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

"(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear"
Single by Blondie
from the album Plastic Letters
B-side	'Poet's Problem' 'Detroit 442'
Released	April 1978
Format	Vinyl 7" & 12" single
Recorded	1977
Genre	New wave, power pop
Length	2:43
Label	Chrysalis (UK)
Writer(s)	Gary Valentine
Producer(s)	Richard Gottehrer
Blondie singles chronology
"Denis" (1978) (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear (1978) "Picture This" (1978)
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"(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear," is a song by the American band Blondie. It was released in 1978 as the second single from the band's second album Plastic Letters, reaching #10 in the UK singles chart in May 1978. It was never released as a single in the US.

Song information

It was written by Blondie 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".

In a 2012 interview, Lachman jokingly 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!" ^[1] More seriously, in New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation Valentine wrote: "During the Iggy {Pop} tour we discovered we were having the same kind of dreams or found we were thinking of each other at the same time. Although we were thousands of miles apart, we were still in touch. Thinking of this one afternoon, it all came together in a song."^[2]

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

The single was issued in both 7" and 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.

Blondie performed the song on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1978.^[3]

Cover versions

Tracey Ullman covered the song in her 1983 album You Broke My Heart in 17 Places.

In 1995, Annie Lennox covered it as the B-side of her single "A Whiter Shade of Pale".

Gary Valentine's version of the song was released on the 2003 compilation of his work in music entitled Tomorrow Belongs to You^[4]

Release history

UK 7" and 12" (CHS 2217)

Side one

1. "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" (Gary Valentine) – 2:43

Side two

1. "Poets Problem" (Jimmy Destri) – 2:20
2. "Detroit 442" (Jimmy Destri, Chris Stein) – 2:28

Chart peaks

Chart (1978)	Peak position
Belgium (Ultratop 50 Flanders)[5]	14
Netherlands (Dutch Top 40)[6]	10
UK Singles (Official Charts Company)[7]	10

References

1. Valentino, Bianca (26 September 2012). "Blondie’s Gary Lachman on Madame Blavatsky: The Mother of Modern Spirituality". Conversations with Bianca. Retrieved 23 May 2013.
2. Gary Valentine New York Rocker: My Life in the Blank Generation (New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006) p. 174
3. The Old Grey Whistle Test (DVD). Warner Home Video. 2003.
4. "Tomorrow Belongs to You". allmusic.com. Retrieved 31 January 2014.
5. "Ultratop.be – Blondie – (I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" (in Dutch). Ultratop 50. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
6. "Nederlandse Top 40 – Blondie - I m Always Touched by Your Presence Dear search results" (in Dutch) Dutch Top 40. Retrieved July 28, 2013.
7. "Archive Chart: 1978-05-27" UK Singles Chart. Retrieved July 28, 2013.