Somebody

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Somebody
Song	Somebody
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Daniel Miller Gareth Jones
Recorded at	Music Works (Highbury, London) Hansa Mischraum (Berlin)
Length (mm:ss)	4:27 (album version) 4:19 (edit)
Tempo	78 BPM
Time signature	3 4
Key	G Major
Engineering assistance	Ben Ward Stefi Marcus Colin McMahon
Design	Martyn Atkins David A. Jones Marcx
Photography	Brian Griffin
Photography assistance	Stuart Graham
Recorded	June 1984
Originally released	29 October 1984
Live performances as Depeche Mode	373 times *
Total live performances	373 times *

"Somebody" is a song from the 1984 album Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode. It was released as a double A-side single alongside "Blasphemous Rumours" on 29 October 1984.

Notes

While Depeche Mode were working on Some Great Reward at Hansa Studios, Martin Gore told the November 1984 issue of International Musician And Recording World:

"We're going to go for a completely human feel on that one. Just a piano played by Alan and Dave singing and Andy playing tapes on the Fostex X15. It'll be very different."

In the documentary on the 2006 remaster CD/DVD of 'Some Great Reward', you can see footage of Dave studying this song at Hansa Studios.

Quotes from the documentary on the DVD of the Some Great Reward remaster from 2006:

Daniel Miller: "There are a lot of stories about how Somebody was recorded. It might as well have been that Dave tried it and it didn't work out. There's bound to be a couple of songs that Martin writes for the album where it works better with his voice."

Andy Fletcher: "It was really down to two things: If we thought it suited Martin's voice more, or if they were of a more personal nature, like Somebody."

Alan Wilder: "It was probably the first of what you'd call an acoustic performed track on an album. In fact, Martin sang it naked. It was his call. [laughs] I turned the piano away as I was playing, but yeah, we recorded it live, just him and me, in the big studio 2 hall, and he stripped off for that one."

From the 1984-09-22 issue of Melody Maker:

Suggesting that 'Some Great Reward' is dominated by "anti-love" songs brings a considered but emphatic "No" from Martin.

Martin: 'Somebody' is pretty much a straightforward 'I love you' song if you like, certainly not an anti-love song. [...] The song is based on a sort of Jonathan Richman back-to-basics theory. It's performed all together – it just needed three takes, mainly to get the sound okay – and really uses the bare essentials. In fact I sang it completely naked in the cellar of the studio which we use for ambiance, and the others sent the female tape op downstairs while I was doing it to 'check the connections'."

Dave told BBC Radio in 1984:

"We sent Steffi down there, who's the girl taper in Germany, to check out some wires, and Martin, not knowing she was coming down and us knowing that Martin has stripped off, and then we heard a little shriek when she got down there, and Martin going "Eh, eh, sorry, eh...""

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

"I do not like this song anymore. Looking back on it, I think it's too soft and tender. Most of my songs are not as naive. I usually arrange songs in such a way that they take an unexpected turn at some point. I prefer it to contain doubt, when it does not rule out the possibility that a loving relationship may go wrong."

Lyrics

Somebody

I want somebody to share

Share the rest of my life

Share my innermost thoughts

Know my intimate details

Someone who'll stand by my side

And give me support

And in return

She'll get my support

She will listen to me

When I want to speak

About the world we live in

And life in general

Though my views may be wrong

They may even be perverted

She will hear me out

And won't easily be converted

To my way of thinking

In fact she'll often disagree

But at the end of it all

She will understand me

I want somebody who cares

For me passionately

With every thought and with every breath

Someone who'll help me see things

In a different light

All the things I detest

I will almost like

I don't want to be tied

To anyone's strings

I'm carefully trying to steer clear

Of those things

But when I'm asleep

I want somebody

Who will put their arms around me

And kiss me tenderly

Though things like this

Make me sick

In a case like this

I'll get away with it

In a place like this

I'll get away with it

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1984 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Somebody"

Main article: List of dates where "Somebody" was played

Live versions

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

• Play 1984-1985 Some Great Reward Tour: 1984-11-02 Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, UK
• Play 1986 Black Celebration Tour: 1986-08-16 Valbyparken, Copenhagen, Denmark
• Play 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour: 1988-05-20 Poplar Creek Music Fest, Chicago, IL, USA
• Play 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-12-20 Wembley Arena, London, England, UK
• Play 1994 Exotic Tour: 1994-05-14 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA
• Play 1998 The Singles Tour: 1998-12-18 Forum, Inglewood, CA, USA
• Play 2001 Exciter Tour: 2001-11-05 Maimarkthalle, Mannheim, Germany
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel: 2005-11-18 HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA, USA
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe (Regular): 2009-10-17 Personal Fest, Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe (With Alan Wilder on piano): 2010-02-17 Royal Albert Hall, London, England, UK
• Play 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-26 Volt Festival, Sopron, Hungary
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2024-01-29 AO Arena, Manchester, England, UK

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