This Is How It Feels

It was released in the UK on March 5, 1990 on Mute and Cow, as a 7-inch with "Tune for a Family" on the B-side, and a 12-inch and CD adding an extended version, a radio edit and "Seeds of Doubt", with "Whiskey" on cassette; it came out in Australia on April 30. It reached 14, their first UK top 40, 35 on the Eurochart Hot 100, and 22 on the US Modern Rock chart, and is certified Silver by the BPI. The producers were the band and Nick Garside, and the single runs 3:09 against 3:05 on the album.

The song is about a working-class mother having an affair. The radio edit changed lyrics in the second verse, and it has an eight-bar intro against four on the album; the band has played the radio lyrics live since the 2022 reunion. Hingley told the Guardian in 2023 that, despite being very excited about what was happening, he wrote it when he was down. Anton Corbijn directed the video, shot on the Snake Pass between Sheffield and Manchester in a cold January. We could not retrieve a setlist.fm play count or any cover versions, and found nothing to show whether our upload is anything but the album track.