Personal Jesus

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Personal Jesus
Song	Personal Jesus
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Flood
Recorded at	Logic Studios, Milan
Length (mm:ss)	4:56 (album version) 3:44 (single edit)
Tempo	129 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	F♯ Minor
Engineered by	Pino Pischetola Peter Iversen Steve Lyon Goh Hotoda Alan Gregorie Dennis Mitchell Phil Legg
Engineering assistance	Daryl Bamonte Dick Meaney David Browne Mark Flannery
Mixed by	François Kevorkian
Design	Anton Corbijn Area
Recorded	May 1989
Originally released	29 August 1989
Live performances as Depeche Mode	991 times *
Total live performances	1067 times *

"Personal Jesus" is a song from the 1990 album Violator by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 29 August 1989.

Notes

Songwriter Martin Gore described how the book Elvis and Me by Priscilla Presley inspired the song in an interview for Spin magazine:

It's a song about being a Jesus for somebody else, someone to give you hope and care. It's about how Elvis [Presley] was her man and her mentor and how often that happens in love relationships; how everybody's heart is like a god in some way. We play these god-like parts for people but no one is perfect, and that's not a very balanced view of someone is it?

Dave Gahan told Gear Magazine in 1998:

"Having somebody you can really trust and talk to and get the right answers from. It's a very optimistic song. What it's saying is that if you can grasp on to something that's much bigger than yourself and believe in it, then you have a faith and it's always there. Really, I think it's just about believing in yourself. The answers are inside, if you dig deep enough."

Johnny Cash (who covered the song in 2002) offered his interpretation of the song in an interview for NPR:

It's a very fine, fine evangelical song, probably the most evangelical gospel song I ever recorded, although I don't know if the writer meant it to be that, but that's what it is. It's where you find your comfort, your counsel, your shoulder to lean on, your hand to hold on to your Personal Jesus.

Alan Wilder wrote in an editorial on Shunt, the official Recoil website:

The track itself was a significant move forward for the group but still retained elements of [Depeche Mode's] former experimental self. For example, the main 'stomp' was a recording of 2 or 3 people jumping up and down on flight cases working alongside Martin's John Lee Hooker guitar riff and the Kraftwerk-style synth parts.

Gore described initial doubts about the song's potential for commercial success prior to its record-breaking release in BONG 37, 1998:

This song was our first experiment we had working with Flood and François Kevorkian, and we were really unsure about how that whole relationship would work. We were really happy with the song and we realised that it was a potential single, but we didn’t have any idea of the mass appeal that it would have. We thought that it was the sort of thing that we liked but the radio programmers would hate, and we’d be lucky if it reached no. 25 – it was one of those sort of feelings we had in the studio about this song. We were especially worried about America, because the moment you mention the word Jesus in the title, you’re asking for trouble, but the single eventually turned out to be Warner Bros.’ biggest selling 12” of all time.

Vince Clarke stated in a 2001 interview for BBC:

To me, "Personal Jesus" is like a rock sound, I suppose. It's not really like a typical American rock. I think it's far more clever and imaginative than that. If you told me that there would be a record like Violator, that they might have written Violator, 20 years ago, I would not have believed you. Going for that amount of time, then they're a band that have had a huge influence.

Musician Charlie Marchino, who was at Logic Studios during the recording of "Personal Jesus", describes the experience in an interview for Libero Quotidiano:

I was at Logic Studios where Depeche Mode was recording Violator, and one day, I am playing ping pong with one of them. They play and challenge each other with ping pong every day. But then they are recording "Personal Jesus" and I am wondering how they make the drumming loop in a military marching style at the beginning of the song. I am wondering what instrumentation they are using, what technological effects. So I follow after them and my jaw drops. They are on the metallic stairwell, and using its [railing], they are beating their feet on the staircase, all together, tum, tum, tu tu tum. Record and mix. Unbelievable.

2011-05-14 Mute Short Circuit analysis

As part of a programme of talks and films at the Mute Short Circuit event in May 2011, producer Flood gave a presentation in which he recalled the production of several Depeche Mode tracks through looping audio examples and commentary. Among the tracks included in his presentation was "Personal Jesus". An abridged transcript of his comments can be viewed below.

We started off with this particular song, this was the first song that we recorded. The demo was pretty much a smaller version of what you know and love, but everything about it was all a bit of a test.

So the first day in Milan with Depeche Mode, what are we going to do? We're going to record ourselves kicking a bit of metal in the booth, me and Fletch, while Dave Martin and Alan and the engineer, whom I'd never met, are all sitting and looking. So, that was the first I'd ever done. And that took a long time to do, which wasn't something I was expecting. A foot stomp? How hard could that be? Oh boy...

