You Surround Me

History

Upon release, "You Surround Me" became Erasure's tenth consecutive Top 20 hit on the UK singles chart, peaking at #15. It reached #10 on the Irish singles chart, and became a Top 40 hit in Germany, where it reached #38.

The track, a love song, was written by Erasure members Vince Clarke and Andy Bell and is a heavily-synthesized ballad with a dramatic chorus featuring Bell's falsetto. Clarke has stated that this song was his attempt at writing a James Bond film theme.

The song was promoted with a music video showing Clarke and Bell performing on a three-level circular stage set, with cityscapes superimposed at various points during the song through a mixture of chroma key and ordinary vision mixing.

This release has become more notable for the B-sides that were included with "You Surround Me". First was a cover version of Cerrone's environmental anthem "Supernature". The song, also previously recorded by Lene Lovich, led to a collaboration between Erasure and Lovich for the song "Rage", which later appeared on a PETA benefit album. Erasure's recording was remixed by William Orbit and became a popular hit in dance clubs.

Also included on the single as a B-side is "91 Steps", an instrumental with complex synthesizer programming and unusual time signature in which upon play, some listeners may think it is their CD player skipping. The track utilises repeating cycles in which the first seven bars use a 7/4 time signature, followed by one bar in 3/4 time.

7" single (MUTE99) / Cassette Single (CMUTE99)

1. "You Surround Me"
2. "91 Steps"

12" single (12MUTE99) / CD single (CDMUTE99)

1. "You Surround Me" (Syrinx Mix)
2. "Supernature"
3. "91 Steps" (+24 Mix)

Limited 12" single (L12MUTE99) / Limited CD single (LCDMUTE99)

1. "You Surround Me" (Remix)
2. "Supernature" (William Orbit Mix)
3. "91 Steps" (6 Pianos Mix)

Limited "Supernature" 12" single (XL12MUTE99)

1. "Supernature" (Daniel Miller & Phil Legg Mix)
2. "You Surround Me" (Gareth Jones Mix)
3. "Supernature" (Mark Saunders Mix)