| Jealousy | |
| Cover: | JealousyPSB.jpg |
| Type: | single |
| Artist: | Pet Shop Boys |
| Album: | Behaviour |
| B-Side: | Losing My Mind |
| Released: | [1] |
| Genre: | Synth-pop |
| Length: |
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| Label: | Parlophone |
| Producer: |
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| Prev Title: | Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can't Take My Eyes Off You) |
| Prev Title2: | How Can You Expect to Be Taken Seriously? |
| Prev Year: | 1991 |
| Next Title: | DJ Culture |
| Next Year: | 1991 |
"Jealousy" is a song originally written in 1982 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, recorded for their fourth studio album, Behaviour (1990). It was released on 28 May 1991 as the album's fourth and final single in a slightly remixed form,[1] which appears on the Pet Shop Boys' greatest hits albums. It reached number 12 on the UK singles chart.[2] The song was performed by Robbie Williams at the Pet Shop Boys' 2006 BBC Radio 2 concert at the Mermaid Theatre,[3] a recording of which was released on the Pet Shop Boys' live album Concrete.[4]
"Jealousy" is the first proper song written by the Pet Shop Boys, and the earliest of their compositions to be recorded and released, according to Neil Tennant.[5] In 1982, Chris Lowe composed the melody at the piano in his parents' home and, as he felt it should be a ballad, asked Tennant to write an intense-sounding lyric.[1] [6] Tennant complied by writing about the simplest form of jealousy: infidelity suspicions aroused by someone's indifferent or disrespectful attitudes towards another person's feelings (such as making his/her partner wait all night for a phone call which never comes). He was inspired by an old friend's jealousy about the amount of time he was spending with his new friend, Lowe.[5]
"Jealousy" was among the first songs recorded by Tennant and Lowe in their demo sessions at Ray Roberts’ London studio.[7] They made another demo in 1986 for potential inclusion on Actually.[6] Legendary film composer Ennio Morricone was approached to score the orchestral arrangement for the song. After a lengthy delay, Morricone passed on "Jealousy" but instead contributed a song that became "It Couldn't Happen Here".[8] Producer Harold Faltermeyer ended up doing the arrangement when "Jealousy" was released on Behaviour.[6]
The album version, coming at the end of Behaviour, closed off the album with a sampler-based orchestral outro. The single version is slightly remixed, and uses a real orchestra instead during the outro. The extended version of the single version lengthens the outro while adding an orchestral intro as well; in addition, Neil Tennant recites a quote from William Shakespeare's Othello (Act III, Scene III) over both sequences:[6] [1]
The extended version is also the arrangement performed live with Robbie Williams in 2006.[9]
Dubstar recorded "Jealousy" for a covers album produced for EMI's centennial anniversary.[10] Their version is more sparsely arranged and comes to a full stop, with no additional instrumentation, with the last word of the lyrics.
"Jealousy" is also one of the songs covered on Goes Petshopping, the debut album by Pet Shop Boys tribute band West End Girls.[11]
"Losing My Mind", taken from the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, was based on a demo originally recorded for the Liza Minnelli album Results. Its release here follows the releases of Minnelli's version on both Results and as the lead single from the album. As with the A-side, "Losing My Mind" was released in an extended mix (the "Disco mix") on the 12-inch single. The Disco Mix of "Losing My Mind" also appears on Introspective: Further Listening 1988-1989, which implies it was recorded between 1988 and 1989.[12]
Pan-European magazine Music & Media wrote, "Introducing Neil Tennant in a new role as balladeer. Different but still 'pet sounds' as usual."[13] Barbara Ellen, writing for NME, described "Jealousy" as "a romantic ballad with a subtext viciously outlining the darker side of love". She added, "It flows along beautifully, made all the better for Tennant sounding less sure than usual, more open to the soul that shrieks inside."[14]
| Peak position | |
| Australia (ARIA)[15] | 147 |
|---|---|
| Europe (Eurochart Hot 100 Singles)[16] | 19 |
| Finland (Suomen virallinen lista)[17] | 4 |
| Spain (AFYVE)[18] | 19 |
