2.15.24

Last night’s musical selection (Groove Is In the Heart by Deee-Lite) put me in a dance music frame of mind, and I’ve known what tonight’s song would be since I started teaching math this morning.

Always On My Mind is a song with a hell of a pedigree. Written by Wayne Carson, Johnny Christopher, and Mark James back in 1971, it was first recorded by Brenda Lee. Since then, it’s had more than 300 recorded covers. Among those there are three versions that rise to the top: Elvis Presley, Willie Nelson, and Pet Shop Boys.

All due respect to the first two, for my money, Pet Shop Boys’ cover is not only the best version, but also one of the absolute best covers of any song ever. It does everything a cover version should. It maintains the spirit of the original while carving its own musical path and making a statement of its own.

Pet Shop Boys originally recorded their version for a 1987 British television special commemorating the tenth anniversary of Elvis’s death. It turned into a huge hit, and they re-recorded it for their 1988 album, Introspective.

Their version of the song pulls off an amazing balancing act, maintaining the mournful regret found in previous versions, while adding the bombastic energy and big synth sound of late-80s electro-pop.

I grew up on the Willie Nelson version. I was seven when it was released in 1982, and it was played heavily on WLFE, the local country station out of St. Albans, VT, for years. That station was always on the radios in my parents’ car, the farm truck, and the big tractors.

When Pet Shop Boys showed up with their version, it blew my mind. Much to the chagrin of some members of my 7th grade male cohort. I was called all sorts of names that carried implications about my sexual preferences. I didn’t care. I knew what I liked, and I liked that song.

There aren’t many songs that can make you want to dance while also breaking your heart a little at the same time. This song is one of them.

It’s also the song that convinced me that Pet Shop Boys were an obvious choice to do a James Bond theme song. They had that big pop sound dominated Bind films for a while. It’s a shame it didn’t happen.

And now I’m thinking of another cover version of another song. Maybe I’ll write about it tomorrow night. I guess it depends whether it’s still on my mind.

Little things I should have said and done

I never took the time

But you were always on my mind

You were always on my mind