1994 and 2001 re-releases of Plastic Letters. As the follow-up to the UK hit "Denis," "Presence, Dear" was a commercial success in the UK, reaching number ten. The single also reached number ten in the Netherlands and number 14 in Belgium. The single did not chart in the US. Blondie performed the song on the BBC2 television show The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1978. Reception "Presence, Dear" has seen critical acclaim since its release. Stewart Mason of AllMusic wrote, "It's one of the group's early highlights, a sweet little power pop love song that features a brilliantly starry-eyed lyric set to an addictive jangly guitar riff. The missing link between Big Star's #1 Record and the dB's Stands for Decibels, '(I'm Always Touched By Your) Presence, Dear' pulls off the difficult trick of being dryly ironic and utterly sincere at the same moment." The Rolling Stone Album Guide called the song a "catchy single" that "taps into Harry's emotional reserves." GQ ranked the song as Blondie's second best, writing, "If you ever doubted Blondie's ability to be funny, intelligent, culty and yet bubblegum, it's here in the lines of this song: 'We could navigate together, psychic frequencies / Coming into contact with outer entities / We could entertain each one with our theosophies. The Daily Telegraph ranked it as one of the band's ten best songs, praising Harry's "glacial" vocals and describing the melody as "so insistent, you might need an exorcist to get it out of your head." New Times Broward-Palm Beach named the song as one of Blondie's five most underrated, noting, "Harry made its sweet ode to infatuation convincing." 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". 10,000 Maniacs covered the song and released it digitally in 2000. Release history UK 7" and 12" (CHS 2217) Side one "(I'm Always Touched by Your) Presence, Dear" (Gary Valentine) – 2:43 Side two "Poets Problem" (Jimmy Destri) – 2:20 "Detroit 442" (Jimmy Destri, Chris Stein) – 2:28 Chart peaks References Blondie (band) songs 1978 singles Songs written by Gary Lachman Chrysalis Records singles 1977 songs