Yesterday, When I Was Mad

The song is about the stresses of touring and how being away from loved ones can make musicians unwilling to trust others or carry on with their career, contrasting it with the humour of ironic, pretentious, or rude things people say to touring musicians. Tennant has said that many of the lines in the song, such as "And someone said, 'It's fabulous you're still around today—you've both made such a little go a very long way!'", actually happened.{{cite web |url=https://www.thisisnotretro.com/interviews/pet-shop-boys-interview-2004/|title=Pet Shop Boys interview|date=March 2004|website=This Is Not Retro|access-date=28 February 2025|quote=CL – Did someone say that? NT – Someone definitely said that to us several times and so I just put them all in this lyric…}} Speaking to NME in 1993, Tennant commented that the song was "basically about the strange things that happened to us when we were on the last tour",{{cite magazine |last=Staunton |first=Terry |date=29 May 1993 |title='The Smiths You Can Dunce To' |magazine=New Musical Express |pages=28–30}} in reference to the 1991 Performance Tour, which is chronicled in Pet Shop Boys versus America by Chris Heath.{{cite book |last=Heath|first=Chris|date=2020|orig-year=1993|title=Pet Shop Boys versus America|location=London|publisher=William Heinemann|isbn=9781473575684}}

Dave Jennings of Melody Maker named "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" as one of the magazine's "singles of the week", calling it a "magnificent piece of bitchery" with "glorious lyrics". He remarked, "Pet Shop Boys aren't exactly the first band you'd expect to write a brilliant rock 'n' roll on-the-road song; but that's just what they've done here, skewering the sycophants and patronising slimeballs hanging around their tour with malicious delight."{{cite magazine |last=Jennings |first=Dave |title=Singles |magazine=Melody Maker |date=3 September 1994 |page=44}} Alan Jones from Music Week gave the song three out of five, calling it "a bright tongue-in-cheek romp, but its galloping disco style makes few concessions to melody."{{cite magazine|first= Alan |last= Jones |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-09-03.pdf |title= Market Preview: Mainstream - Singles |magazine= Music Week |date= 3 September 1994 |page= 18 |access-date= 19 April 2021}} David Quantick from NME said, "My theory is that they are now entering a period of being completely barking mad. This single bears it out, with its Noël Coward cover and its Broadway hell version of 'Can You Forgive Her?'."{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Quantick|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/nothingelseon/53255952143/|title=Singles|magazine=NME|date=10 September 1994|page=42|access-date=13 October 2023|author-link=David Quantick}}

Brad Beatnik from the Record Mirror Dance Update noted, "This duo seem to be getting more excited about dance mixes with each single they put out. This one, another idiosyncratic and charming pop song, has about eight mixes."{{cite magazine|first= Brad |last= Beatnik |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-08-20.pdf |title= Hot Vinyl |magazine= Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) |date= 20 August 1994 |page= 8 |access-date= 19 April 2021}} Another Record Mirror editor, James Hamilton, named it a "hi-NRG galloper".{{cite magazine|first= James |last= Hamilton |url= https://worldradiohistory.com/UK/Music-Week/1994/Music-Week-1994-09-03.pdf |title= Dj directory |magazine= Music Week, in Record Mirror (Dance Update Supplemental Insert) |date= 3 September 1994 |page= 11 |access-date= 19 April 2021 |author-link= James Hamilton (DJ and journalist)}} Stuart Maconie from Select wrote, "Their flair for a catty joke is generously displayed on 'Yesterday When I Was Mad', where the duo are dissected by a media harpy while mad acid house whips the drama along."{{cite magazine|first=Stuart|last=Maconie|url=https://selectmagazinescans.monkeon.co.uk/showpage.php?file=wp-content/uploads/2013/03/psb.jpg|title=New Albums|work=Select|date=November 1993|page=87|access-date=4 January 2025|author-link=Stuart Maconie}} Jonathan Bernstein from Spin viewed it as "a wry litany of faint praise with which the pair have been damned".{{cite magazine|first=Jonathan|last=Bernstein|title=Spins|magazine=Spin|date=November 1993|page=130|accessdate=25 January 2023|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuuGvMBRrYAC}} Sylvia Patterson from Smash Hits gave it full score of five out of five and named it Best New Single, writing, "All of this we expect, but this one's their campest techno-fevered thunder-stomp with 100% whistleability for ages."{{cite magazine|first=Sylvia|last=Patterson|url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/57779449@N02/54026999436/in/album-72177720320652612|title=New Singles: Best New Single|work=Smash Hits|date=31 August 1994|page=47|access-date=6 October 2024|author-link=Sylvia Patterson}}

