Format 7"
CD Label Virgin | Recorded 1993–97 | |
Released 8 September 1997
(not released in the US) Genre Soul pop
jazz pop ("You Have Been Loved")
Dance-pop ("The Strangest Thing '97") Length 5:30 ("You Have Been Loved")
6:01 ("The Strangest Thing")
4:34 ("The Strangest Thing '97") | ||
"You Have Been Loved" (George Michael and David Austin) / "The Strangest Thing '97" (George Michael) is a double A-side single by British singer George Michael. Both songs are from his 1996 album Older. The single reached number 2 on the UK charts, only behind Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" charity single. The song was Michael's second double A-side single, after "Older / I Can't Make You Love Me", released the same year.
Contents
Track listing
- "You Have Been Loved"
- "The Strangest Thing '97" (Radio Mix)
- "Father Figure" (Unplugged)
- "Praying for Time" (Unplugged)
Singles
Two singles were released for the double A-side. The cover for the first shows Michael cross-legged on a black chaise longue in a room with brown-tiled walls. The cover for the second is just a close-up of the first cover, and does not show the chaise longue. The single version is referred to as "The Strangest Thing '97" instead of simply "The Strangest Thing" of the album version because the single version is a remixed and re-recorded, more up-tempo dance track.
Michael wrote the song about his lover, Anselmo Feleppa, who died of an AIDS-related illness in 1993. Reviewing Michael in concert in 2012, in The Guardian's Dave Simpson wrote, "'Waiting for That Day' and 'You Have Been Loved' – dedicated to his late mother and lover and "all the other people who have been lost since this song was written" (in 1996) – are unusually moving."
As it was on release at the time, "You Have Been Loved" received much airplay in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales in which the lyrics were implied to refer to her, even though it had been released as an album track well over a year beforehand.