortly before or around the same time that Chris and Neil were working on "Euroboy." The extremely heavy distortion employed in the PSB track, however, makes it difficult to say anything for sure about any possible sampling without the Boys themselves weighing in on it.

List cross-references

All text on this website aside from direct quotations (such as of lyrics and of other nonoriginal content) is copyright © 2001-2024 by Wayne Studer. All Rights Reserved. All lyrics and images are copyright © their respective dates by their respective owners. Brief quotations and small, low-resolution images are used for identification and critical commentary, thereby constituting Fair Use under U.S. copyright law. Billboard chart data are copyright © their respective dates by Nielsen Business Media, Inc.