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It Must Be Obvious

Writers - Tennant/Lowe
First released - 1990
Original album - Alternative
Producer - Pet Shop Boys
Subsequent albums - Behaviour 2001 reissue Further Listening 1990-1991 bonus disc
Other releases - b-side of single "So Hard"

An intentional double entendre, "hardly coded" as Neil puts it. He liked the idea of singing, "Everyone knows when they look at us. Of course they do—it must be obvious!" The double entendre is in regard to what it is that must be so obvious. In the context of the lyrics, it clearly refers to the fact "everyone" can tell that the narrator is in love with his companion—everyone except his companion, that is. "You're the only one who doesn't know." But in light of Neil's subsequent openness about his sexual orientation, it also refers to the fact that it was rather "obvious" to many observers that Neil is gay long before he was willing to acknowledge the fact publicly. Yet he certainly wasn't above dropping little "hints" like this. It amused him to do so, essentially telling those "in the know" while keeping others in the dark, so to speak.

Annotations

"But it feels like the flight of the von Trapps, does that mean it's war?" – The Trapp Family Singers, led by their patriarch Captain Georg Ludwig von Trapp, were a popular Austrian vocal group during the period just before the Second World War. Ardently anti-Nazi, they fled Austria just before their country was annexed by Germany in 1938, at which time their home was confiscated. They settled in the United States. Their story, told primarily from the viewpoint of stepmother Maria von Trapp, became the basis of Rodgers and Hammerstein's popular 1959 stage musical The Sound of Music.
"I didn't intend to interrupt your own shadow play" – Although many cultures around the world have traditions of shadow puppetry—performances of which are sometimes called "shadow plays"—Neil has stated that this line is specifically a reference to Shadow Play, a short 1935 dramatic work by Noël Coward concerning the breakdown of a marriage and the subsequent rekindling of the spouses' love for each other.
Intriguingly, BMI lists both "It Must Be Obvious" and "It Might Be Obvious" (my emphasis) as two separate songs in its copyright records. Since it seems unlikely that our musical heroes would write a completely different still-unreleased song with such a similar title, the most likely explanation is that Chris and Neil had registered an earlier version of this song titled "It Might Be Obvious," later changed their minds about its title (and perhaps more of its lyrics than just the title clause), and therefore re-registered it with the new title.

Mixes/Versions

Officially released

Mixer: Peter Schwier
- 7" version (4:24)
  - Available on Alternative and on the Further Listening bonus disc with the Behaviour reissue
Mixer: The KLF
- UFO Mix (9:23)
  - Available on the "The KLF vs. Pet Shop Boys" version of the "So Hard" single

List cross-references

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