# Talk:West End Girls

Uncle G and I have written a temp page for this song. I would be grateful if it could be transferred to the main page after the end of the copyvio process. 
Capitalistroadster 10:24, 19 May 2005 (UTC)

This is a copyvio, not a VFD!  Please remove this article from VfD.

I hope nobody minds, but since the VfD closed, I moved this temporary article to the main one.
JuliusThyssen has made some unsourced, and rather POV, edits to this article that I have been unable to verify. There does seem to have been some bad blood between Bobby O and PSB at some point, and some sort of litigation, but I've found no indication that WEG was stolen from Bobby O or that there was any lawsuit over it. Unless this can be verified, it has to go, and even if it stays, it needs to be reworded drastically. "Kill Bill-level of vengeance obsession" really isn't appropriate for an encyclopedia article, even on a pop culture topic.
In any case: Julius, have you considered that you might be a little too close to this subject to remain unbiased? AиDя01DTALK 02:55, May 24, 2005 (UTC)

I agree, it's not verified and I'm biased here. Feel free to take it out. I'd love to see Bobby and Tennant/Lowe tell the tale themselves here. "Kill Bill-level of vengeance obsession" did not come from me by the way. JuliusThyssen 10:37, 25 May 2005 (UTC)

Okay ... someone want to explain to me why the "G" in this title doesn't take a capital letter? As it stands, this should be a discussion of girls from the West End as opposed to something titled "West End Girls." GassyGuy 18:18, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

Well, uh, a while ago someone added some information from a fan magazine to the Pet Shop Boys article, which dictated that all Pet Shop Boys song titles are to use sentence case capitalization, and things seem to have spiraled out of control from there. There's been a discussion to the effect that we should try to enforce the Wikipedia standard on most of these articles, but frankly I've been putting it off. (If you have feelings on this point, please do voice them as we do need more diverse opinions on this.) –Unint 23:01, 30 June 2006 (UTC)

The sidebar says 1985 for the year the song achieved various chart positions, but the trivia section lists the dates as 1986.  03:56, 19 September 2006 (UTC)

The opening paragraph says that the song samples Sylvester's "You Make Me Feel (Mighty Real)". Is this true? I've never heard of this before. It's not listed in the album liner notes. I certainly don't hear the sample when I listen to West End Girls. 207.164.82.247 (talk) 16:50, 13 January 2009 (UTC)

different versions. how about posting them, particularly the extended version?  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.167.122.1 (talk) 17:34, 25 March 2009 (UTC) 

I recently found a copy of the Bobby O version of WEG but mine is not listed where you have the versions of the vinyl.
I want to make sure mine is real but it is not listed there.
Mine has WEG - time 5:18 on A side and B side is One More Chance time 3:57. 
Its on Bobcat records. WEG is mixed by Bobby O with OMC being mixed by "The Magnificent Kordak", thats what it says, I promise. 
I am a huge fan and want to make sure what I have is real.
I came to you cause you all are such experts on them. 
Can you tell me what I have???
I was not sure where to leave you all a message.
p.g.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 70.113.73.30 (talk) 02:43, 1 August 2009 (UTC) 

Just wanted to add a note about my edit of the track listing for the 1984 UK Epic 7". I've changed the track listing to match what's on the copy I have. I understand that it's commonly believed that the UK Epic 7" has WEG (Original version) / PSB (edited version) but I've made many enquiries at top PSB discography sites, collector sites, fan forums and general discography sites and no-one has ever come forward to say they have a copy of this with those versions. It appears to be a popular misconception. It's also often stated that the UK promo 7" for this release has different tracks to the standard Epic 7" but I have both and they are the same. The only source for (what has become known as) the "Original 7" version" seems to be the Canadian promo 7" on the Power label.
If anyone has a UK Epic 7" that does play WEG (Original version) / PSB (edited version, I would genuinely like to hear from them.
P.S. For the guy above, this isn't supposed to be used as a forum, but that's a 1984 US copy you have there. It's genuine enough but not particularly rare.  RetawGod (talk) 15:49, 20 February 2010 (UTC)
But the article says the Bobby O version wasn't released in the UK and was only available as an import!!?!?!?! We know it was released in the UK but shouldn't the article be changed even if the statement is referenced?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2.221.41.159 (talk) 12:09, 15 November 2012 (UTC) 

My sense is that this phrase is one of the highlights of the lyrics. I found this explanation of it doing a Google search:

Q26 : What's the significance of Lake Geneva and the Finland Station in West End Girls?
The Introspective Pet Shop Boys FAQ

Lake Geneva is where Lenin spent his time during his exile from Russia. Finland Station is the location of Lenin's entry into Russia after the fall of the Czars. There is also a book on the history of socialism called "To The Finland Station." It is interesting to note that Neil Tennant studied Socialism, and some of his songs, including WEG, My October Symphony, and This Must be the Place I Waited Years to Leave have socialist overtones.
I think it would be appropriate that this was also discussed in this article. __meco (talk) 14:03, 5 June 2010 (UTC)

This song is not influenced by Hip Hop.  The PSB's are a New Wave Synthpop band neither of which genres have Hip Hop influences.  While Tennent has stated that the songs inspiration for West End Girls came from The Message by Grandmaster Flash this doesn't qualify it has having a Hip Hop influence.  He liked the song and was inspired, however the song itself is not hip hop as much as the meaning is.Mickey 23:20, 3 September 2010 (UTC)  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mickeyp2814 (talk • contribs)  

As the sources state the idea was to make a rap record in a British accent. Rap is a primary ingredient in hip hop music, and as the Allmusic source said: not to mention arguably being one of the first hip-hop singles to go top of the charts, it dosen't matter if the PSB are synthpop, "West End Girl" is influenced by hip-hop, so don't remove sourced information, and don't add unreliable sources such as Songfacts. Frcm1988 (talk) 23:36, 3 September 2010 (UTC)

My recollection is that the Pet Shop Boys started as a satirical outfit, and that "West End Girls" in particular was released as a send-up of what they considered the vapid dance music of that period.  I believe that they were quite surprised when it all became so successful. 
Also, the 12" single that I overpaid for was represented to me as being the original release in America (on EMI America, dated 1985). What surprised me about the disk was that "West End Girls" was the "B" side of that single. Just FYI; I have no details other than my memory, since the record was lost in Katrina. Shocking Blue (talk) 17:46, 11 May 2011 (UTC)

Who is the singer?  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 91.49.141.136 (talk) 14:45, 18 June 2015 (UTC) 

Helena Springs. --Walnuts go kapow (talk) 21:24, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

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The song was remixed and re-released in 2020, should these be covered here?
The Pet Shop Boys released their own "2020 Lockdown" version
Ben Liebrand released his "9 course suite" remix  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2A00:23C6:7B80:CB01:15F1:6E04:A41F:4EDC (talk) 13:16, 26 January 2021 (UTC)