Behind The Wheel

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Behind The Wheel
Song	Behind The Wheel
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Dave Bascombe Daniel Miller
Recorded at	Guillaume Tell (Paris), Konk (London)
Length (mm:ss)	5:19 (album version) 4:03 (7"/single version) 5:56 (12" version)
Tempo	125 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	D Minor
Recorded	February–July 1987
Originally released	28 December 1987
Live performances as Depeche Mode	627 times *
Total live performances	627 times *

"Behind The Wheel" is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 28 December 1987.

Notes

Dave Gahan told Gear Magazine in 1998:

"[The song] is about fucking and that's it. Hey, is it my turn or your turn? Who's driving tonight, honey."

Martin Gore said in Bong issue no. 37, 1998:

"I still really like that track. I remember when we finished it we went to the Montreux Pop Festival in Switzerland [in May 1987] before it was released and we performed it there. I remember being really pleased with it and it was so different to anything else at the festival."

Alan Wilder wrote in his 86-98 editorial in 1998:

"The entire concept for the single release of 'Behind The Wheel' is centred around the theme of motor travel, from the opening sample of a spinning saucepan lid designed to sound like a hub-cap [...]"

Q&A from Alan Wilder's Shunt:

couturier: What is this strange bass mix we hear on the bassline of 'Behind The Wheel' - moog and Obx?

Alan: If I remember correctly, it was a combination of three different sounds: A hand striking the end of a hoover tube and then sampled (true), a guitar pluck - sampled and pitched down, and a minimoog for added bottom end.

Carsten Vogt: Have your abilities to play the "most important rock'n'roll instrument" - the flute, ever been used on a DM song? What about the intro of 'Behind The Wheel'?

Alan: Well, technically speaking, we're talking panpipe rather than flute on 'Behind The Wheel' but you could be forgiven for mistaking the peruvian nose-flute for our own western version. Apart from that, it is possible that a few flute samples are mixed into various DM tracks over the years.

When Depeche Mode was interviewed about the songs on the '101' CD for the April 1989 issue of French magazine 'Best', Alan Wilder said (translated from French):

"It was a good track to start the evening with, because it's a fast, new and well known song. On the night we played in Pasadena I was even more nervous than usual, partly because of the crowd of 70.000 people, but mostly because of it being filmed and recorded, and I was wondering if everything would turn out okay. On stage, I had a bad reception, I could not hear myself sing. And then it started to rain a bit. Fortunately, it did not last long and it did not compromise our gear."

Studio outtake

"Guillaume Tell Studios 1987" low-generation cassette

The following outtake is sourced from a low-generation (though poorly recorded) tape labeled "Guillaume Tell Studios 1987", transferred by the DM Live webmaster in October 2015. Quality is much improved compared to the previously bootleg-sourced copies which had insanely destructive noise reduction applied, though this tape has its own flaws such as strange volume fluctuations and brief distortion at the starts of some of the songs, probably the result of poor automatic gain control on a cassette deck sometime in the generation.

Lyrics

Behind The Wheel

My little girl

Drive anywhere

Do what you want

I don't care

Tonight

I'm in the hands of fate

I hand myself

Over on a plate

Now

Oh little girl

There are times when I feel

I'd rather not be

The one behind the wheel

Come

Pull my strings

Watch me move

I do anything

Please

Sweet little girl

I prefer

You behind the wheel

And me the passenger

Drive

I'm yours to keep

Do what you want

I'm going cheap

Tonight

You're behind the wheel tonight

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1987 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Behind The Wheel"

Main article: List of dates where "Behind The Wheel" was played

Live versions

This section provides an example of a live version of Behind The Wheel from each tour that it was played.

• Play 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour: 1988-01-11 Wembley Arena, London, England, UK
• Play 1990 World Violation Tour: 1990-07-21 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA
• Play 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-06-04 Forum, Milan, Italy
• Play 1994 Exotic Tour (shorter by 30 seconds): 1994-03-26 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI, USA
• Play 1998 The Singles Tour: 1998-12-12 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel: 2005-12-11 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-11-23 Tony Garnier, Lyon, France
• Play 2013-2014 Delta Machine Tour: 2013-10-11 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2024-01-29 AO Arena, Manchester, England, UK

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