Blue Dress

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Blue Dress
Song	Blue Dress
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Flood
Recorded at	Puk Studios, Denmark Logic Studios, Milan
Length (mm:ss)	5:41
Tempo	94 BPM
Time signature	3 4
Key	F♯ Minor
Engineering assistance	Daryl Bamonte Dick Meaney David Browne Mark Flannery
Mixed by	François Kevorkian
Recorded	May 1989 – January 1990
Originally released	19 March 1990
Live performances as Depeche Mode	17 times *
Total live performances	17 times *

"Blue Dress" is a song from the 1990 album Violator by Depeche Mode.

Notes

Martin Gore says in the 17 February 1990 issue of NME:

"I suppose my songs do seem to advocate immorality but if you listen there's always a sense of guilt. [...] Then there's 'Blue Dress' – that's the pervy song! – the idea of watching a girl dress and realising that this is 'what makes the world turn'."

Q&A from Alan Wilder's Shunt:

Farhan: I was wondering if you can shed any light on the making of the song 'Blue Dress' – your thoughts on it, and how far off the demo it is. Any really unique sounds used in that song?

A: "Not really one of my favourites – hence penultimate track on LP (filler position). I would put it in the same bag as 'Get Right With Me' from 'SOFAD', in that we never really quite knew which way to go with it. Again, I'm a bit vague about the demo but I remember the approach when we recorded it was based around using washy sounding, drone guitars (a la Suicide) which formed the backbone of the track. It was deliberately quite wet sounding to try to give it some atmosphere."

Lyrics

Blue Dress

Put it on

And don't say a word

Put it on

The one that I prefer

Put it on

And stand before my eyes

Put it on

Please don't question why

Can you believe

Something so simple

Something so trivial

Makes me a happy man

Can't you understand

Say you believe

Just how easy

It is to please me

Because when you learn

You'll know what makes the world turn

Put it on

I can feel so much

Put it on

I don't need to touch

Put it on

Here before my eyes

Put it on

Because you realise

And you believe

Something so worthless

Serves a purpose

It makes me a happy man

Can't you understand

Say you believe

Just how easy

It is to please me

Because when you learn

You'll know what makes the world turn

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1990 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Composition

Sample sources

"Blue Dress" Depeche Mode 1990	Self-made samples
	Sample	Notes			Audio
	Vocal elements	In May 2020, fan "DMK" kindly provided DM Live Wiki with documentation for a series of Emulator II floppy disks that accompanied a collection of restored studio equipment used by Music For The Masses co-producer Dave Bascombe during the production of music albums for artists other than Depeche Mode in the mid to late 1980s. One floppy disk, labeled "Falsetto Voice (19)", features a preset titled "Falsetto Vox" containing a sample of a vocalist singing a high falsetto note that is used to play a legato vocal part audible throughout "Blue Dress".			✖
	Guitar elements	A guitar-like pluck sample is layered with a separate sound to form the dramatic chorus melody. Notably, this sample is also used as a layer of the lead melody of "Never Let Me Down Again", a melodic fill throughout "Strangelove", and as a layer for the harpsichord-like lead melody of the "Spanish Taster" mix of "To Have And To Hold".			✖
	Synthesizer elements	A warm synth-like pad sample is utilised throughout "Blue Dress".			✖
	Melodic elements	A steel drum-like sample most prominently heard during the verses of "Stripped" is repurposed for use as a melodic arpeggio during the second verse section of "Blue Dress".			✖
	Sample sources
	Sample	Source	Status	Notes	Audio
	Ambient elements	David Lynch - Eraserhead (film audio) - 1977	Confirmed	A manipulated, partly reversed section of audio derived from the 1977 David Lynch film Eraserhead (audible around the 1:16:00 mark in the Criterion Collection release of the film) is audible throughout the instrumental "Interlude No. 3". The audio is edited to first play in reverse, then forwards.	Click to display/hide audio example

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Blue Dress"

Main article: List of dates where "Blue Dress" was played

Trivia

• "Blue Dress" was sampled in 1994's "The Meltdown" by Lunatic Asylum.
• "Blue Dress" was covered by controversial model, reality show star, and pornographic actress Tila Tequila for her 2010 EP Welcome To The Darkside. Tequila would later be criticised for a blog entry on her website and social media posts in which she expressed views critics described as anti-Semitic.