Shame

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Shame
Song	Shame
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Daniel Miller Depeche Mode
Recorded at	The Garden (London)
Length (mm:ss)	3:51
Tempo	108 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	G Major
Engineered by	Gareth Jones
Tonmeister	Gareth Jones
Mixed at	Hansa Mischraum
Mastered by	Christian Stegmaier
Design	Martyn Atkins Town & Country Planning
Illustrations	Ian Wright
Originally released	22 August 1983
Live performances as Depeche Mode	125 times *
Total live performances	125 times *

"Shame" is a song from the 1983 album Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode.

Notes

Martin Gore was quoted in the 1983-09-17 issue of NME:

"I think ['Everything Counts'] was partly [inspired by] going to Thailand as well [as the song 'Shame'] – that’s where the oriental flavour comes in, like Korea ‘n’ all that. But you go over there and all the hotels are full of, like, businessmen and basically they tend to treat people as though they’re nothing. All they’re interested in is their business – that’s what I really hate about big business, people just don’t seem to matter. Just money. You see all the women over there ‘n’ they’re all prostitutes – that’s the only way they can make any money. ’Course, the businessmen love it. Work [will "remove the stains"]. It’s no good just sitting back and hoping things’ll change, you’ve got to actually work together. The material’s there; it’s like, there’s enough food in the world to feed everybody and then half the world’s eating three quarters of it and the rest of the world’s starving. But the food is there. There is a solution. The thing is, the people in power don’t care about someone with a low wage, they only care about their own power. But I think people should care about other people, y’know, cos from the moment we’re born we’re put into competition with everybody else. I really don’t understand why people go into politics – what makes someone at 16 or 17 decide to go into parliament? It’s got to be people themselves. People’s attitudes have got to be changed. For instance, when I wrote “All we need’s universal revolution”, I didn’t mean, like, everyone to take up arms, but more a total change of attitude. That’s what’s needed. People’s attitudes have got to be changed. You’ve got to look at the world to change things. Attitudes in the world, poverty in the world. The thing is when we talk about socialism, we don’t mean “English Socialism” we mean “International Socialism”."

Lyrics

Shame

Do you ever get that feeling

When the guilt begins to hurt

Seeing all the children

Wallowing in dirt

Crying out with hunger

Crying out in pain

At least the dirt will wash off

When it starts to rain

Soap won't wash away your shame

Do you ever get that feeling

That something isn't right

Seeing your brother's fists

Clenched ready for the fight

Soon the fighting turns to weapons

And the weapons turn to wounds

So the doctors stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch

Surgery won't improve your pain

It all seems so stupid

It makes me want to give up

But why should I give up

When it all seems so stupid

Do you ever get the feeling

That something can be done

To eradicate these problems

And make the people one

Do you ever get that feeling

Something like a nagging itch

And all the while the doctors

Stitch and stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch

Hope alone won't remove the stains

Shame

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1983 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Shame"

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