It was closely related to their earlier single (and hip hop club hit) "Beat Box", though the two tracks were developed as separate pieces from an early stage.

This was then re-edited and partly remixed with different effects applied, to become the version of "Close (to the Edit)" which appeared on the subsequent studio album Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?

The song takes its title from the studio album Close to the Edge (1972) by Yes, and also samples "Leave It" and "Owner of a Lonely Heart" by the same band, the latter two of which Trevor Horn produced.

[3] The single heavily features the recorded sample of a car, a Volkswagen Golf owned by a neighbour of band member J. J. Jeczalik, stalling and restarting.

sample – used in a number of songs, most notably in "Firestarter" by the Prodigy and "Back in the Day" by Christina Aguilera (uncredited) – was the voice of Camilla Pilkington-Smyth.

This medley lasts in excess of 20 minutes in length, repeats on both sides of the cassette, and remained otherwise unavailable until it was included in its entirety on the 4-CD box set compilation And What Have You Done with My Body, God?

The original version, featuring a little girl in punk garb leading three business suit-clad men in the destruction of various musical instruments, was directed by Zbigniew Rybczyński and filmed on the High Line in Manhattan.

[10] Simon Reynolds highlighted the manner in which the music video provided a "witty visual emblem" for the group's "updated version of musique concrète's slice-and-dice methods.

"[11] He also noted that the song can be contextualised as "a homage to Kraftwerk and their 'Autobahn'-era notion of the car as a musical instrument", due to the use of a revving motor as a melodic riff throughout Art of Noise's hit.