"Left to My Own Devices" 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 a ...

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 ...

, released in November 1988 as the second single from their third studio album, ''

Introspective ''Introspective'' is the third studio album by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released on 10 October 1988 by Parlophone. It received generally positive reviews from critics. Background The album was unusual in that it reversed the typi ...

'' (1988). It was also the first track of the album. The song fared better than the album's lead single, " Domino Dancing", charting three positions higher 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 ...

, at number four. It became the first track that Pet Shop Boys recorded with an orchestra, arranged by

Richard Niles Richard Niles is an American composer, arranger, record producer, guitarist, broadcaster, and journalist. Biography Early years Niles was born May 28, 1951, in Hollywood. He is the son of Tony Romano, a composer, singer, and guitarist who writ ...

. Since its release, it has become a staple of Pet Shop Boys live performances.

Background and writing

Lyricist

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 ...

explained the meaning of the track: As with the other tracks on ''Introspective'', it has a longer version on the album and was edited down to become more radio-friendly when released as a single. This is mainly due to the Pet Shop Boys wanting to be different from every other artist at the time. This is confirmed in the booklet accompanying the 2001 re-release of ''Introspective'', where both Tennant and Lowe state:

Critical reception

Miranda Sawyer from ''

Smash Hits ''Smash Hits'' was a British music magazine aimed at young adults, originally published by EMAP. It ran from 1978 to 2006, and, after initially appearing monthly, was issued fortnightly during most of that time. The name survived as a brand ...

'' named "Left to My Own Devices" Single of the Fortnight, writing, "Pop perfection from the winsome twosome. Complete with swank orchestra, this massive stomper galumphs away at a breakneck pace into all sorts of dramatic twists and turns, over which

Neil Neil is a masculine name of Gaelic and Irish origin. The name is an anglicisation of the Irish ''Niall'' which is of disputed derivation. The Irish name may be derived from words meaning "cloud", "passionate", "victory", "honour" or "champion".. ...

's deadpan vocals sound brilliantly menacing. ..A storming chorus plus! — plus! — one of those superbly pretentious talking bits Neil does, rounded off with a breathtaking violin swoosh, must ensure that this soars to the top of the charts and stays there for weeks and weeks. A truly awe-inspiring Single of the Fortnight."

Music video

The accompanying music video for "Left to My Own Devices", directed by longtime Pet Shop Boys director, Eric Watson, primarily consists of Tennant and Lowe dancing on an invisible glass floor, with the camera angle facing upwards. Tennant and Lowe are joined by several acrobats who are also seen from the same camera angle. At one point, balloons are also visible.

MTV MTV (Originally an initialism of Music Television) is an American cable channel that launched on August 1, 1981. Based in New York City, it serves as the flagship property of the MTV Entertainment Group, part of Paramount Media Networks, a di ...

declined to show the video due to its dimly-lit nature.

Track listings

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Other countries

Turkey's longest weekly video-music programme ''Pop Saati'' (lit. ''Pop Hour'') begins with the intro of the song, which continues from 1987 until today on

TRT The Turkish Radio and Television Corporation (TRT; Turkish : ) is the national public broadcaster of Turkey, founded in 1964. TRT was for many years the only television and radio provider in Turkey. Before the introduction of commercial radio i ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Left To My Own Devices 1988 singles 1988 songs Parlophone singles Pet Shop Boys songs Song recordings produced by Stephen Lipson Song recordings produced by Trevor Horn Songs written by Chris Lowe Songs written by Neil Tennant