Positive Role Model

Information Page

First released in 2001, this song was included on the Pet Shop Boys album Disco 3. This song is about the failure of rehab and taking up one's old vices. It decries the need for a positive role model, a sentiment many recovering addicts echo. A different version of the song, with much different lyrics, was the last song of their 2001 stage musical Closer to Heaven. This song is a satire about rehab (Tennant, 2003), but its message can also be applied to minority groups that are not represented positively in the media, including gay people.

Here we are
Where we were
Back on everything
Went too far
Now we're fine
Back on everything
So much for making it day by day
Back on everything
Instead of taking another way
We're back on everything

I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model

My reflection on the street
Is that the way I walk?
Introspection as I speak
I need to change the way I talk
In a changing world
There's so much you could be
Why can't you choose your self
Like your enemy?
Have you ever imagined
A new you?
I could be someone else
Somebody new

Reinvention:
My intention

I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model
I want a positive role model

Written by Tennant/Lowe/White/Radcliffe/Sepe

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/disco3/positive.htm

Tennant, N. (2003) Literally.

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