[Music] Poutine, the man who lives in the past, according to Pet Shop Boys
(B2) The group from Liverpool had accustomed us to more dance music. This time, they chose very soft music. A haunting look. A few chords. Interest is also a text in the form of a denunciation of one of the most powerful men. Listen living in the past
The past isn't even past
This song which has just been published on the website from Pet Shop boys (aka PSB), formed by Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, is worth a visit. It is intended as a reaction, hot, to the celebration by Vladimir Putin at the beginning of February in Volgograd (ex Stalingrad) of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Second World War, revealing a new bust of Stalin. An event that had disturbed the group to the point of arousing a virulent comment: “ Stalin is back on their site.
- “I arrive in town where they unveiled a bust of my predecessor. Still much debated. We tried to forget it. His crimes have been cataloged. But in the new circumstances, again, it's a God. The past is not even past. How long has it lasted. »
I want men to die with my name on their lips
We are thus far from the syncopated, very dance rhythm of Go West Villages People taken over by PSB two years after the fall of the USSR or Always on my mind. Made at home, as a demo, and broadcast for the moment on You Tube, the tone is less enthusiastic too. He refers to another, more tragic news, the bloody Russian offensive in Ukraine that began almost a year ago, on February 24, 2022.
- “I want them to fear me like everyone else did. Arrested and shot. But they still worshiped him. Like him, I will win. I will not be eclipsed. I want men to die with my name on their lips. The past is not even past. How long has it been going on”
It's too late to lose
The Liverpool duo have never denied criticism, social in West End Girls or on Catholic education, as in It's the sin. But there, he is attacking higher, at the international level. He engages in a scathing criticism of the political psychology of Putin: a heartless being, pursued by a personal desire to take his revenge, driven by a desire to give back to Russia what the USSR was yesterday.
- “I am the living embodiment of a heart of stone. A human monument to testosterone. Although inside I'm dead, it's too late to lose. I'm all they're talking about on their new round of abuse. I am there at your borders. I will not give up. To the new world orders, I will never submit. Call me a warmonger. And I will give you a war. Say I'm a cheater. And I'm going to rig the score again. There is no defeat for which I will answer. The West is dead. And they ask for more. I'll get everything back to the old status quo. I remember how it was. And I won't let go. »
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
Homemade translation of the lyrics into English
