The Worst Crime

Notes

Dave said on Weekend Edition Sunday:

"Actually, this is one of my favorite songs on the album [Spirit]. It has a beautiful melody, but lyrically it's pretty slamming the way we divide each other, you know, and racial divides and kind of calling out to really question that, to kind of check yourself, me included, everybody else included. Like, where do you really stand? You know, what are the choices you're really making? Do you really love thy neighbor, all that kind of stuff? And are you willing to accept the differences? We just seem to be slipping backwards."

He also told Rolling Stone:

"The lyrics to 'Poison Heart' are more of an internal dialogue, but 'Worst Crime' is looking outward. It's bringing about the change. You've got to do something different or act differently. We can all talk about whatever is going on until we're blue in the face but you have to take real action, and sometimes we don't know what that looks like. Individually, I believe people are inherently good, but we're really distorted by the information we get and we act out on that information out of fear."

Martin Gore told The Quietus:

[The Worst Crime] wasn't written for [Brexit] at all. For me, it’s a song about humanity hanging itself and the worst crime being the destruction of the planet, because there are so many crimes that we’re committing on a daily basis, but this is the worst crime because we are not just doing it to ourselves but we’re also doing it to future generations. And, like I say, we’ve had so much time to implement things, to put things right."

Dates with available recordings of The Worst Crime

• There are currently no recordings of The Worst Crime available to download.

Dates where The Worst Crime was played

2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour

• The Worst Crime was not played during this tour.