Pet Shop Boys: After The Event Meaning

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Album cover for After The Event album cover

After The Event Lyrics

Typical day
Cars being towed away
Junk mail through the door
joins the post on the floor
Drilling, always someone drilling
somewhere in the city authorised by committee
Permission is bestowed according to postal code
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Nov 16th 2013 !⃝
The song describes typical and somewhat stressful city life with specific details (someone always drilling, mail being delivered, mothers in their 4-wheel drives) with the chorus "sometimes someone gets upset/doesn't hear the laughter" suggesting that they feel they're threatened. And yet "after the event" it's different and stress is relieved ("looks like someone's smiling," "happy to be here").

Seems to be a meditation on how people live with everyday stress but once things get out of control or "someone dies," the aftermath turns into smiles, cliche's, and overacting.

The event is not made clear but there is reference to "policemen intervening," "drama without meaning," and obituaries and tributes. A terrorist act? An ironic response to a public tragedy?

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