The Way It Used to Be (Pet Shop Boys)

I have been a loyal fan of the Pet Shop Boys for a long time now. I share this addiction to their music with two of my good friends, Timothy and Stacie (two of the best Blip.fm DJs you can find!). Timothy recently blipped the excellent song “The Way It Used to Be” that is included in the 2009 PSB album “Yes“. I was immediately hooked.

This song, while extremely poignant, is also incredibly dance-able. That’s one of the amazing abilities of the Pet Shop Boys. Neil Tennant is a musical genius. Chris Lowe is a fantastic musician as well. Tennant’s vocals are haunting, soft and moving. The sounds of “The Way It Used to Be” are definite trademark PSB. A bit of an undertone of their previous hit “It’s A Sin” seems to be embedded within this song.

As you may recall, I am a storyteller, a visualizer and someone who lives by his Kodak moments. The images that came to my mind as I was walking towards the bus loop on my way out of the university and listening to “The Way It Used To Be” were me and my partner discussing taking different pathways and me pursuing my career as a scholar of international and comparative environmental policy, while my partner decided to take off to continue studies of Japanese history. I’m not saddened by the break-up anymore, and The Way It Used to Be doesn’t bring me any negative emotions. It’s a beautiful, haunting song that I could dance to and/or listen to for hour.

Video below (from YouTube) and lyrics underneath. Hope you enjoy them.

The Way It Used To Be (Lyrics, Pet Shop Boys)

I’m here… you’re there
Come closer… tonight I’m lonely
Come here… with me
I want it… the way it used to be

What is left of love?
Tell me, who will even care?
So much time has passed
I’d still meet you anywhere
Water under bridge
Evening after day
What is left of love
Here that didn’t drift away?

I can remember days of sun
We knew our lives had just begun
We could do anything, we’re
fearless when we’re young
Under the moon, address unknown
I can remember nights in Rome
I thought that love would last,
a promise set in stone

I’d survive with only memories
If I could change the way I feel
But I want more than only memories
The human touch to make them real

Another day, another dream
Over the bridge, an empty scene
We’d spend the weekend lost in
bed and float upstream
I don’t know why we moved away
Lost in the here and now we strayed
Into a New York zone, our
promise was betrayed

I was there, caught on Tenth Avenue
You, elsewhere with Culver City blues
Then and there I knew that I’d lost you

What is left of love?
Tell me, who will even care?
So much time has passed
I’d still meet you anywhere
Water under bridge
Evening after day
What is left of love
Here that didn’t drift away?

Don’t give me all your love and pain
don’t sell me New York in the rain
Let’s leave our promises behind
Rewind, and try again

What remains in time
That didn’t fade away?
Sometimes I need to see
The way it used to be

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2. The Vancouver Pen Shop
3. Over and Over by Wilson Phillips
4. Coffee shop review – Luna Cafe (Gastown)
5. Music review – Getting Away with It by Electronic