Released: October 11, 1999
Songwriter: George Clinton Sergei Rachmaninoff Chris Lowe Neil Tennant
Producer: Pet Shop Boys
[Intro: Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
It is not easy
[Verse 1: Neil Tennant]
Looking from a window
At the back of a house
At the edge of a town
It's grey
Like the day when I lost it
Clouds overhead
I talked to a flower that was almost dead
My body a prison
Why did I do it?
Someone warned me not to but I still went through it
Even in a song, you gotta remember that happiness is an option
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
That happiness is an option
[Verse 2: Neil Tennant]
Needed somewhere to clear my head
Find some strength
A warmer bed
Maximum love in a minimal world
I'd never achieved it
But then I believed it
So when I lost it, how?
I'm not sure now
It was a strange feeling
Like a law repealing itself
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
That happiness is an option
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Giving it up, you feel like giving it up
[Verse 3: Neil Tennant]
I can wake up in the morning
And not believe what I see
Look in the mirror
And think if that's really me
I don't think I suit my face
It's not a catastrophe
It's more a philosophy
Like the Russians wondering why
We're born under a blue sky
But die in a dark forest
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
[Verse 4: Neil Tennant]
This is neither old nor new
It's always, forever
Somewhere between sense and ambition
Pleasure and decision
We have to make a choice
What do we want?
Everyone singing 'War! What is it good for?'
While planning the next one?
I don't need to win
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
[Chorus 2: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
It is not easy
No, not easy
The war within us
The war within us
But it gets easier
Easier
The more we learn
The more we learn
I don't need to win
I don't need to win, now
You don't have to lose
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
[Chorus 2: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
I don't need to win
I don't need to win, now
You don't have to lose
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
It is not easy
It is not easy
[Verse 1: Neil Tennant]
Looking from a window
At the back of a house
At the edge of a town
It's grey
Like the day when I lost it
Clouds overhead
I talked to a flower that was almost dead
My body a prison
Why did I do it?
Someone warned me not to but I still went through it
Even in a song, you gotta remember that happiness is an option
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
That happiness is an option
[Verse 2: Neil Tennant]
Needed somewhere to clear my head
Find some strength
A warmer bed
Maximum love in a minimal world
I'd never achieved it
But then I believed it
So when I lost it, how?
I'm not sure now
It was a strange feeling
Like a law repealing itself
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
That happiness is an option
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Giving it up, you feel like giving it up
[Verse 3: Neil Tennant]
I can wake up in the morning
And not believe what I see
Look in the mirror
And think if that's really me
I don't think I suit my face
It's not a catastrophe
It's more a philosophy
Like the Russians wondering why
We're born under a blue sky
But die in a dark forest
[Chorus 1: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
[Verse 4: Neil Tennant]
This is neither old nor new
It's always, forever
Somewhere between sense and ambition
Pleasure and decision
We have to make a choice
What do we want?
Everyone singing 'War! What is it good for?'
While planning the next one?
I don't need to win
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
[Chorus 2: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
It is not easy
No, not easy
The war within us
The war within us
But it gets easier
Easier
The more we learn
The more we learn
I don't need to win
I don't need to win, now
You don't have to lose
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
[Chorus 2: Neil Tennant and Sylvia Mason-James]
It is not easy
But don't give up now
So don't give up
It is not easy
Happiness is an option
Happiness is an option
I don't need to win
I don't need to win, now
You don't have to lose
You don't have to lose
We can choose
Happiness is an option
more tracks from the album
Nightlife: Further Listening 1996 – 2000
- In Denial
- Closer to Heaven
- It Doesn’t Often Snow at Christmas (Fan Club Mix)
- Nightlife
- Positive Role Model
- For All of Us (Demo)
- Casting a Shadow
- Paris City Boy (Full French)
- Believe / Song for Guy
- Vampires (Demo)
- For All of Us
- Somebody Else’s Business (Extended Mix)
- I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Any More (The PSB Extension)
- Call Me Old-Fashioned (Demo)
- Playing in the Streets
- Tall Thin Man
- Radiophonic
- You Only Tell Me You Love Me When You’re Drunk
- New York City Boy
- Boy Strange
- Somebody Else’s Business
- Friendly Fire
- The Ghost of Myself
- Footsteps
- Sail Away
- Silver Age
- Screaming
- For Your Own Good
- The Only One
- Happiness is an Option
- Lies
- I Don’t Know What You Want But I Can’t Give It Anymore
- Vampires
- Radiophonic (Demo)
From the albums
- Nightlife (1999)
- Nightlife: Further Listening 1996 – 2000 (2017)
Pet Shop Boys popular songs
- West End Girls
- It’s a Sin
- Opportunities (Let’s Make Lots of Money)
- Go West
- Always On My Mind
- Being Boring
- Suburbia
- What Have I Done to Deserve This?
- Domino Dancing
- The Pop Kids
- Left to My Own Devices
- Rent
- New York City Boy
- Love etc.
- Love is a Bourgeois Construct
- Burning the heather
- Dreamland
- Closer to Heaven 3
- Footsteps
- Closer To Heaven / Left To My Own Devices
- Je T’aime Moi Non Plus
- Yesterday, When I Was Mad (Coconut 1 12" Mix) [Disco 2 Version]
- In His Imagination
- Sail Away