(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear

"(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" is a song from the 1977 album Plastic Letters by Blondie, which was also the second single off that album,[1]  following up the international breakthrough single "Denis", reaching #10 in the UK in May 1978. It was never released as a single in the US.



Contents
[hide]  *1 Song information  ==Song information[ edit] == It was written by former bass player Gary Valentine, a/k/a Gary Lachman, for his then girlfriend Lisa Jane Persky before his departure from the band. Valentine had also written the band's first single, "X Offender".
 * 2 Cover versions
 * 3 Release history
 * 3.1 Side one
 * 3.2 Side two
 * 4 Chart peaks
 * 5 References

In a 2012 interview, Lachman explained that the song concerns a telepathic connection between him and his girlfriend. "That was about these paranormal experiences I was having with my girlfriend at the time. We were in telepathic contact with each other when I was on tour. We would discover we’d be having the same dreams and we always seemed to know what the other was doing, which sometimes proved uncomfortable!" [2]

The lyrics include references to kismet, theosophy, R.E.M and the stratosphere.

The single was issued in both 7" & 12" formats in the UK, with two songs on the B-side, as were previous singles, "Rip Her to Shreds" and "Denis". One of the single's B-side tracks was "Detroit 442", and the other was Jimmy Destri's "Poets Problem", which was not on the original release of Plastic Letters. "Poets Problem" was first issued on CD on the 1993 rarities compilation Blonde and Beyond and later as a bonus track on both the 1994 and 2001 re-releases of Plastic Letters. ==Cover versions[ edit] == Tracey Ullman covered the song in her 1983 album, You Broke My Heart in 17 Places.

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">The short-lived Danbury, Connecticut-based band Monsterland covered the song on their 1992 EP "Loser Friendly."

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">In 1995, Annie Lennox covered it as the B-side of her single, "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

<p style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em;line-height:inherit;">Gary Valentine's version of the song was released on his 2003 on compilation of his work in music entitled Tomorrow Belongs to You<sup class="reference" id="cite_ref-3" style="line-height:1;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-size:11.1999998092651px;">[3] ==Release history<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] == ===Side one<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ===Side two<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] === ==Chart peaks<span class="mw-editsection" style="-webkit-user-select:none;font-size:small;margin-left:1em;line-height:1em;display:inline-block;white-space:nowrap;unicode-bidi:-webkit-isolate;font-family:sans-serif;"><span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">[ edit<span class="mw-editsection-bracket" style="color:rgb(85,85,85);">] ==
 * UK 7" and 12" (CHS 2217)
 * 1) "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" (Gary Valentine) – 2:43
 * 1) "Poets Problem" (Jimmy Destri) – 2:20
 * 2) "Detroit 442" (Jimmy Destri, Chris Stein) – 2:28