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I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1988
Original album - Alternative
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Introspective 2001 reissue Further Listening 1988-1989 bonus disc
Other releases - b-side of single "Heart"; bonus track with single "So Hard"

This song dates back to the Boys' pre-fame Bobby O days. In fact, its early demos betray the very pronounced influence of the Bobby O-produced cult classic "Passion" by the Flirts. But Neil and Chris re-recorded it early during the Introspective sessions and released it as the b-side of the "Heart" single (so it therefore saw release before Introspective).

I've always regarded it essentially as a song describing mutual lust in a rather grimy urban setting, though uplifted by its oblique lyrical reference to Oscar Wilde, paraphrasing one of his most famous epigrams in the line "We're lying the gutter, but we're looking at the stars." One of my site visitors, however, has noted something more in it, particularly in the recurring "I don't know why, I don't know why" and the narrator's apparent anxiety about what others will think ("the neighbors are talking"). Could these be the thoughts of a gay man only now becoming aware of his sexuality? His realization that his friend—the "you" to whom he's speaking—is probably sharing those same thoughts and feelings serves to heighten his "excitement." If that's indeed the case, then it adds a whole new dimension of poignancy to this song.

By contrast, in the Introspective re-release booklet, Neil denies that it has anything to do with sex, instead suggesting that it expresses his excitement about being in New York City for the first time. It's enough to make you wonder how firmly his tongue may have been planted in his cheek. As Chris perceptively added at the time, "I think it's safe to say that Neil's subconscious is very active."

Annotations

• "We're lying in the gutter but we're looking at the stars" – A paraphrase of Oscar Wilde's famous line from his 1892 stage comedy Lady Windermere's Fan. Wilde's actual turn of phrase is, "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars." This image has proven appealing to quite a few other songwriters as well, with one of the best known examples found in the 1981 Pretenders hit "Message of Love," written by Chrissie Hynde: "We are all of us in the gutter / But some of us are looking at the stars."

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

• Mixer: Mark Stent
  • 7" version (4:54)
    • Available on Alternative
  • Full Length 12" Mix (5:35)
    • Available on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Introspective reissue
• Mixer: Stephen Lipson (?)
• Sarm West Remix (6:02)

Official but unreleased

• Mixer: unknown
• Sarm West Remix (6:15)
• First (?) demo (4:51)
• Bobby "O" demo (4:44)

List cross-references

• Other songs in which Chris's voice can be heard
• The key signatures of selected PSB songs
• PSB songs with literary references
• The early tracks that the Pet Shop Boys recorded with Ray Roberts and Bobby 'O'
• PSB "singles" that weren't
• What it's about: Neil's succinct statements on what a song is "about"
  
  

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