A Pain That I'm Used To

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A Pain That I'm Used To
Song	A Pain That I'm Used To
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Ben Hillier
Recorded at	Sound Design (Santa Barbara)
Length (mm:ss)	4:11 (album version) 3:23 (radio edit 1) 3:27 (radio edit 2)
Tempo	108 (verse) 110 (chorus) 112 (drop) BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	B♭ Major
Programmed by	Dave McCracken Richard Morris
Engineered by	Ben Hillier Richard Morris
Mixing assistance	Devin Workman Kt Rangnick
Mastered by	Emily Lazar
Mastering assistance	Sarah Register
Recording assistance	Nick Sevilla Arjun Agerwala Rudyard Lee Cullers Devin Workman Kt Rangnick
Art direction	Anton Corbijn
Design	Anton Corbijn Four5one.com
Photography	Anton Corbijn
Recorded	January–July 2005
Originally released	12 December 2005
Live performances as Depeche Mode	482 times *
Total live performances	482 times *

"A Pain That I'm Used To" is a song from the 2005 album Playing The Angel by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 12 December 2005.

Notes

Ben Hillier told Home:

"Getting the verses of ['A Pain That I'm Used To'] right was really difficult. The choruses always worked very well, and the riff sections always worked very well. We had all sorts of things going on on the verse. We probably did 6 or 7 different versions of that before we settled on the final one. Not radically different versions, but yeah..."

From an interview with programmer Dave McCracken for Home:

"'A Pain That I'm Used To' was really hard, the chorus was brilliant, but the verses didn't work, we did several versions of that. Actually, Ben is probably right [in the above interview for HOME], it was [indeed] pretty hard."

Martin Gore and Andrew Fletcher told the November 2005 of Keyboard magazine:

Gore: "[The analog bass in the intro] was one of the most difficult things to get right."

Fletcher: "That song did start in Santa Barbara. It went through lots of stages. We were settled on the basic arrangement – the 'siren' intro, then pulsating bass, then Dave [Gahan] comes in with the opening line – the rhythm just never seemed to groove properly. Otherwise, this may have been our easiest album to make other than Speak and Spell."

Hillier told the same magazine:

[The Voyetra-8 is] that bottom end on ["A Pain That I'm Used To"].

Lyrics

A Pain That I'm Used To

I'm not sure

What I'm looking for anymore

I just know

That I'm harder to console

I don't see who I'm trying to be

Instead of me

But the key

Is a question of control

Can you say

What you're trying to play anyway

I just pay

While you're breaking all the rules

All the signs that I find

Have been underlined

Devils thrive on the drive

That is fuelled

All this running around

Well it's getting me down

Just give me a pain that I'm used to

I don't need to believe

All the dreams you conceive

You just need to achieve

Something that rings true

There's a hole in your soul

Like an animal

With no conscience

Repentance unknown

Close your eyes

Pay the price for your paradise

Devils feed on the seeds

That are sown

Can't conceal what I feel

What I know is real

No mistaking the faking

I care

With a prayer in the air

I will leave it there

On a note full of hope

Not despair

All this running around

Well it's getting me down

Just give me a pain that I'm used to

I don't need to believe

All the dreams you conceive

You just need to achieve

Something that rings true

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©2005 EMI Music Publishing Ltd., Assigned by Grabbing Hands Music Overseas Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "A Pain That I'm Used To"

Main article: List of dates where "A Pain That I'm Used To" was played

Trivia

• 'A Pain That I'm Used To' was featured in season one episode fifteen of the Fox television series Bones.
• A unique instrumental version featuring a cold outro ending on the "siren"-like musical part that omits the synth arpeggio that is present in other versions of the track was featured in a trailer for the 2010 Walt Disney film The Sorcerer's Apprentice starring Nicolas Cage.

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