electronic :: songs :: the patience of a saint

(sumner, marr, tennant and lowe)

talking of my attributes
the things i do so well
as anyone who’s in cahoots
with me will readily tell

i’ve lived up here, i’ve been down there
i’ve bought some i could sell
and if i drove a faster car
i’d drive it bloody well

how could i change?
i live without restraint

and i would try the patience of a saint
and i would try the patience of a saint

thinking of my attitudes
talking one on one
i may disagree with you
but look where you’ve come from

and all that you’ve got
i thought that i would faint

but i would try the patience of a saint
and i would try the patience of a saint
i would try the patience of a saint

i’m talking to myself
talking to myself
i’m talking to the one that i know best
i’m talking to the one that i know best

bury me with gratitude
you can go to hell

why should i care?
i’d rather watch drying paint

but i would try the patience of a saint
and i would try the patience of a saint
i would try the patience of a saint
and i would try the patience of a saint

album version—4:09

electronic
electronic+disappointed
electronic (remaster)

electronic form an alliance with pet shop boys for this sardonic confessional about selfishness and insensitivity. it’s a fruitful union, with some beautifully subtle playing from johnny marr and chris lowe, and enigmatic vocal interplay between neil tennant and bernard sumner. johnny: “bernard got a drumbeat going, chris had a couple of chords, i put a bassline on and in about half an hour we had it. it was easy. we were all just sort of singing bits and putting ideas in.”

bernard: “we’d already written the backing track to getting away with it, but neil liked it, wrote some lyrics and helped with the arrangement. the following week we wrote the patience of a saint with chris in about half an hour. we had already decided that what would be good was if we did one song and they did one—the music.” it is impressive that a song accredited to four of the most important musicians in the history of popular music actually lives up to its billing.