I'm with Stupid (Pet Shop Boys song)

"I'm with Stupid"
Single by Pet Shop Boys
from the album Fundamental
B-side "Girls Don't Cry", "The Resurrectionist"
Released 8 May 2006
Format 7", CD, Maxi-CD, DVD
Recorded 2003–2005
Genre Synthpop
Length 3:27 (album version)
3:58 (video edit)
Label Parlophone
Producer(s) Pet Shop Boys, Trevor Horn
Pet Shop Boys singles chronology
"Flamboyant"
(2004)		 "I'm with Stupid"
(2006)		 "Minimal"
(2006)

"I'm with Stupid" is a song by British synthpop band Pet Shop Boys and is featured on their 2006 album, Fundamental. It was released 8 May 2006 as the lead single from the album in the United Kingdom and the rest of the European Union (see 2006 in British music). It became the duo's 21st Top 10 single in the UK, peaking at #8.

Though ostensibly about a romantic relationship with a man perceived by the public as a "moron", the song has been acknowledged as being, on another level, about Tony Blair's beleaguered relationship with George W. Bush.[1] The protagonist of the song is eventually brought to wonder if the other's stupidity might not be a front:

Is stupid really stupid
or a different kind of smart?
Do we really have a relationship
so special in your heart?[2]

(See also special relationship as a term in international relations.)

It received its official first play 31 March on BBC Radio 2 and charted at number eight in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the duo's twenty-first UK top ten single. One of the single's B-sides, "The Resurrectionist", is about body-snatching in the English Regency era, carried out by people literally called "resurrectionists".[3]

"I'm with Stupid" was performed on the 23 April 2006 episode of Top of the Pops, in the latest in a long series of Pet Shop Boys performances on the UK music programme.[4] The performance was planned to include six dancers, wearing masks depicting Blair's and Bush's faces. The BBC's editorial department objected, however, citing the need to be politically "impartial";[5] in the end, only one Blair mask and one Bush mask was used, with the remaining four masks replaced by ones depicting Bill Clinton, David Cameron, Menzies Campbell, and Vladimir Putin.[6] The song was later performed in Germany in the form the BBC had objected to.[7]

Remixers of the single include Melnyk, Max Tundra, Abe Duque and Pet Shop Boys themselves.

Several of the official remixes were not released on physical media at all, being exclusively available on iTunes Music Store and other online music stores. In addition, the single has yet to be released in any form in the United States.

Track listings

UK

  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "Girls Don't Cry" – 2:35
  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "The Resurrectionist" – 3:12
  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "The Resurrectionist" (Goetz B. Extended Mix) – 5:40
  3. "Girls Don't Cry" – 2:35
  4. "I'm with Stupid" (video) – 3:58

EU

  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "The Resurrectionist" – 3:12
  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "The Resurrectionist" (Goetz B. Extended Mix) – 5:40
  3. "Girls Don't Cry" – 2:35
  1. "I'm with Stupid" – 3:27
  2. "The Resurrectionist" (Goetz B. Extended Mix) – 5:40
  3. "Girls Don't Cry" – 2:35
  4. "I'm with Stupid" (video) – 3:58
  5. "I'm with Stupid" (making of)

Remixes

  1. "I'm with Stupid" (Pet Shop Boys Maxi-Mix) – 8:12
  2. "I'm with Stupid" (Abe Duque Mix) – 5:03
  3. "I'm with Stupid" (Melnyk Heavy Petting Mix) – 6:05
  4. "I'm with Stupid" (Max Tundra Mix) – 4:23
  5. "I'm with Stupid" (Abe Duque Dub) – 5:51

Music video

The video, filmed at Alexandra Palace in North London features David Walliams and Matt Lucas of Little Britain.

In the video, the duo stage a performance in which they play the roles of Tennant and Lowe and mime "I'm with Stupid" while dressed in Very-era outfits (mainly from the "Can You Forgive Her?" and "Go West" promotional campaigns). They are accompanied by a group of dancers, also dressed in similar costumes.

The video ends with Walliams and Lucas asking for the approval of the audience, which is revealed to be Tennant and Lowe themselves, bound to their seats.

Cover images

Chart positions

Chart positions Peak
position
UK Singles Chart 8
Swedish Singles Chart 10
German Singles Chart 29
Romanian Top 100 61

References

  1. ↑ Teodorczuk, Tom (1 March 2006). "Pet Shop Boys' Labour snub". Evening Standard. Archived from the original on 2006-03-13. Retrieved 2006-05-23.
  2. ↑ "I'm with Stupid (lyrics)". Pet Shop Boys official website. Retrieved 2006-05-23.
  3. ↑ "New lyrics added". Pet Shop Boys official website news. 11 May 2006. Retrieved 2006-05-11.
  4. ↑ "BBC – Top of the Pops – Performance Database". BBC. Retrieved 2006-05-12.
  5. ↑ "Just another day on Top of the Pops". Worksop Today. 28 April 2006. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  6. ↑ "TOTP masks". Pet Shop Boys official website news. 23 April 2006. Retrieved 2012-05-15.
  7. ↑ http://tvtotal.prosieben.de/show/letzte_sendung/2006/05/30/08606.html
    NB: The embedded video player on this site no longer works, but the direct MMS URL it uses does: mms://wms.e-tv.de/tvtotal/2006/05/30/0895-00-04-wm_midband.wmv

External links

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