A music video was produced to promote the single. It was directed by British director of music videos and advertising Howard Greenhalgh, and as with his previous videos for the Very campaign, makes prominent use of computer graphics. The video was filmed on 21 July 1994 at Westminster Hospital, which was closed at the time, and West Middlesex Hospital, which was in use. Taking the song's theme of "madness" to mean insanity rather than anger, it features a straitjacket-clad Tennant trapped in a surreal psychiatric hospital, all the while being taunted by a tuxedo-wearing version of himself, who represents the critic in the song's lyrics. Lowe's head appears as a hanging lamp; his image was scanned by computer to generate the effect.{{cite book |last1=Hoare|first1=Philip|last2=Heath|first2=Chris|year=2006|title=Pet Shop Boys, Catalogue|location=New York|publisher=Thames & Hudson|page=194–5|isbn=9780500513071}} Saturated colours were added in to give the video a nightmarish, unsettling quality.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

B-sides include a cover of the Noël Coward song "If Love Were All", arranged by Richard Niles and featuring a trumpet solo by Gerard Presencer, and two new songs, "Some Speculation" and "Euroboy".

"Euroboy" is a dance track written by Tennant and Lowe{{cite web |url=https://www.ascap.com/repertory#/ace/search/workID/350212718 |title=Euroboy |publisher=ASCAP |access-date=29 May 2024}} in the Eurodance mould of such bands as Cappella and Livin' Joy. The track includes Lowe in one of his rare lead-vocals performances, singing through a vocoder. He claimed to have been unaware at the time of release that Euroboy was also the name of a softcore gay pornographic magazine.{{Cite AV media notes |title=Alternative |title-link=Alternative (album)|last=Savage|first=Jon|author-link=Jon Savage|others=Pet Shop Boys|year=1995|page=20|type=booklet|publisher=Parlophone Records|id=7243 8 34353 2 6|quote=Chris: Funnily enough, there is a soft porn mag called Euroboy. JS: Which of course you only realised after the title had been written? Chris: Obviously, yeah. Well… it's a very Euro-disco track.}}

"Euroboy" later appeared on the US release of the album Disco 2, the B-side collection Alternative, and the 2001 two-disc re-release, Very: Further Listening 1992–1994. It was occasionally performed live on the Asian leg of the band's 1994 Discovery tour.{{Citation needed|date=March 2025}}

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• UK CD1{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=UK CD1 disc notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=CDRS 6386, 7243 8 81569 2 9}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" – 3:59
2. "If Love Were All" – 2:58
3. "Can You Forgive Her?" (swing version) – 4:53
4. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon mix) – 9:20

• UK CD2{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=UK CD2 disc notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=CDR 6386, 7243 8 81570 2 5}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Coconut 1 remix) – 4:05
2. "Some Speculation" – 6:33
3. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Factory dub) – 8:19
4. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (RAF Zone dub) – 5:37

• UK 12-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=UK 12-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=Parlophone|id=12R 6386, 7243 8 81569 6 7}}

:A1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon mix) – 9:20

:B1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Factory dub) – 9:17

:B2. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (RAF Zone dub) – 6:20

• UK cassette single and European CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=UK cassette single sleeve|publisher=Parlophone|id=TCR 6386, 7243 8 81569 4 3}}{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=European CD single disc notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=7243 8 81633 2 3}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" – 3:59
2. "Euroboy" – 4:28

• US maxi-CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=US maxi-CD single disc notes|publisher=EMI Records USA|id=E2-58319, 7243-8-58319-2-8}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon mix)
2. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Coconut 1 12-inch mix)
3. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Raf Zone mix)
4. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Fabulous dub)
5. "Euroboy"
6. "Some Speculation"

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• US 2×12-inch single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=US 2×12-inch single vinyl disc|publisher=EMI Records USA|id=VV-58319}}

:A1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon mix) – 9:20

:B1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Factory dub) – 9:17

:B2. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Body dub) – 3:58

:C1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Junior Vasquez Fabulous dub) – 8:19

:C2. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (RAF Zone mix) – 6:39

:D1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Coconut 1 12-inch mix) – 8:22

:D2. "Euroboy" – 4:28

• Australian CD single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=Australian CD single liner notes|publisher=Parlophone|id=8816732}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad"
2. "If Love Were All" – 2:58
3. "Can You Forgive Her?" (swing version) – 4:53
4. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" (Jam & Spoon mix) – 9:20
5. "Absolutely Fabulous"

• Australian cassette single{{cite AV media notes|title=Yesterday, When I Was Mad|author=Pet Shop Boys|year=1994|type=Australian cassette single sleeve|publisher=Parlophone|id=8816734}}

1. "Yesterday, When I Was Mad" – 3:59
2. "Euroboy" – 4:28
3. "Absolutely Fabulous"

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[https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/lyrics/yesterday-when-i-was-mad Lyrics: Yesterday, When I Was Mad]

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Category:1993 songs

Category:1994 singles

Category:Music videos directed by Howard Greenhalgh

Category:Parlophone singles

Category:Pet Shop Boys songs

Category:Songs about the media

Category:Songs written by Chris Lowe

Category:Songs written by Neil Tennant