Anyway, so we do this, and then it's on to the main riff of the song. Now, Martin, felt very, very strongly that it should be acoustic guitar. So, OK, you're the boss, I'm working my way in here, so let's do the acoustic guitar.

So, well, he's written it. He's a pretty damn fine guitar player, which I didn't realize at the time. Depeche Mode, they don't do guitars, do they? So he spent a long time playing this, and playing it, and playing it, and then we all agreed it sounds pretty good. But personally, I felt it could go a bit further... but I had to wait. So we're going along, it sounds pretty good, it's basically the demo. So obviously Depeche are going 'Hmm, how much are you charging?'

Anyways, so maybe we can make the footstomps a bit bigger.

[plays room track of footstomp behind the sound of the main footstomp channel, producing a thicker sound]

So, OK, they're going 'Right, big deal, you recorded a bit of room'. Sure, anyone can do that.

So then another idea that was going along was to use acoustic-y type of instruments, so you'd have harmonica or... one idea for the bass was actually to use the Jew's harp.

[plays Jew's harp track]

So we're going 'OK, that sounds pretty good. Sounds a bit like a blues band. We're Depeche Mode... what's going on? Where are you leading us now?'

So anyway, try and re-address the balance. We're going to introduce something a little more Depeche Mode-esque.

[plays resonant synth bass track].

It's starting to sound halfway decent now. OK, so that's pretty good, that's not a bad start off. That's probably a couple of days worth of work. A lot of testing, a lot of 'Is this as good as it gets?'

There are loads of other pieces in there that you just start to see -- essentially all I was doing was enhancing what they already had and trying to help them go to a new place, and it was very difficult. In the end, in order to get the life out of the guitar that I thought it needed, I finally persuaded Martin to actually put [in] an electric [guitar]. Maybe the acoustic had taken half a day to record, I remember he just did the electric guitar parts in one go. [He was] just like 'Ah, really, is that all I've gotta do? Alright. Uh, can I go now?' Small victories!

If I had the slide guitar part here, I could show it, but I always heard that as screaming voices, and there was one evening when they're all looking at me going 'What are you talking about? It's a slide guitar.' And Dave going 'What, just screaming to something?" I go 'Yeah, just scream to anything!' He goes 'What, like this? Rahhh!' I went 'Great!' So they sampled it and put it with the guitar that slides up, and that's why it sounds — it sounds like a slide guitar, but it's not quite a slide guitar, and that's something that they'd obviously learned from Daniel, and I had learned from Daniel, this thing of meticulously crafting something and building it.

So that's the way that that track was built up. Each part of that track is very, very crafted, and it was just trying to enhance effectively what was there ... It's a fantastic piece of music, but it was only a better version of the demo. That's the job of the producer, sometimes, to go, 'Look, it's great, I don't need to do anything,' which is a bit hard when the artist is looking at you going 'What exactly have you done in the last hour? How much are we paying you?'

Lyrics

Personal Jesus

Reach out and touch faith

Your own personal Jesus

Someone to hear your prayers

Someone who cares

Your own personal Jesus

Someone to hear your prayers

Someone who's there

Feeling unknown

And you're all alone

Flesh and bone

By the telephone

Lift up the receiver

I'll make you a believer

Take second best

Put me to the test

Things on your chest

You need to confess

I will deliver

You know I'm a forgiver

Reach out and touch faith

Reach out and touch faith

Your own personal Jesus

Someone to hear your prayers

Someone who cares

Your own personal Jesus

Someone to hear your prayers

Someone who's there

Feeling unknown

And you're all alone

Flesh and bone

By the telephone

Lift up the receiver

I'll make you a believer

I will deliver

You know I'm a forgiver

Reach out and touch faith

Your own personal Jesus

Reach out and touch faith

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1989 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Composition

