Winner

About Winner

Overview

"Winner" is a song by English synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, released as the lead single from their eleventh studio album, Elysium (2012). It received its UK radio premiere on The Ken Bruce Show on BBC Radio 2 on 2 July 2012. The following day, it was made available for download, followed by a CD single and two digital bundles on 6 August 2012. The track was featured as BBC Radio 2's "Record of the Week" for the second week of July 2012 and added to the B-list of BBC Radio 2's playlists for three weeks. Background Neil Tennant commented that the song "is called 'Winner' and superficially it's a sort of 'We Are the Champions' song but actually it's not. It's really about that moment...and really what's important is the camaraderie of everything that got you there. Enjoy the moment, enjoy the memory 'cause it's just a little moment." Reception "Winner" was received generally well. NME stated, "Pet Shop Boys have released one of the most uplifting songs in the history of their songs." The Daily Telegraph said the song was patently timed to match the Olympic mood and "triumphant, low key; a very English take on things". Popjustice commented that the song "kind of works in the context of all the sport in the air at the moment, but as the lead single from a Pet Shop Boys album it's probably the worst since 'Before'", also stating that the three b-sides eclipse the lead song. Metro stated that the single reminds us the pop icons "... do gently persuasive feelgood with panache". The Guardian commented "the Pet Shop Boys kicked that idea round the studio and thought better of it". Daily Star gave the song 9 out of 10 and commented, "deserving a gold medal for cashing in on Olympics fever, the duo's first taste of their new album is a gorgeous epic", and added the song is "such a lovely tune nobody can begrudge them their chance" and it is "a champion performance".

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“All games are basically hostile. Winners and losers. We see them all around us: the winners and the losers. The losers can oftentimes become winners, and the winners can very easily become losers.”
— William S. Burroughs, "The War Universe", taped conversation, first published in Grand Street, No. 37 (1991).
“But man is not made for defeat. A man can be destroyed but not defeated.”
— Ernest Hemingway, The Old Man and the Sea (1952), p. 113.
“Whether you like it or not, history is on our side. We will bury you.”
— Nikita Khrushchev, remark at a Polish embassy reception following the signing of a Moscow-Warsaw joint declaration in Moscow, November 18, 1956.—The Washington Post, November 19, 1956, p. 1.
“I'm so tired of pretending my life isn't perfect and bitching and just winning every second.”
— Charlie Sheen, On The Alex Jones Show (February 24, 2011).
“I would rather lose in a cause that will some day win, than win in a cause that will some day lose!”
— Attributed to Woodrow Wilson in Hugh A. Bone, American Politics and the Party System (1949), p. 482. Reported in Respectfully Quoted: A Dictionary of Quotations (1989) as not verified in the writings of Wilson.
“Don't fight a battle if you don't gain anything by winning.”
— Authorship disputed. Attributed to George S. Patton in Patton's Principles : A Handbook for Managers Who Mean It! (1982) by Porter B. Williamson as well as Leadership (1990) by William Safire and Leonard Safir, p. 47, but also attributed to Erwin Rommel‎ from his Infanterie Greift An [Infantry Attacks] (1937) in World War II : The Definitive Visual History (2009) by Richard Holmes, p. 128, and Timelines of History (2011) by DK Publishing, p. 392.

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.