The Night I Fell in Love (song)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"The Night I Fell in Love" is the penultimate song on the Pet Shop Boys' 2002 album Release. The lyrics were written by Neil Tennant and the music co-written with Chris Lowe.
The song describes a homosexual encounter between a young boy (who is telling the story) and his rap music idol after a concert. The idol is never named, but references in the lyrics to Dr. Dre and homophobia in rap music make it possible to identify him as rapper Eminem. The most obvious reference is when the rapper clearly refers to Eminem's own song "Stan":
- Then he joked "hey man,
your name isn't Stan, is it?
We should be together!"
Tennant wrote the song after hearing Eminem defending his often homophobic lyrics saying he was representing other people's opinions, such as homophobia in society or rap music. Tennant saw a double meaning in this, and also took it to mean that there are gay rap stars. Eminem has not publicly commented on the song, although Dr. Dre said he was amused by hearing it, and that there might be a backlash.
This song refers to Eminem both as gay and as a pedophile, the reference being at the end of the song:
"Neither of us asked if or when/ we would see each other again/ But I thought that was cool/ 'cause I was already late for school"
The response from Eminem came in his song "Canibitch", in which Eminem and Dr. Dre run over the Pet Shop Boys with their car:
- [BOOSH! BOOSH!]
[BOOSH! BOOSH!]
(What was that?) Pet Shop Boys
The reference to "Stan" also makes "The Night I Fell in Love" a rare example of a double answer song, because Eminem's original song refers to another song, "In the Air Tonight" by Phil Collins.
