Electronic ‎– Getting Away With It...

pretty, pretty good

Yes, it's a lovely piece of pop without the slightest hint of a rough edge to ruin your day, but a terrible price was paid for this evolution. As fan Greg Earle once said...

1981: "Here I am in a house full of doors but no exits"

1990: "I love you more than you love me"

7 reasons why Getting Away With It… is perfect pop.

Reason #1: it's all about the ellipsis in the title…

Reason #2: the song opens on such a dream of a bassline fidgeting under a swathe of strings. Barney sings "I've been walking in the rain just to get wet on purpose", and lisps the ess in the laziest of shrugs.

Reason #3: forty-five seconds in, a spectre of Neil Tennants loom over the chorus. Tennant, in the Dusty-est of traditions, is multitracked approx eighty-nine times - atonally. This is pop genius.

Reason #4: "However I look it's clear to see, I love you more than you love me"

Reason #5: verse two; Johnny Marr cuts Chic-ly at his guitar and the cellos chop as Barney sniffs "I hate that mirror, it makes me feel so worthless". As the bassline slouches, Marr's mogadon flamenco dodges the poison arrows of Dudley's strings; it's heavenly.

Reason #6: the singles' artwork (a somewhat lazy reappropriaton of stock photography) was the start of Saville's descent into the Mac trap. But! Not only is the barcode the most perfectly positioned barcode ever, the hidden verso of the inlay is printed blood red. You might not understand how important this is - trust me, it is.

Reason #7: it's only 4:21 seconds long. It's only a pop song. But somehow this song has lived in my life for over 16 years. When I'm happy, it sings my happiness back at me. When I am blue, it cries too. It can sound slightly concerned. It often sounds like it doesn't have a care in its world. It has a swagger. It's such a perfect sigh of a song.