[6] In 1987, May started his production career with the release of "Nude Photo", a single co-written by Thomas Barnett.

He dropped in for a visit at May's house and sat down to play a piano ballad he had been working on called, "Lightning Strikes Twice".

The song was originally at 80 BPM before May increased the tempo, chopped it up into loops, and added percussion and string samples.

In 1996, clubbing magazine Mixmag ranked the song number 17 on its "100 Greatest Dance Singles of All Time" list.

[15] In 1997, American songwriter, record producer, DJ and singer Robert Owens featured "Strings of Life" in his all-time top 10 list.

He explained, "Derrick May takes me back to the Music Box days and the type of people that went ouf during that period.

[17] BBC Radio's 2008 listeners & DJs poll, "The Greatest Ever Dance Record", ranked "Strings of Life" number four, after Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean", James Brown's "Sex Machine" and Donna Summer's "I Feel Love".

1", noting, "It's amazing that a record that encapsulates piano and orchestral samples but has no bassline (or need for one) can still resonate today.

[23] In 2022, Rolling Stone placed "Strings of Life" number 33 in its list of "200 Greatest Dance Songs of All Time".

[24] British house music duo Soul Central covered the song and released it in January 2005 with the subtitle "Stronger on My Own".

Vocals were written for this version by Paul Timothy and Jaquie Williams that were provided by American house singer Kathy Brown.

British electronic artist Kieran Hebden and American jazz drummer Steve Reid covered the song during their improvisational performances in the late 2000s, a live version being released after Reid's passing to raise funds for a foundation started in his name.