“Oh L'Amour” by Erasure

Erasure put out "Oh L'Amour" as their third single in 1986, ahead of the June release of their debut album, Wonderland, and on paper it flopped: like the two singles before it, it went nowhere in Britain or America. The clubs didn't care.

Vince Clarke and Andy Bell wrote it as a lament for a love that isn't returned, then set it to a bright, bubbling, uptempo synth-pop beat, the kind of heartbreak you can dance off. Flood produced it and mixed it with Daniel Miller, and the single got its own mix with extra instrumentation and new sounds, the version that has turned up on every Erasure compilation since. The "Funky Sisters Remix" on the UK 12-inch kept dance floors spinning, and on the flip side sat a cover of ABBA's "Gimme! Gimme! Gimme! (A Man After Midnight)", the duo's first dip into that songbook.

The original sleeve, decorated with characters from The Railway Series, had to be pulled because nobody had given permission, and a plain black cover took its place. The song got the last laugh anyway: it became one of Erasure's signature tunes and a live favorite, and a 2003 remix, made to promote Hits! The Very Best of Erasure, finally took it into the UK top 20 at number 13.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.