Comatose

Comatose
Song Artist Depeche Mode Album Exciter Songwriter Martin L. Gore Produced by Depeche Mode Mark Bell Recorded at RAK and Sarm West (London) Sound Design (Santa Barbara) Electric Lady Sony (New York City) Label Mute Records Length (mm:ss) 3:24 Tempo 173 BPM Time signature 4/4 Key F Minor Engineering Gareth Jones Engineering assistance Boris Aldridge Andrew Davies Andrew Griffiths Nick Sevilla Lisa Butterworth Jonathan Adler Alissa Myhowich James Chang Pre-production Gareth Jones Additional production Gareth Jones Mixing Steve Fitzmaurice Mastering Mike Marsh Art direction Anton Corbijn Photography Anton Corbijn Sleeve design Form Recorded June 2000 - February 2001 Originally released May 14, 2001 Played live 0 times * Total live plays 0 times *

Notes

Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher said in the May 2001 issue of Keyboard magazine:

Gore: "[Comatose] was one of the weirdest tracks on the record. There's not really a bass going on in that one. There's a lot of really loud hi-hat. The majority of the rest of that backing track was actually a sampled organ that we filtered down until it ended up sounding like a steamboat or something. It works, in a strange kind of way."

Fletcher: "It was a Wurlitzer or something - a big organ, with a Leslie. That track was actually fuller at one point, with a more conventional arrangement. We went more minimal."

Gore: "The chords were a lot more apparent on the demo. Mark sampled some sound; it was one chord. It was a good idea, and it had a good atmosphere, a good vibe to it, but somehow it didn't work. So we really distorted it. It just went a little bit too far: The chords were lost. That's when we had the idea of sampling each individual chord and doing the same sort of treatment he had on the original sample. That worked."

Fletcher: "[The pause after "Don't be afraid // I'm floating away"] was how it was on the demo. The rhythm track carried on under it on the demo, but apart from that it's very similar."

Producer Mark Bell, in the same magazine:

"On 'Comatose' the demo vocal was perfect. I changed the harmonics and rhythm to make Martin sound as if he's in one room singing and the music is being played in another room by some crazy dope nutty professor."

Mark Bell told author Jonathan Miller in 2001: "[W]e used that new PPG soft synth [Steinberg/Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V] on 'Comatose' where it plays an arpeggiating part."

Mark Bell also told Keys Magazin (translated from German): "We used a bass and noise-sound from the Casio FZ-10M, which has got a very weird sounding filter, as well as an arpeggio out of the PPG Wave 2.3."

Lyrics

Comatose

Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Of conscious feeling

Take a light

Start the flame

Play the game

I am lost

In your eyes

Hypnotised

Here I believe

Dreams never deceive

Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Life has no meaning

Bodies move

Colours change

Girl, you're strange

Here inside

I'm at home

I'm alive

Don't be afraid

I'm floating away

Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Of conscious feeling

Comatose, almost

Comatose, almost

Comatose

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©2001 EMI Music Publishing Ltd. London WC2H 0EA. Assigned by Grabbing Hands Music Ltd. All rights Reserved.

Dates where Comatose was played

Comatose has never been played live.

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