Missing (Everything but the Girl song)

"Missing"
Single by Everything but the Girl
from the album Amplified Heart
B-side	Remix
Released	8 August 1994 16 October 1995 (Todd Terry remix)
Format	CD single, CD maxi, 12" maxi
Genre	Pop, House, lounge
Length	4:04
Label	Blanco Y Negro (UK) Atlantic (U.S.)
Writer(s)	Tracey Thorn Ben Watt
Producer	Ben Watt, Todd Terry
Certification	Gold (US)
Everything but the Girl singles chronology
"Rollercoaster" (1994) "Missing" (1994/1995) "Walking Wounded" (1996)
Music sample Everything But The Girl - "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix)

"Missing" is the title of a song written and recorded by British pop music duo Everything but the Girl. The song was released in August 1994 as a single from the band's 1994 album Amplified Heart. It is Everything But The Girl's best-known success and it is credited with revitalising the duo's musical career and changing the team's music to a successful electronic music style. The song reached number-one in Canada, Germany, and Italy. It peaked at number 2 in Australia, Belgium (Wallonia, Denmark, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

Original release and remix

Prior to "Missing", Everything but the Girl was most known as a folk and jazz team. They had released eight albums prior to Amplified Heart and had a number-three UK singles chart success in 1988 ("I Don't Want to Talk About It"), but were relatively unknown in the United States. "Missing" was recorded as a relaxed-sounding guitar-based popular music song that had earned modest broadcasting airplay on U.S. Adult Contemporary radio. The duo gave the track to house music producer Todd Terry to remix for nightclubs. The resulting dance version of "Missing" became a worldwide success, matching Everything But the Girl's UK best chart score of number three in November 1995 and scoring number one on the German singles chart. The song became the duo's first U.S. Billboard Hot 100 entry, and after a long climb it peaked at number two during 1996 (in its twenty-eighth chart week), eventually scoring fifty-five weeks on the chart (a record at the time which has since been broken — the single is today the ninth-longest charting song on the U.S. Hot 100). One record it has retained is that "Missing" was the first ever single to spend an uninterrupted year on the U.S. Hot 100. (In addition to this, "Missing" spent over twenty weeks on the UK charts on its way to gaining a platinum disc for the duo - an extremely rare feat for a record that was never a British number one.)

Tracey Thorn later explained to Rolling Stone that the song was originally intended as a dance-oriented track:

It was written with that idea in mind, totally... we put on sort of a laid back house groove instead. Then when we gave it to Todd, he took it in a really, really strong New York house direction, which had a real simplicity to it, but it was very infectious.

After the global success of "Missing", Everything but the Girl ventured into a more electronic/house/drum and bass direction with their next albums Walking Wounded and Temperamental.

Even with its success in the mainstream and in nightclubs, the song never entered the U.S. Hot Dance Club Play chart. Everything but the Girl would eventually amass four U.S. dance chart number-ones, with singles released after "Missing".

Track listings

CD maxi

1. "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix (Blanco/Eternal Radio Edit)) — 3:52
2. "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix) — 4:58
3. "Missing" (Rockin' Blue Mix) — 7:47
4. "Missing" (Chris & James Full On Club Mix) — 8:36
5. "Missing" (Amplified Heart Album Mix) — 4:04
6. "Missing" (Todd Terry Tee's Piece) — 4:34

12" maxi

1. "Missing" (Todd Terry club mix) — 4:53
2. "Missing" (Rockin' blue mix) — 7:47
3. "Missing" (Todd Terry lite mix) — 4:05
4. "Missing" (Todd Terry tee's beat) — 2:48
5. "Missing" (Chris & James Full on club mix) — 8:36

CD maxi - Remixes

1. "Missing" (album version) — 4:04
2. "Missing" (Little Joey remix) — 5:03
3. "Missing" (Chris & James full on club mix) — 8:35
4. "Missing" (ultramarine remix) — 5:26

Official versions

• "Missing" (Album Version) / (Amplified Heart Album Mix) — 4:04
• "Missing" (Chris & James Full On Club Mix) — 8:35
• "Missing" (Little Joey Remix) — 5:03
• "Missing" (Rockin' Blue Mix) — 7:47
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix) / (Todd Terry Remix) — 4:58
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Club Mix - Blanco/Eternal Radio Edit) — 3:52
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Lite Mix) — 4:05
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Remix) 4:08 [Amplified Heart Bonus Track Version] [has an alternate intro with fade out ending]
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Remix) 3:55 [Like The Deserts Miss The Rain Version] [new edit by Ben Watt]
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Tee's Beat) — 2:48
• "Missing" (Todd Terry Tee's Piece) — 4:34
• "Missing" (Ultramarine Remix) — 5:26

Charts and sales

Peak positions

Chart (1994)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart	69
Chart (1995/96)	Peak position
Australian ARIA Singles Chart	2
Austrian Singles Chart	6
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	10
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart	2
Canadian RPM Top Singles	1
Canadian RPM Dance Chart	1
Danish Singles Chart	1
Dutch Top 40	3
Finnish Singles Chart	11
French SNEP Singles Chart	2
German Singles Chart	1
Irish Singles Chart	3
Italian Singles Chart	1
New Zealand RIANZ Singles Chart	14
Norwegian Singles Chart	5
Swiss Singles Chart	2
UK Singles Chart	3
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	2
U.S. Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary	6
U.S. Billboard Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs	70

End of year charts

End of year chart (1995)	Position
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	58
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart	73
Dutch Top 40	9
French Singles Chart	76
End of year chart (1996)	Position
Australian Singles Chart	7
Austrian Singles Chart	39
Belgian (Flanders) Singles Chart	72
Belgian (Wallonia) Singles Chart	17
Canada Dance (RPM)	8
French Singles Chart	29
Swiss Singles Chart	24
U.S. Billboard Hot 100	12

Certifications

Country	Certification	Date	Sales certified
France	Gold	1996	250,000
Germany	Gold	1996	150,000
Norway	Gold	1996	5,000
UK	Platinum	1 January 1996	600,000
U.S.	Gold	24 January 1996	500,000

Chart successions

Preceded by "Baby Baby" by Corona	Italian Singles chart number-one single 6 May 1995 - 10 June 1995 (6 weeks)	Succeeded by "Scream" by Michael Jackson & Janet Jackson
Preceded by "Beautiful Life" by Ace of Base	Canadian RPM Dance chart number-one single February 5, 1996 - February 19, 1996 (3 weeks)	Succeeded by "Sexual Healing" by Max-A-Million
Preceded by "Time" by Hootie & the Blowfish	Canadian number-one single 19 February 1996 – 4 March 1996 (3 weeks)	Succeeded by "The World I Know by Collective Soul
Preceded by "Gangsta's Paradise" by Coolio featuring L.V.	German number-one single 2 February 1996 – 9 February 1996 (2 weeks)	Succeeded by "Spaceman by Babylon Zoo

Cover versions

• No Mercy, 1997
• Discovery, 2001
• Mario Lopez vs DJ Headhunter, 2002
• Night Shift, 2002
• Paradise Lost, 2007
• Expatriate, 2007
• ATB, 2009
• Expatriate, recorded for the Dew Process compilation No Man's Woman. The band shot a video for "Missing" in October 2007, and was aired in January 2008. It made its debut on YouTube. The video was directed by vocalist Ben King's girlfriend Danielle Zorbas, who also directed the "Killer Kat" video. The video was shot at The Vanguard in Sydney.