Leaving

Information Page

First released in 2012, this song was the second single from the Pet Shop Boys album Elysium. This song is about death, the death of a loved one, the death of a relationship, the death of anyone or anything meaningful to a person. It's also about love, and despite its primary subject matter being death, it's a surprisingly positive and powerful song. The overriding message of the song is that the people and things we love may leave our lives, but they never leave our memories, and we can hold on to them for as long as we want. This gives us reason to always believe in love.

This song has very special meaning for me, and it always will. When I finally left the relationship described on the previous page, it was an emotionally challenging time for me. I had nobody to turn to for help. I felt completely alone in the world. On any given day, it was all I could do to make sure I was able to eat that day and had somewhere inside to sleep that night. It was one of the emotionally lowest points of my life. As each day passed, I grew more and more afraid, and after a week, I was absolutely terrified of what would happen to me. I spent most of the day talking myself out of the decision to go back. It would have solved the food and sleep issues, but the abuse would have gotten worse, the difficulty to leave would have grown greater, and my sense of self-worth would be absolutely non-existent. Then this album was released, and the first song on the album is "Leaving".

I bought the album and began to listen to it with half-hearted excitement. As this song began to play, the lyrics hit home for me, and I began to cry. I cried, and cried, and cried, and cried. I cried for so long I ran out of tears, and although it hurt like hell to cry without tears, I couldn't control it. I don't know how long I cried, a few hours, days, months. I really don't know. What I do know is that when the crying stopped, my mind had cleared, and I knew I had made the right decision to leave. No matter how difficult it was, it would still be easier than going back to the abuse. It was because of this experience that I decided to stay on course. It's difficult to know Hearing this song when I did saved me untold abuse and manipulation.

---

To hear then purchase this song, click HERE.

I know enough's enough
And you're leaving
You've had enough time to decide
On your freedom
But I can still find some hope
To believe in love

Our love is dead
But the dead don't go away
They made us what we are
They're with us every day
Our love is dead
But the dead are still alive
In memory and thought
And the context they provide

I know enough's enough
And you're leaving
You've had enough time to decide
On your freedom
But I can still find some hope
To believe in love

Our love is dead
(Our love is dead)
But the dead are here to stay
(Don't go away)
They made us what we are
(That's what we are)
They're with us every day
(Oh, every day)
In darkest night
(In darkest night)
Their memory keeps us strong
(It keeps us strong)
And if our love is dead
(Our love is dead)
It won't be dead for long
(No, not for long)

I know enough's enough
And you're leaving
You've had enough time to decide
On your freedom
But I can still find some hope
To believe in love

Believe in love
Don't go away

Written by Tenant/Lowe

Works Cited

A large part of this song analysis was attained from the Pet Shop Boys fansite Geowayne: Commentary, Interpretation, and Analysis of Every Song by Pet Shop Boys. Retrieved from http://www.geowayne.com/newDesign/other/inside.htm

---