"Single-Bilingual" is a song by English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a subgenre of new wave music that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s ...

duo

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo i ...

, released on 11 November 1996 as the third single from their sixth studio album, ''

Bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

'' (1996). The track peaked at number 14 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

. The song is named "Single" on the album version, but was retitled "Single-Bilingual" because

Everything but the Girl Everything but the Girl (occasionally referred to as EBTG) are an English musical duo formed in Kingston upon Hull in 1982, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, producer and singer Ben Watt ...

also had a song named "

Single Single may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * Single (music), a song release Songs * "Single" (Natasha Bedingfield song), 2004 * "Single" (New Kids on the Block and Ne-Yo song), 2008 * "Single" (William Wei song), 2016 * "Single", by ...

" which had been released the previous May. The album version cross-fades with the previous track, "Discoteca", and the accompanying music video contains an interpolation of the aforementioned song at the end.

Critical reception

A reviewer from ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as '' Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music W ...

'' rated the song three out of five, adding, "The

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

has fallen from the Top 75, but this class single — devastatingly detailing the life of an upwardly-mobile Euro-executive — should return it to the forefront."

Music video

The accompanying

music video A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a m ...

features

Neil Tennant Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for ''Smash Hits'', and a ...

as a glib businessman travelling across Europe and trying to pick up a woman in a bar. Towards the end, the visuals feature military aircraft suggesting that he is in fact an arms trader.

Track listings

*UK CD single 1: Parlophone CDRS 6452 # "Single-Bilingual" # "Discoteca" (New version) # "The Calm Before the Storm" # "Discoteca" (Trouser Enthusiast's Adventures Beyond the Stellar Empire Mix) *UK CD single 2: Parlophone CDR 6452 # "Discoteca" (Pet Shop Boys extended mix) – 6:58 # "Confidential" (1992 demo for

Tina Turner Tina Turner (born Anna Mae Bullock; November 26, 1939) is an American-born Swiss retired singer and actress. Widely referred to as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Rock 'n' Roll", she rose to prominence as the lead singer o ...

) – 4:46 # "Single-Bilingual" (Baby Doc mix) – 5:44 # "Discoteca" (Baby Doc mix) *UK cassette single TCR6452 # "Single-Bilingual" # "Discoteca"

Charts

References

1996 singles Pet Shop Boys songs 1996 songs Songs written by Neil Tennant Songs written by Chris Lowe Parlophone singles Music videos directed by Howard Greenhalgh {{1990s-single-stub