In Your Room

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In Your Room
Song	In Your Room
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Flood
Recorded at	Madrid, Spain Chateau du Pape, Hamburg, Germany
Length (mm:ss)	6:26 (album version) 4:52 (single version/Zephyr Mix)
Tempo	98 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	D♭ Minor
Engineered by	Steve Lyon Paul Kendall Chris Dickie
Mixed by	Mark 'Spike' Stent
Mastered by	Kevin Metcalfe
Design	Anton Corbijn Area
Recorded	February 1992 – January 1993
Originally released	10 January 1994
Live performances as Depeche Mode	716 times *
Total live performances	724 times *

"In Your Room" is a song from the 1993 album Songs Of Faith And Devotion by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 10 January 1994.

Notes

Musician magazine interviewed DM about the recording process of Songs Of Faith And Devotion, and they reported: "'In Your Room' went through three incarnations – an austere ballad, a kind of soul groove and a rock anthem – before the band decided to use a little of each in the finished version."

Martin Gore informed Hans Derer in the book Depeche Mode: Gott, Sex und Liebe in January 1993 (translated from Germany):

"I don't want to say that 'In Your Room' is about dominating a woman, but rather about dominating myself. All of these [SOFAD songs] are about what I mentioned at the beginning: the need to believe in something: God, sex and love."

Alan Wilder said in the May 1993 issue of Keyboard magazine:

"That song was quite difficult. We recorded the song three or four different ways. One was entirely as you hear it in the second verse, with the smaller drum kit and the "groovy" bass line. But the whole song with that rhythm wasn't strong enough; it didn't go anywhere. We had the song structure from a fairly early stage. We knew where we wanted the verses, choruses, and middle eights. So [...] I went in and played drums along with the track in one particular style, then did it again in a funkier style, and so on. [...] [The cymbals after the word "flames"] was a late addition. Since that's such an up part of the song, it felt necessary to add something at that point. We put it in at the mix. It's often not until you get to the mix stage that it becomes obvious that another part is required. When you're in the recording process, you've never got it sounding good enough to tell. So quite a few of those embellishments get put on at the mix stage, like backwards cymbals."

Martin Gore in Rolling Stone issue #672/3 (December 1993):

"I think 'In Your Room' could be potentially bigger [as a hit single than 'I Feel You'], but it's six and a half minutes long. It could be edited down, but I think part of its beauty is its length. It'll be difficult to work with it."

When Rolling Stone followed DM on tour in July 1993, they reported: "Gahan feels that his buddies art gradually coming around to his new-found [Los Angeles] philosophy, aside from occasional screw-ups like rejecting Butch Vig's well-crafted 'In Your Room' single remix."

However, Depeche Mode ended up not rejecting Butch Vig's mix, which was explained in an interview with Andy Fletcher for Drum Media in February 1994:

"Consider the issue of Gahan suggesting that Butch Vig (producer of Nirvana’s Nevermind and Smashing Pumpkins’ Siamese Dream) remix the third single from Songs, In Your Room. Vig brought his own guitarist to add a new track – at first crackling then bursting into sonic overdrive – to the emotive ballad, upping the drums and giving it an alt-rock treatment that's surprisingly controlled amidst classic Gore melodrama like Your favourite mirror, your favourite slave... "It's an interesting mix, completely different to what we would have done, though we prefer our own original mix," notes Fletcher, despite initial rumours that the mix at one stage was to be consigned to the vault never to be released. For Fletcher, it's a matter of their roots: "We still like to consider ourselves European sounding and away from that American grunge sound, we’re not jumping on that bandwagon in any way."

Alan Wilder wrote in his Singles 86-98 editorial:

"Convinced of the song's potential as a single, [Alan] campaigned rigorously on behalf of the album version to the point where various different edits were tried, but was eventually out-voted in favour of a remix by Nirvana producer and current 'grunge' dahling of the press, Butch Vig. Unfortunately, as is often the case with outside remixers, Vig's interpretation did not relate to many of the aspects of the original and the track lost much of it's Depeche Mode character, falling short of it's intended sensuality and intensity."

Dave Gahan records vocals for 'In Your Room'.

Martin Gore recalls the filming of the music video:

"The worst memory about In Your Room is the making of the video. We spent a whole day in the studio filming and I probably had lunch at some point, but it was just something really small, like half a sandwich. We finished filming at about 8 o'clock, and went back to the hotel and I forgot to eat. We went to the bar and I didn't eat ... We went out to a club, met some guy who gave me some stuff, so I was up all night until probably 9 or 10 in the morning. We had a band meeting at 12 o'clock and I managed to sleep for about an hour. Then I got up and I've never felt so dreadful in my life. I managed to literally crawl to this meeting, I had to lay on the floor just saying 'Yes' or 'No', that was all I could muster. And that was when I went into a seizure. So whenever I see this video, I just think, 'Oh, God' ... It brings back terrible memories."

Dave Gahan said in the EPK for Exciter in 2001:

"[...] Often, with a lot of those sort of songs [bring out all these sad emotions and lost time], like 'In Your Room', that's kind of how it felt, you know, during those darker times for me, if you like. I was in my own little room. I felt very protected in my own little room for a while and I was invincible and I could come out when I wanted and go back in when I wanted and the room was a safe place, but now that room scares me and I don't really want to go in there any more. So, when I was singing that song on the last tour [Singles 86-98 tour], it was almost like I could sing it from outside the room, but go there for a little bit and look at it and peer in. It was a lot more fun than singing it like it was the last time I was going to sing it every night. For instance, on 'Songs of Faith and Devotion', on that tour, I really got off on the whole kind of darkness of that period of my life and it got really boring."

Dave Gahan told Stirile Pro in 2016:

"[...] 'In Your Room', I think it's one of my favourites, actually, to perform."

Lyrics

In Your Room

In your room

Where time stands still

Or moves at your will

Will you let the morning come soon

Or will you leave me lying here

In your favourite darkness

Your favourite half-light

Your favourite consciousness

Your favourite slave

In your room

Where souls disappear

Only you exist here

Will you lead me to your armchair

Or leave me lying here

Your favourite innocence

Your favourite prize

Your favourite smile

Your favourite slave

I'm hanging on your words

Living on your breath

Feeling with your skin

Will I always be here

In your room

Your burning eyes

Cause flames to arise

Will you let the fire die down soon

Or will I always be here

Your favourite passion

Your favourite game

Your favourite mirror

Your favourite slave

I'm hanging on your words

Living on your breath

Feeling with your skin

Will I always be here

Will I always be here

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1992 Grabbing Hands Music Overseas/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "In Your Room"

Main article: List of dates where "In Your Room" was played

Live versions

This section provides an example of a live version of In Your Room from each tour that it was played.

• Play 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK
• Play 1994 Exotic Tour: 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 2001 Exciter Tour: 2001-10-11 Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
• Play 2003 A Night With Martin L. Gore: 2003-05-06 Mayan Theater, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel: 2006-06-04 Rock Am Ring, Nurburgring, Germany
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-05-06 Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
• Play 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-26 Volt Festival, Sopron, Hungary
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2023-04-14 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA

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