The song was released 3 times over a 10 year period. The original 7-minute version was released in 1989 by Rough Trade Records. However the song stalled at #77 in the UK Chart. Over the next 2 years James became part of the thriving Madchester music scene, and a shortened version of this song regularly causing clubbers to sit down when it was played. The single was re-released this time on Fontana in 1991 when it became a hit. In 1998 it was remixed by Apollo 440 as part of the promotion for the 2002 Commonwealth Games launch in Manchester.
This was written in Autumn 1988 by the band's lead singer Tim Booth during a difficult time when he was feeling lonely and depressed. He was encouraged by a book by Doris Lessing and by Patti Smith's music, which helped him to realize he wasn't on his own feeling the way he did. The song was a thank you to them. In an interview with The Daily Record in June 2004, Booth said, "Sit Down is about me feeling so alone in my 20s and reading books by a writer called Doris Lessing which made me realize I wasn't. It was about being awake at 4am and having no-one to talk to."
James spent three weeks with this song at #2 sitting behind Chesney Hawkes' "The One And Only."
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