Songfacts®:

• Yazoo is the duo of synth virtuoso Vince Clarke and singer Alison Moyet (in America, they're known as Yaz because another group had Yazoo). "Situation" is one of their earliest songs; Clarke wrote the song and turned it over to Moyet, who changed the chorus (which she deemed too wordy and sing-song) and tweaked the verse melody. "I wrote it and she corrected it," Clarke quipped.
  
  The lyric is really interesting, with lines like:
  
  Now he's in control he is my lover
  Nations stand against him he's your brother
  
  Clarke and Moyet haven't discussed the meaning, which is open to interpretation. The song was written quickly, and it's likely the words were chosen for how they flow together.
• "Situation" has one of the most famous laughs in music history - you'll hear it about 20 seconds in. That laugh is Alison Moyet reacting to a heavy reverb the producers put on her microphone. Known for her enthusiasm, Moyet has a memorable laugh, and her spontaneous, heavily reverbed chuckle made the song.
  
  That laugh ended up being sampled in about 100 songs, most famously the 1996 hit version of Los Del Rio's "Macarena," where it's used at the beginning of the song as character development. Other songs to use the laugh include:
  
  "I Wanna Have Some Fun" by Samantha Fox (1988)
  "Bass (How Low Can You Go)" by Simon Harris (1988)
  "Pump That Body" by Mr. Lee (1990)
• Vince Clarke was an original member of Depeche Mode and a big part of their 1981 debut album, Speak And Spell. Frustrated with the pressure that came with being in a popular band, he left after that album. Clarke offered Depeche Mode the songs "Situation" and "Only You" as parting gifts when he left, but they declined, so he connected with Alison Moyet (through an ad she placed in Melody Maker) to record them. It was envisioned as a one-off project, but they ended up releasing two albums before breaking up in 1983. Moyet became a popular solo artist in the UK and Clarke went on to form Erasure. Their relationship was frosty, but they reunited in 2008 for a summer tour that was very well attended.
• The original version of "Situation" was released in the UK in 1982 as the B-side of Yazoo's debut single, "Only You," which went to #2 in the UK. "Situation" was then remixed by the French DJ Francois Kevorkian and released as the duo's debut single in America later that year - Clarke and Moyet didn't have much of a following there, so the uptempo tune had a better chance of getting club and airplay than the torch song "Only You."
  
  Club DJs in America loved "Situation," and it spent four weeks at #1 on the Dance chart and even cracked the Hot 100 at #73. "Only You" was issued as the next US single, reaching #67.
• The original version that was released as the "Only You" B-side runs just 2:23 and is stripped-back compared to the Francois Kevorkian remix that American listeners hear. Not everyone liked the remix, which extends the song to 3:44 (the album version, which is also the 12-inch single popular in dance clubs, goes 5:45). Andy Fletcher of Depeche Mode said they "Americanized it by adding bongos and an awful jazz synth break."
• In 1990, a re-mixed version by Francois Kevorkian returned the song to the UK chart, reaching #14.
• When Songfacts spoke with Vince Clarke in 2010, he talked about how his music is different from that of Depeche Mode. Said Clarke: "Martin Gore writes in a different way than I do, so that's obviously the main difference. And they've developed this kind of a rock feel to their music. I'm more a fan of pop music, or I'm more of a fan of writing pop music, that's the most difference, I guess."
• The main riff to "Situation" is the basis for the Saturdays 2008 UK hit "If This Is Love." It was also sampled in "Boom" by Snoop Dogg.
• "Situation" was used in a 2021 commercial for Chanel bags that was directed by Sofia Coppola.