Single-Bilingual Explained

Single-Bilingual
Cover:SingleBilingual.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Pet Shop Boys
Album:Bilingual
B-Side:
  • "Discoteca"
  • "The Calm Before the Storm"
  • "Confidential"
Released:[1]
Length:
  • 3:30
  • 3:48 (8:24 with "Discoteca" album version)
Label:Parlophone
Producer:Pet Shop Boys
Prev Title:Se a vida é (That's the Way Life Is)
Prev Year:1996
Next Title:A Red Letter Day
Next Year:1997

"Single-Bilingual" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 11 November 1996 as the third single from their sixth studio album, Bilingual (1996). The track peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart. The song is named "Single" on the album version but was retitled "Single-Bilingual" because Everything but the Girl also had a song named "Single", which had been released the previous May. The album version cross-fades with the previous track, "Discoteca", of which both the album and single versions feature an interpolation at the end.

Critical reception

A reviewer from Music Week rated the song three out of five, adding, "The album has fallen from the Top 75, but this class single — devastatingly detailing the life of an upwardly-mobile Euro-executive — should return it to the forefront."[2] Simon Price of Melody Maker was critical of the song, commenting that the use of "hundreds of real drums all over a Pet Shop Boys record" is "like ants on a chocolate bar and just as unwelcome". He continued, "I try hard to think Fleetwood Mac's 'Tusk' and not think Paul Simon's Graceland, but there's no avoiding it: this sucks."[3]

Music video

The accompanying music video features Neil Tennant as a glib businessman travelling across Europe and trying to pick up a woman in a bar. Towards the end, the visuals feature military aircraft suggesting that he is in fact an arms trader.

Track listings

  1. "Single-Bilingual"
  2. "Discoteca" (new version)
  3. "The Calm Before the Storm"
  4. "Discoteca" (Trouser Enthusiast's Adventures Beyond the Stellar Empire mix)
  1. "Discoteca" (PSB extended mix)
  2. "Confidential" (1992 demo for Tina Turner)
  3. "Single-Bilingual" (Baby Doc mix)
  4. "Discoteca" (Baby Doc mix)
  1. "Single-Bilingual"
  2. "Discoteca" (new version)

Charts

Chart (1996–1997)! scope="col"
Peak
position
Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[8] 84

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Single-Bilingual. petshopboys.co.uk. 31 July 2023.
  2. Reviews: Singles . . 2 November 1996 . 35 . 5 October 2021.
  3. Price . Simon . Singles . . 16 November 1996 . 46 . 0025-9012.
  4. Single-Bilingual. Pet Shop Boys. 1996. UK CD1 liner notes. Parlophone. CDRS 6452, 7243 8 83452 2 4.
  5. Single-Bilingual. Pet Shop Boys. 1996. UK CD2 liner notes. Parlophone. CDR 6452, 7243 8 83468 2 5.
  6. Single-Bilingual. Pet Shop Boys. 1996. UK cassette single sleeve. Parlophone. TCR6452, 7243 883452 4 8.
  7. Single-Bilingual. Pet Shop Boys. 1996. European CD single liner notes. Parlophone. 7243 883451 2 5.
  8. Eurochart Hot 100 Singles . . 13 . 49 . 7 December 1996 . 12 . 29800226 . World Radio History.