I Don't Want a Lover

It was the first song McElhone and Spiteri wrote together; he told Mojo in 1996 that it was their first hit in 1989. It opens with blues slide guitar, then a throbbing rhythm section, then vocals. Spiteri told the BBC it has loads of synth on it, which was very much what they wanted at that point, mixed with a folky vibe, though people mostly notice the slide guitar; she told the Daily Telegraph in 2013 that she was obsessed with not just wanting physical love, she wanted mental love. She insisted on a non-feminine image then, in Levi's and a leather jacket. The single, on Mercury and Phonogram, had B-sides "Believe Me" and "All in Vain", and runs 5:00 on the album and 4:15 on the 2001 mix. An earlier version, mixed by Bernard Edwards with Tony Thompson on drums at Burbank in 1987, was unreleased until 2020.

It entered the UK chart on February 4, 1989, reached 8, and charted 4 in Australia, 3 in Switzerland, 77 on the US Hot 100 and 11 on US Modern Rock. A 2001 remix by Stargate, released on July 9, 2001 to promote The Greatest Hits, reached 16. It is silver in the UK and Gold in Australia, and was in the film Beautiful People (2000). A Texas 25 re-recording, produced with Truth and Soul, swapped the pulsing synth and 1980s drums for slinky guitar figures, keeping the slide. Setlist.fm shows 522 plays, the first on February 11, 1989 at Glasgow School of Art, and it is usually their opener in recent sets. We found no third-party covers or samples.