Sample sources

"Personal Jesus" Depeche Mode 1989	Self-made samples
	Sample	Notes			Audio
	Drum elements	Wilder recalls in separate Q&A and Editorial features on Shunt, the official Recoil project site: "The main stomps... [were] a recording of 2 or 3 people jumping up and down on flight cases."			✖
	Guitar, vocal elements	Album producer Flood recalled the unique slide guitar sound recorded on the second day of production on "Personal Jesus" in his 2011 Mute Short Circuit presentation: I'd said, well, I always thought that on the original demo [for Personal Jesus], [the slide guitar part] sounded like voices. Somebody going "Rahh!" And they all looked at me as though I was mad. I said [...] if we just combine the two sounds, it would be unique, it won't be just a slide guitar [...] And [Dave Gahan] finally turned around and goes "What, like this? Rahhh!" I went "Yes, exactly like that!" So Dave went, alright then, sample this then: "Rahhh!" I went "Yep, that's perfect!" They were all looking at me as though I was mad! But, that is half of the sound that you hear when you hear the finished article.			✖
	Vocal elements	Album producer Flood describes the origin of the "Personal Jesus" breathing rhythm recorded on the third day of the song's production in his 2011 Mute Short Circuit presentation: The next day, we [started] to do the famous breath. And the breath came about because we wanted to do, we were trying harmonica actually, to do the bass part and that type of sound. And the sound just wasn't right, but what we did like was the sound of someone going "Haah", and so we got a load of "Haah" from [Martin Gore], and I think [Alan Wilder] as well, and then chucked them all together. And that makes up the "ooh-ooh-ooh-ahh-ahh-ahh", it's all from trying to get the harmonica for a bass sound.			✖
	Drum elements, tom drum	An ambient drum sample originally recorded for use with 1983's "Pipeline" is utilised in combination with a tom drum sound originally recorded for use with 1987's "I Want You Now" to form a series of two unique drum fills preceding each verse section.			✖
	Sample sources
	Sample	Source	Status	Notes	Audio
	Drum elements, snare drum	Fad Gadget - Fireside Favourites - "Newsreel" - 7 November 1980	Confirmed	A manipulated snare sound derived from the opening moments of "Newsreel" from the 1980 Fad Gadget album Fireside Favourites is utilised throughout the outro of the album version of "Personal Jesus". Notably, this sample would also see use throughout "World In My Eyes". Former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder recalled the snare drum sound of "World In My Eyes" in an undated Q&A on Shunt, the official Recoil project site: "[...] I think we made it from scratch or it could be a combination of analogue and a sample."	✖
	Orchestral elements	Barry Adamson - Moss Side Story - "The Swinging Detective" - 6 March 1989	Confirmed	A manipulated, processed section of audio derived from Barry Adamson's 1989 instrumental "The Swinging Detective" is utilised sporadically throughout "Personal Jesus".	✖
	Drum elements	E-mu Systems - Emulator II factory library disk #71: DAS Synth	Confirmed	A lo-fi synthesizer sample derived from Emulator II factory library disk #71 "DAS Synth" is played several keys above its root key to produce a metallic ticking sound that is used in place of a hi-hat starting from the second chorus section of "Personal Jesus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Drum elements	Optical Media International (OMI) - Emulator III Universe of Sounds Master Studio Collection Volume 2 - Tough Tones - "NOISE BURST"	Confirmed	A treated copy of a clap-like percussive sound derived from the "Tough Tones" voice of Universe of Sounds Master Studio Collection Volume 2 by Optical Media International is utilised throughout "Personal Jesus" starting from the second chorus section.	Click to display/hide audio example
	Bass guitar elements	Optical Media International (OMI) - Emulator III Universe of Sounds Master Studio Collection Volume 1 - Machine Set - "Stein Bass A1", "Stein Bass D2"	Confirmed	A series of bass guitar samples derived from the "Machine Set" voice of Universe of Sounds Master Studio Collection Volume 1 by Optical Media International are utilised throughout "Personal Jesus".	Click to display/hide audio example
	Drum elements, snare drum	Akai - S1000 MIDI Stereo Digital Sampler - SL601 SAMBA SET - SN-HI3 and S1000 - SL602 AMBIENCE SET - SN HIGATE - June 1988	Confirmed	A manipulated, processed composite snare drum sound comprised of samples derived from the Akai S1000 diskettes SL601 "Samba Set" and SL602 "Ambience Set" is utilised throughout "Personal Jesus". Notably, this composite snare sound would also see use sporadically throughout "Sweetest Perfection" and "Policy Of Truth".	✖

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Personal Jesus"

Main article: List of dates where "Personal Jesus" was played

Live versions

This section provides an example of a live version of Personal Jesus from each tour that it was played.

