Depeche Mode - Strangelove Lyrics
Send this Ringtone to your CellThere'll be times
When my crimes
Will seem almost unforgivable
I give in to sin
Because you have to make this life livable
But when you think I've had enough
From your sea of love
I'll take more than another riverful
And I'll make it all worthwhile
I'll make your heart smile
Strangelove
Strange highs and strange lows
Strangelove
That's how my love goes
Strangelove
Will you give it to me
Will you take the pain
I will give to you
Again and again
And will you return it
There'll be days
When I stray
I may appear to be
Constantly out of reach
I give in to sin
Because I like to practice what I preach
I'm not trying to say
I'll have it all my way
I'm always willing to learn
When you've got something to teach
And I'll make it all worthwhile
I'll make your heart smile
Pain will you return it
I'll say it again - pain
Pain will you return it
I won't say it again
I give in
Again and again
I give in
Will you give it to be
I give in
I'll say it again
I give in
I give in
Again and again
I give in
That's how my love goes
I give in
I'll say it again
I give in
Listen to "Strangelove"
Song details
"Strangelove" is Depeche Mode's eighteenth UK single, released on April 13, 1987, and the first single for the then upcoming album Music for the Masses. It reached #16 in the UK charts (Depeche Mode would fail to make the Top 10 of the UK singles chart throughout the second half of the 1980s), but hit #2 in West Germany and in South Africa, and was a Top 10 success in several other countries (Sweden, Switzerland, etc.).
The original version of "Strangelove" is a fast-paced poppy track. Though successful, this did not seem to fit with the Music for the Masses's darker style, so Daniel Miller made a slower version of "Strangelove" which became the album version. The album version was released as a single itself in the USA, as "Strangelove '88". Former member Alan Wilder, in the Q&A section of his Recoil website, writes that the band felt the single version was "too cluttered" and was the reason Miller's remix was commissioned. Miller expounded on this in the Music for the Masses re-master documentary DVD, stating that he felt the original single version was too complicated and would benefit from being simplified.
B-sides
There are two B-Sides for "Strangelove", both instrumental. "Pimpf" is a dark instrumental that is mostly piano, named after the members of one of the Hitler Youth organizations. "Pimpf" later shows up as the final track on the vinyl version of Music for the Masses.
The second instrumental is "Agent Orange", named after the herbicide used in the Vietnam War. At the end of the song, you can hear some morse code. Rumoured to mean "If anybody can hear this, please help me", it is actually just gibberish (LAXI ".-.. .- -..- ..", several times repeated). "Agent Orange" later shows up as the first bonus track on the CD/Cassette version of Music for the Masses.
Music video
The music video for "Strangelove" was directed by Anton Corbijn and appears on the Strange video and The Videos 86>98. It features the band observing two models posing in their underwear and walking around a city. In the USA, MTV objected to some of the more revealing footage of the models and the video was edited to replace them with images of the band.
There was also an Corbijn-directed video for "Pimpf", exclusive to the Strange video, which features David Gahan, Alan Wilder and Andrew Fletcher shouting at each other syncing with the synthetic chanting, while Martin Gore plays the song on a Piano. It is to note that while Martin plays the piano in the video, it is Alan Wilder who plays the piano in all piano-instrumentals by the band from 1987–1990 as well as "Somebody".
In 1988, another video for "Strangelove" was released, set to the tune of the album version of "Strangelove". It was directed by Martyn Atkins who did photography for earlier DM albums. It was not publicly released until the The Videos 86>98+ DVD in 2002. This video is much simpler than the original, and features the band performing inside a castle-like location.
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