"It Doesn't Have to Be" is a song by British synthpop duo Erasure, released in February 1987. It was issued as a single six weeks before the release of the duo's second album, The Circus.
Following the number-two UK placing of previous single "Sometimes", "It Doesn't Have to Be" became Erasure's second Top 20 hit in the UK (peaking at number twelve) and their third German Top 20 hit (number sixteen).
The single's B-side, "In the Hall of the Mountain King", is taken from Grieg's Peer Gynt suite.
The foreign language portion of the middle of the song is sung in Kiswahili that, while imperfect, still makes sense in the context of the song:
Lala pamoja na mimi / Nyumbani yako, nyumbani yako / Sababu wewe hapana kaa na mimi / Nyumbani yako, nyumbani yako
The rough translation of these lyrics is "Sleep (together) with me / At your place, at your place / Why don't you stay with me / At your place, at your place."
Read more about It Doesn't Have To Be: Chart Performance
Famous quotes containing the word have:
“Let it not your wonder move,
Less your laughter, that I love.
Though I now write fifty years,
I have had, and have, my peers;
Poets, though divine, are men:
Some have loved as old again.
And it is not always face,
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—Ben Jonson (1572–1637)