Go West (song)
"Go West" is a song by American disco group Village People, released in June 1979 by Casablanca Records as the second single from their fourth studio album of the same name (1979). The song was written by Jacques Morali, Henri Belolo and lead singer Victor Willis, while Morali produced it. It was successful in the disco scene during the late 1970s and a top-20 hit in Belgium, Ireland and the UK. "Go West" found further success when it was covered in 1993 by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys.
This article is about the song by Village People also recorded by Pet Shop Boys. For other songs with the same name, see Go West (disambiguation)."Go West"
"Citizens of the World"
June 1979
1978
4:10
Jacques Morali
"Shameless"
September 6, 1993
1992–1993
- 8:21 (album version)
- 5:03 (single version)
- Jacques Morali
- Henri Belolo
- Victor Willis
- Neil Tennant[a]
- Chris Lowe[a]
Pet Shop Boys
In popular culture[edit]
The Village People version of "Go West" features in the film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert and in the stage musical adaptation as the three lead characters leave Sydney for Alice Springs (which lies just over 2,000 kilometres north-west of Sydney as the crow flies).
The Pet Shop Boys version of the song is played in the first and last scenes of award-winning Chinese director Jia Zhangke's film Mountains May Depart (2015). In many of Jia's films, the 'turn' China has made towards 'the West' is a central theme – Mountains May Depart is no exception. Also, the song serves as a unifying element: it connects the first part of the film (set in 1999) to the final scene (set in 2025), creating a poignant effect which several critics have praised; David Rooney of the Hollywood Reporter called the ending "a beautiful concluding sequence that reaffirms the film's aching depth of feeling and extraordinary sense of place".[103]
In 1998, Ambrosia rewrote their lyrics for an advertising jingle for an advertising campaign to promote their products - most notably their rice pudding - given their products come from the West Country.[104]
Sharwood's used the melody for an advertising jingle for an advertising campaign for their products from 2006 to 2008, substituting "Go West" for "Go East".[105]
In 2021, Highways England used the melody in a public information film about what to do in the event of getting into difficulty on the motorway (pulling up left on the hard shoulder and disembarking the vehicle on the left hand side); the campaign was aptly named "Go Left".[106]