Sister Of Night

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Sister Of Night
Song	Sister Of Night
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Tim Simenon
Recorded at	Abbey Road Eastcote Westside Strongroom RAK (London) Electric Lady (New York City) Larrabee West (Los Angeles)
Length (mm:ss)	6:04
Tempo	90 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	E Minor
Programmed by	Kerry Hopwood
Engineered by	Q
Engineering assistance	Paul Hicks Guy Massey Lee Fitzgerald Tom Rixton Gary Forde Lee Phillips Jamie Campbell Jim Greg Audie Chamberlain Robbie Kazandjian
Mixed by	Tim Simenon Q
Mastered by	Mike Marsh
Keyboards	Dave Clayton
Vocal coach	Evelyn Halus
Art direction	Anton Corbijn
Colour prints	Brian Dowling
Sleeve design	Area
Recorded	January 1996 – February 1997
Originally released	14 April 1997
Live performances as Depeche Mode	100 times *
Total live performances	100 times *

"Sister Of Night" is a song from the 1997 album Ultra by Depeche Mode.

Notes

When Depeche Mode started recording an album in November 1995, "Sister Of Night" was one of the three songs that Martin Gore had ready as a demo.

Dave Gahan said in the March 1997 issue of Q magazine:

The only vocal on [Ultra] that I recorded at Electric Lady Studios – the only vocal I performed high – was "Sister Of Night". I can hear how scared I was. I'm glad it's there to remind me. I could see the pain I was causing everybody.

Gahan told MSN Music Central:

"Sisters Of Night" [sic] is actually my favorite on the album, in terms of the vocal on there. It kind of glides along. I sometimes find it really hard to listen to myself, but on that particular song, I would say that's really kind of "me", if that makes any sense. It's a really honest vocal. I particularly got into the song quite a bit.

Gore told POP magazine Sweden in February 1997:

"Sister Of Night" was the only vocal track Dave managed to complete during several weeks in New York last spring. He came to the studio every morning but sounded horrible. I asked if he was alright and he said that everything was OK. He continued to lie like that, day after day.

Andrew Fletcher told the 28 April 1997 issue of of Hits magazine:

The closest it came to coming apart was after the New York recording session, where we got one vocal out of Dave in six weeks. He was in a typical state where he was incapable of singing. He went out to Los Angeles to try to sort himself out. We heard two weeks later on the radio that he'd OD'd. We felt that at this point we were hitting our heads against the wall and getting absolutely nowhere. I did a lot of searching to decide what to do with the band because at one point I thought it was better for David if the band didn't exist anymore because it wasn't doing him any good.

Programmer Kerry Hopwood describes the process of recording and comping Dave Gahan's lead vocal in the 2007 Ultra Collector's Edition documentary Depeche Mode 95–98 (Oh Well, That's the End of the Band...):

"[Sister Of Night]", for example, [that took almost a week to do the vocal] purely because Dave was not well, and it was hard to get a consistent performance. When it came to comping vocals, we were having almost to do [it] syllable by syllable at times. But, in retrospect, I think you've got one of - almost one of the most beautiful vocals.

Usually, it was Martin Gore who performed this song in an acoustic format. Starting with the 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour, Dave Gahan started singing "Sister Of Night" as the main vocalist.

Lyrics

Sister Of Night

Sister of night

When the hunger descends

And your body's a fire

An inferno that never ends

An eternal flame

That burns in desire's name

Sister of night

When the longing returns

Giving voice to the flame

Calling you through flesh that burns

Breaking down your will

To move in for the kill

Oh sister

Come for me

Embrace me

Assure me

Hey sister

I feel it too

Sweet sister

Just feel me

I'm trembling

You heal me

Hey sister

I feel it too

Sister of night

In your saddest dress

As you walk through the light

You're desperate to impress

So you slide to the floor

Feeling insecure

Sister of night

With the loneliest eyes

Tell yourself it's alright

He'll make such a perfect prize

But the cold light of day

Will give the game away

Oh sister

Come for me

Embrace me

Assure me

Hey sister

I feel it too

Sweet sister

Just feel me

I'm trembling

You heal me

Hey sister

I feel it too

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1997 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Sister Of Night"

Main article: List of dates where "Sister Of Night" was played

Live versions

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

• Play 1998 The Singles Tour: 1998-12-12 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Play 2001 Exciter Tour: 2001-07-21 Fiddlers Green Amphitheatre, Denver, CO, USA
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-11-21 Palau St Jordi, Barcelona, Spain
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2023-04-14 Madison Square Garden, New York, NY, USA