Editing Actually (section)

==Background and composition==
For their second album, Pet Shop Boys still had material from their early songwriting days, including "[[It's a Sin]]" (1982), "[[Rent (song)|Rent]]" (1984), and "[[One More Chance (Pet Shop Boys song)|One More Chance]]" which they had recorded with [[Bobby Orlando]] and released as an unsuccessful single outside the UK in 1984.<ref name="actuallyfurther">{{Cite AV media notes |title=Actually: Further Listening 1987–1988|title-link=Actually|last=Heath|first=Chris|author-link=Chris Heath|others=[[Pet Shop Boys]]|year=2018|pages=4|type=booklet|publisher=Parlophone Records|id=0190295826222}}</ref> "[[What Have I Done to Deserve This? (song)|What Have I Done to Deserve This?]]" was a collaboration with songwriter [[Allee Willis]], suggested by their manager [[Tom Watkins (music manager)|Tom Watkins]]; they had hoped to include it on ''[[Please (Pet Shop Boys album)|Please]]'' (1986) but had to wait for a response from Dusty Springfield.{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=5–7}}

The duo also wrote new material. "Hit Music" was inspired by the [[Henry Mancini]] theme song "[[Peter Gunn (song)|Peter Gunn]]" covered by [[Art of Noise]].{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=11}} The music for "I Want to Wake Up" was written by [[Chris Lowe]];{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=16}} the lyrics added by [[Neil Tennant]] compare unrequited love to a bad dream, mentioning the songs "[[Tainted Love]]" and "[[Love Is Strange]]". The chart-topper "Heart" was a song they considered giving to [[Hazell Dean]] but decided to keep for themselves.<ref name="rather good LP">{{cite magazine|last=Hibbert|first=Tom|date=9–22 September 1987|title=And a Rather Good LP It Is, Too!|url=https://www.worldradiohistory.com/UK/Smash-Hits/1987/Smash-Hits-1987-09-09.pdf|magazine=Smash Hits|volume=9|issue=17|page=46–47|access-date=5 January 2025}}</ref> 

"Shopping" began as a joke about spelling out the word as they were shopping, but the lyrics took a serious turn about the [[privatisation]] of national industries under [[Margaret Thatcher]]. The "Tell Sid" advertisements for [[British Gas#1986–1997|British Gas]], encouraging people to buy shares in the company, were a particular source of inspiration.<ref name="rather good LP"/>

Composer [[Ennio Morricone]] shares a songwriting credit on "It Couldn't Happen Here". Pet Shop Boys had contacted Morricone about writing a string arrangement for their song "[[Jealousy (Pet Shop Boys song)|Jealousy]]", but instead he sent them an Italian song to work with. Pet Shop Boys used the music from the chorus of Morricone's song and wrote a new verse,{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=11–12}} with Lowe adding chord changes.<ref name="rather good LP"/> [[Angelo Badalamenti]] contributed an arrangement which was programmed into a [[Fairlight CMI|Fairlight]] by [[Blue Weaver]] in lieu of an orchestra.{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=12}} The title "It Couldn't Happen Here" refers to an early belief, discussed by Tennant and his friend Christopher Dowell, that [[AIDS]] would not greatly impact the UK. By the time Tennant wrote the lyrics, Dowell had been diagnosed with the disease; he died two years later.<ref name="100lyrics">{{cite book |last=Tennant|first=Neil|date=2018|title=One Hundred Lyrics and a Poem: 1979–2016|location=London|publisher=Faber & Faber|page=94–95|isbn=9780571348916}}</ref><ref>{{cite podcast |url=https://open.spotify.com/episode/2y1Pi2Nzjd1aVseeo87pV4|title=How Pet Shop Boys wrote 'It's A Sin' - Neil Tennant|work=Queer the Music|publisher=Mercury|last=Shears|first=Jake|date=3 December 2024|time=26:00–28:30|access-date=5 January 2025}}</ref>

The last track on the album, "[[King's Cross (song)|King's Cross]]", depicts the area around [[London King's Cross railway station|King's Cross station]] in London, which at the time was a destination for drug addicts, prostitutes, and the homeless, as well as people coming by train from northern England and Scotland seeking opportunities.{{sfn|Tennant|2018|p=106}} According to Tennant, "It's an angry song about Thatcherism. Mrs Thatcher came in on the promise of firm government and I'm interpreting 'the smack of firm government' literally as hitting someone. That's what firm government tends to mean—you hit the weakest person, the man at the back of the queue".{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=21}} With this and songs like "Shopping" and "It Couldn't Happen Here", Tennant noted that ''Actually'' can be taken loosely as a critique of [[Thatcherism]].{{sfn|Heath|2018|p=8}}