Precious

← 4. The Sinner In Me

5. Precious List of Playing The Angel songs

6. Macro →

Precious
Song	Precious
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Ben Hillier
Recorded at	Sound Design (Santa Barbara)
Length (mm:ss)	4:10
Tempo	104 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	D♭ 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	3 October 2005
Live performances as Depeche Mode	518 times *
Total live performances	518 times *

"Precious" is a song from the 2005 album Playing The Angel by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 3 October 2005.

Notes

Martin Gore explained the meaning behind this song to netzeitung.de (translated from German):

"Well, my private life is pretty crappy. I'm about to divorce my wife, the situation has been going on for sixteen months. My life is certainly not a walk in the park. I also have three children. And 'Precious', the single, is a song that describes exactly this situation. But there are other divorce songs on 'Playing The Angel'. 'Precious' is about how my children cope with the divorce - which isn't very well. But the song ends with the verse "I know you learned to trust / keep faith in both of us". All of our songs, even the most depressive ones, contain hope."

Ben Hillier described the recording of song to HOME before it was released:

"The two [songs on 'Playing The Angel'] that are closest to the demos are 'Precious' and 'Macro'. Those two are pretty close to the demos. Apart from that, everything else kinda changed quite a lot really. I mean, both of those demos were absolutely excellent, especially 'