IT’S A SIN

When I look back upon my life

It’s always with a sense of shame

I’ve always been the one to blame

For everything I long to do

No matter when or where or who

Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

It’s a sin

Everything I’ve ever done

Everything I ever do

Every place I’ve ever been

Everywhere I’m going to

It’s a sin

 

At school they taught me how to be

So pure in thought and word and deed

They didn’t quite succeed

For everything I long to do

No matter when or where or who

Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

It’s a sin

 

Everything I’ve ever done

Everything I ever do

Every place I’ve ever been

Everywhere I’m going to

It’s a sin

 

Father, forgive me, I tried not to do it

Turned over a new leaf, then tore right through it

Whatever you taught me, I didn’t believe it

Father, you fought me, ’cause I didn’t care

And I still don’t understand

 

So, I look back upon my life

Forever with a sense of shame

I’ve always been the one to blame

For everything I long to do

No matter when or where or who

Has one thing in common, too

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

It’s a sin

 

Everything I’ve ever done

Everything I ever do

Every place I’ve ever been

Everywhere I’m going to – it’s a sin

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

It’s a, it’s a, it’s a, it’s a sin

 

Confiteor Deo omnipotenti vobis fratres

quia peccavi nimis cogitatione

Verbo

Opere et omission

Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa

 

Christopher Lowe / Neil Tennant

It’s A Sin was the lead single from Pet Shop Boys’ second album, Actually. It was released on June 30, 1987. It became the boys’ second number one single in the UK. It was the best-selling European single of 1987. In the USA, It’s A Sin reached number nine on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, making it Pet Shop Boys’ third Top 10 hit in America

The song is a comment on Tennant’s Catholic education at St. Cuthbert High School in Newcastle Upon Tyne, implying that he was taught that everything pleasurable in life is to be regarded as sinful. When it was released, the school complained about the song to the press.

The song uses samples from the Latin Mass. Many of song’s sound effects were recorded in Westminster Cathedral. Tennant has said that he wrote the lyrics in 15 minutes, purging his emotions in a moment of frustration and anger.

The Latin passage near the end translates: “I confess to almighty God, and to you, my brothers, that I have sinned exceedingly in thought, word, act and omission, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault”.

The Baroque over-the top production is filled with synthesizers plus full orchestra, and is bookended by a non-sequitur sample of a NASA countdown.

Pet Shop Boys nearly always include It’s A Sin in the concert set list; one of only two songs, alongside with West End Girls, that has been played during every Pet Shop Boys tour.

When it was releases, British DJ Jonathan King accused the Pet Shop Boys of plagiarizing the melody for It’s a Sin from Cat Stevens’ hit Wild World (1971). He made the claim in The Sun newspaper, where he was a columnist. Pet Shop Boys sued King, winning out-of-court damages, which they donated to charity.

It was bounced out of the Top 10 by I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me) by Whitney Houston in early July.

The original video for It’s A Sin was directed by gay artist / filmmaker Derek Jarman, their first of several highly experimental collaborations. It is not available to post, but here they are in concert from 1989: