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'Go West', a cover of the 1979 Village People hit, gave Neil and Chris a No.2 smash in September '93 as the follow-up to 'Can You Forgive Her?'
I think that's what the sleeve note says, anyway, it's a bit difficult to read light grey against a pale red background. The PSBs were of course no strangers to the Elvis catalogue themselves, but picked a slightly less obvious source this time around: obviously the Village People were hardly an unknown act or a surprising influence for them to draw upon, but this was not their biggest hit and indeed this version proved to be more successful in almost every major market (as far as I know it was never released as a single in the USA). I don't think I was alone in not having knowingly heard the original version when this came out.
Unsurprisingly for a Village People song, there's an evident gay subtext - although the writers themselves apparently never confirmed this, it's obvious that the song is about the migration of the US gay community towards San Francisco, though of course the title also refers to the older tradition of Americans seeking freedom and opportunity in the West. The PSBs arrangement (which also earns them a writing credit for an extra verse) makes this subtext more explicit, but also more ironic, with its use of Soviet-style imagery in the song itself and even more so in the video. It's something of a sad irony, I suppose, because of the discovery of AIDS in the years since the original song was written - it's hard not to imagine that the hope here is more a mythical one than the practical one in the Village People's original. Still, that doesn't mean the hope's gone entirely, and Tennant/Lowe's lyric speaks of a promised land "if we stand our ground". The big Broadway choir chanting the start of each line emphasises the upbeat tone intended. Indeed it was anthemic enough that this version was adapted for football chants all over Europe, a development which I'd think would have surprised and amused Neil Tennant.
Confidential to UB40: This is how you do a cover version.
Also appearing on: Now 7, 8, 10, 11, 15, 18, 20, 28 [as Absolutely Fabulous], 35, 72
Available on: PopArt - The Hits [+video]
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