Love is a Bourgeois Construct Lyrics
I've been taking my time for a long time
Putting my feet up a lot
Speaking English as a foreign language
Any words that I haven't forgot
I've been thinking how I can't be bothered
To wash the dishes or remake the bed
What's the point when I could doss instead?
[Verse 2]
I've been hanging out with various riff-raff
Somewhere on the Goldhawk road
I don't think it's gonna be much longer
'Til I'm mugging up on the penal code
Love is a bourgeois construct
So I've given up the bourgeoisie
Like all their aspirations, it's a fantasy
[Verse 3]
When you walked out you did me a favour
You made me see reality
That love is a bourgeois construct
It's a blatant fallacy
You won't see me with a bunch of roses
Promising fidelity
Love doesn't mean a thing to me
Talking tough and feeling bitter
But better now it's clear to me
That love is a bourgeois construct
So I've given up the bourgeoisie
[Verse 4]
While the bankers all get their bonuses
I'll just get along with what I've got
Watching the weeds in the garden
Putting my feet up a lot
I'll explore the outer limits of boredom
Moaning periodically
Just a full-time lonely layabout, that's me
[Verse 5]
When you walked out you did me a favour
It's absolutely clear to me
That love is a bourgeois construct
Just like they said at university
I'll be taking my time for a long time
With all the schadenfreude it's cost
Calculating what you've lost
[Verse 6]
Now I'm digging through my student paperbacks
Flicking through Karl Marx again
Searching for the soul of England
Drinking tea like Tony Benn
Love is just a bourgeois construct
So I'm giving up the bourgeoisie
Until you come back to me
Talking tough and feeling bitter
But better now it's clear to me
That love is a bourgeois construct
So I've given up the bourgeoisie
About
“Love is a Bourgeois Construct” was the third single released from the Pet Shop Boys' 2013 album Electric. The electro-pop song features a droll narrative about a bourgeois man taking stock of his life after a breakup. Its melody is based on the instrumental “Chasing Sheep Is Best Left to Shepherds” composed by Michael Nyman (which was initially based on a section of Henry Purcell’s opera King Arthur) for the soundtrack for Peter Greenaway’s The Draughtsman’s Contract in 1982 .
Neil Tenant was inspired to write the song after reading David Lodge’s satirical novel Nice Work, specifically this interaction between the protagonist, Vic Wilcox, and an uptight academic:
“I love you,” he says…. “I’ve been in love with you for weeks.”
“There’s no such thing,” she says. “It’s a rhetorical device. It’s a bourgeois fallacy.”
“Haven’t you ever been in love, then?”
“When I was younger,” she says, “I allowed myself to be constructed by the discourse of romantic love for a while, yes.”
Q&A
Find answers to frequently asked questions about the song and explore its deeper meaning
- 1.Axis
- 2.Bolshy
- 3.Love is a Bourgeois Construct
- 4.Fluorescent
- 8.Thursday
- 9.Vocal