Pet Shop Boys say Bananarama turned down recording one of their songs because it wasn’t written specifically for them.
Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe demoed the song, One-Way Street, back in the mid-2000s for their ninth studio album, ‘Fundamental’ (2006), but after choosing not to include it on the final tracklist offered it out to Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward, who released their 10th LP, ‘Viva’, in 2009.
However, their pitch was rejected, as Neil explains in an interview with Record Collector magazine: “They asked us many times to write a song. And Sara [Dallin] said, ‘You’ve just picked something off the shelf, haven’t you, and given it to us?’
“She just knew. She’s clever.”
Chris adds: “They were always going to be difficult, weren’t they?”
The Always On My Mind hitmakers finally released their recording in 2017, with Neil telling the BBC its title came from a book by philosopher Walter Benjamin.
“Chris was playing something on the keyboards and I saw this book and thought, ‘That’s a good title’,” he shared. “Actually it’s got a catchy chorus. We offered it to Bananarama, who were making a new album. We gave it to them and they rejected it!
“The reason we didn’t put it out was because I thought the metaphor of a one way street – that something was predestined – was maybe a bit contrived. But listening to it all these years later it’s very catchy.”
The duo returned this week with their 15th album, ‘Nonetheless‘, featuring the singles Loneliness and Dancing Star, which was recorded in 2023 with James Ford, marking their first collaboration.
“We wanted this album to be a celebration of the unique and diverse emotions that make us human,” says Neil and Chris. “From the more dance-orientated tracks to the raw poignancy of the introspective ballads, with their beautiful string arrangements, each track tells a story and contributes to the overall narrative of the album.”
To launch the album, they’ll play a one-off intimate gig at KOKO, London on May 26, before taking up residency at London’s Royal Opera House between July 23 and July 27.
In a review of the album, RETROPOP called ‘Nonetheless’ “a bold, current and exciting body of work that stands tall alongside the very best of their catalogue”.
