Electronic – Getting Away With It

Released in 1989, “Getting Away With It” was the debut single by Electronic, the collaboration between New Order’s Bernard Sumner and former Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr, with Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys providing additional vocals. Written by Sumner, Marr and Tennant, the song was produced by the trio and became a sophisticated meeting point between alternative rock, synth-pop and dance music.

The track began with Sumner and Marr working together in Manchester, combining Sumner’s electronic approach with Marr’s melodic guitar playing. Tennant subsequently became involved, contributing lyrics and backing vocals. The words have a deliberately sardonic quality, presenting a narrator who seems almost perversely comfortable with emotional misery. They were also conceived as a playful parody of Morrissey’s famously melancholic public persona, adding a layer of humour beneath the song’s elegant surface.

Musically, “Getting Away With It” is unusually lush for a collaboration rooted in post-punk. Marr contributes understated rhythm guitar and a rare guitar solo, while David Palmer of ABC programmed the drums. Anne Dudley arranged and conducted the sweeping orchestral strings, giving the recording a cinematic quality that contrasts beautifully with its electronic foundations.

The result is a stylish, bittersweet and remarkably polished piece of late-Eighties pop that brought together three distinctive musical worlds.

The song peaked at No. 12 in the UK charts on 30th December 1989.