"It Doesn't Have to Be" is a song by the English

synth-pop Synth-pop (short for synthesizer pop; also called techno-pop; ) is a music genre that first became prominent in the late 1970s and features the synthesizer as the dominant musical instrument. It was prefigured in the 1960s and early 1970s b ...

duo Erasure, released on 16 February 1987. It was issued as a single six weeks before the release of the duo's second studio album, '' The Circus'' (1987). Following the number-two UK placing of previous single " Sometimes", it became Erasure's second Top 20 hit in the UK (peaking at number twelve) and their third Top 20 hit (number sixteen) in

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. The lyric of the song deplores a lack of necessity for strife and may be understood to refer to

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

in South Africa, but there is no particular reference. The middle eight is in Swahili, an eastern African language: ''Lala pamoja na mimi / Nyumbani yako, nyumbani yako / Sababu wewe hapana kaa na mimi / Nyumbani yako, nyumbani yako'', 'Sleep (together) with me / At your place ouse at your place / Why don't you stay with me / At your place, at your place.' So they deplore a lack of necessity for strife not only between two peoples, but also between two people. The single's

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph record, vinyl records and Compact cassette, cassettes, and the terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side of a Single (music), single usually ...

is a rendition of "

In the Hall of the Mountain King "In the Hall of the Mountain King" () is a piece of orchestral music composed by Edvard Grieg in 1875 as incidental music for the sixth scene of act 2 in Henrik Ibsen's 1867 play ''Peer Gynt''. It was originally part of Opus 23 but was later ex ...

", a piece taken from Norwegian composer and pianist

Grieg Edvard Hagerup Grieg ( , ; 15 June 18434 September 1907) was a Norwegian composer and pianist. He is widely considered one of the leading Romantic era composers, and his music is part of the standard classical repertoire worldwide. His use of N ...

's ''

Peer Gynt ''Peer Gynt'' (, ) is a five-Act (drama), act play in verse written in 1867 by the Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. It is one of Ibsen's best known and most widely performed plays. ''Peer Gynt'' chronicles the journey of its title character fr ...

'' suite.

Track listings

* 7" single (MUTE56) # "It Doesn't Have to Be" # "In the Hall of the Mountain King" * 12" single (12MUTE56) # "It Doesn't Have to Be" (Boop Oopa Doo Mix) # " Who Needs Love Like That" (Betty Boop Mix) # "In the Hall of the Mountain King" * Limited 12" single (L12MUTE56) # "It Doesn't Have to Be" (Cement Mix) # "Heavenly Action" ( Holger Hiller Mix) # "In the Hall of the Mountain King" (New Version) * CD single (CDMUTE56) # "It Doesn't Have to Be" # "In the Hall of the Mountain King" # "It Doesn't Have to Be" (Boop Oopa Doo Mix) # "Who Needs Love Like That" * CD single (Special Edition CDMUTE56) # "It Doesn't Have to Be" # " Sometimes" # " Oh l'amour" # "Heavenly Action" # "Who Needs Love Like That" # "

Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight) "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)" is a song by Swedish recording group ABBA. A disco song, it was first recorded in August 1979 to promote the group's North American and European concert legs of ABBA: The Tour. It was released on 1 ...

" (Remix) # "In the Hall of the Mountain King"

Charts

Weekly charts

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1987 singles Erasure songs Songs written by Vince Clarke Songs written by Andy Bell (singer) Song recordings produced by Flood (producer) Mute Records singles UK Independent Singles Chart number-one singles