• Play 1990 World Violation Tour: 1990-07-21 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA
• Play 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK
• Play 1994 Exotic Tour: 1994-05-14 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA
• Play 1998 The Singles Tour: 1998-10-05 Cologne Arena, Cologne, Germany
• Play 2001 Exciter Tour: 2001-10-11 Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
• Play 2003 Paper Monsters Tour: 2003-06-12 Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel (Regular): 2006-06-04 Rock Am Ring, Nurburgring, Germany
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel (Acoustic): 2005-12-11 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-04-xx Tour Of The Universe Tour Rehearsals, SIR Studios, New York, NY, USA
• Play 2013-2014 Delta Machine Tour: 2013-10-11 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA
• Play 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-26 Volt Festival, Sopron, Hungary
• Play 2021 Imposter Tour: 2021-12-13 Admiralpalast, Berlin, Germany
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour (Regular): 2023-03-30 T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour (With preacher samples): 2023-04-09 Videotron Center, Quebec City, QC, Canada

In the media

"Personal Jesus" is featured in the acclaimed 2004 video game Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas on the fictional alternative rock in-game radio station Radio X. Non re-encoded audio extracted from the game featuring fictional radio host Sage (voiced by Jodie Shawback) can be heard below:

Sage: "The Mode are up next. 'Personal Jesus'. Incredible. I've found one – and I think it's me."

Sage: "You just can't argue with Depeche Mode, you can't. I've tried, I've spent nights, hours and hours. You can't do it. I want David Gahan to move into my house – he said 'No.'"

Trivia

• 'Personal Jesus' has been covered by Johnny Cash, Def Leppard, Sammy Hagar feat. Michael Anthony, Neal Schon and Chad Smith, Marilyn Manson, Eläkeläiset, Lollipop Lust Kill, Gravity Kills, Vitamin String Quartet, Hooligans, Challenger in Pieces, No One Is Innocent, Anaklein, 3 Minute Solution, John Lord Fonda, Jazzystics feat. Karen Souza, Richard Cheese, The Gospel, Berk & the Virtual Band, G&G, Radio Star, Tamtrum, Di Leva, Nina Hagen, Bebo Best, Evelins and Mr. Lova, Niji, Shaka Ponk, HausHetaere, Rockabye Baby!, Renzo Baltuzzi, Apathy, The Molly Ringwalds, Music Box Mania, Leo, Acousticman Chillout, Mindless Self Indulgence, Tim Barton, Chateau Pop, and Ko Ko Mo.
• "Personal Jesus" has been sampled in "House 'N Roll" by The Sacados, "Perdiendo El Tiempo" by Fangoria, "Was It Worth It? (Dub)" by Pet Shop Boys, "Personal Jesus" by Apathy, "Beware of the Dog" by Jamelia, "Reach Out" by Hilary Duff feat. The Prophet, "Personal Jesus/Just Can't Get Enough" by The Molly Ringwalds, and "False Idols" by LSDXOXO.
• Marilyn Manson's cover of "Personal Jesus" was featured in the soundtrack to 2013 horror film Horns starring Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame. Notably, the film's soundtrack also includes David Bowie's "Heroes" (a performance of which by Dave Gahan was overheard by Vince Clarke, who subsequently invited Gahan to join Depeche Mode in early to mid-1980. Depeche Mode would later cover this song in tribute to the late Bowie following his passing in 2016).

References

Depeche Mode songs released as singles 1981-1985: Dreaming Of Me • New Life • Just Can't Get Enough • See You • The Meaning Of Love • Leave In Silence • Get The Balance Right • Everything Counts • Love In Itself • People Are People • Master And Servant • Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody • Shake The Disease • It's Called A Heart 1986-1989: Stripped • But Not Tonight • A Question Of Lust • A Question Of Time • Strangelove • Never Let Me Down Again • Behind The Wheel • Little 15 • Personal Jesus 1990-1998: Enjoy The Silence • Policy Of Truth • World In My Eyes • I Feel You • Walking In My Shoes • Condemnation • In Your Room • Barrel Of A Gun • It's No Good • Home • Useless • Only When I Lose Myself 2001-2009: Dream On • I Feel Loved • Freelove • Goodnight Lovers • Precious • A Pain That I'm Used To • Suffer Well • John The Revelator / Lilian • Martyr • Wrong • Peace • Fragile Tension / Hole To Feed 2013-2017: Heaven • Soothe My Soul • Should Be Higher • Where's The Revolution • Going Backwards • Cover Me 2023: Ghosts Again Recoil songs released as singles 1992-1998: Faith Healer • Drifting • Stalker / Missing Piece 2000-2008: Strange Hours • Jezebel • Prey • Allelujah Dave Gahan songs released as singles 2003-2008: Dirty Sticky Floors • I Need You • Bottle Living / Hold On • A Little Piece • Kingdom • Saw Something / Deeper And Deeper 2012-2015: Longest Day • Take Me Back Home • All Of This And Nothing • Shine Martin Gore solo songs released as singles 1989-2003: Compulsion • Stardust • Loverman 2012-2015: Spock • Single Blip • Aftermaths • Europa Hymn • "Pinking" (Christoffer Berg Remix) Official releases Studio albums • Live albums • Compilation albums • Video albums • Singles