THE 1000 BEST SONGS IN THE WORLD EVER.

451-Yazoo-Situation.

1982-It was not released as a single ‘A’ side in the UK until 1990, when in remixed form it reached Number 14.

Best Bit-At 0.09. Alison Moyet isn’t famous for her joviality, but her laughter taken from this song, and sampled on the ‘Macarena,’ helped that track become the best selling song in the world in 1996.

Yazoo were formed in 1981 by Vince Clarke (keyboards) and Alison Moyet (vocals) after Clarke who had recently left Depeche Mode (see also best songs 968-261 and 134) responded to an advertisement Moyet had placed in the weekly UK music magazine ‘Melody Maker,’ looking for a new musical partner. Although Clarke (see also best songs 700) didn’t know Moyet personally he had seen her sing live on occasions. They remained active between 1981-1983, but did reform for live performances between 2008-2011. They took their name from the 1960’s specialist Blues record label ‘Yazoo Records,’ but following a lawsuit from that label they were forced to change their name to ‘Yaz’ in America. They released two studio Albums in their brief time together, and five singles, three of which reached the top three in the UK.

Alison Moyet was born Genevieve Alison-Jane Ballard on June 18th, 1961, in Billericay, Essex, England, prior to Yazoo she had been involved in a number of Punk Rock, and Blues bands in her local area. After the break up of Yazoo she embarked on a very successful solo career, and has to date released nine solo studio Albums between 1984-2017. She has also achieved nine UK top 40 solo hits, in 2021 she was appointed ‘Member of the Order of the British Empire’ (MBE) for her services to music.

‘Situation’ started out life as the ‘B’ side to Yazoo’s debut single ‘Only You,’ not being deemed good enough for an ‘A’ side, but after American music radio stations began playing it, it took off and received an official ‘A’ side release in the States. It was not issued as a stand alone single in the UK until several remixes were released in 1990, including the one I have chosen here, the ‘Deadline Mix’ by Francois Kevorkian. Kevorkian has remixed tracks for several of the worlds top artists, and in the late 1970’s, and early 1980’s was the ‘A&R’ man for the Dance label ‘Prelude Records’ working with artists such as Sharron Redd and D-Train.

‘Blue eyes dressed for every situation, moving through the doorway of a nation. Pick me up and shake the doubt, baby I can’t do without.’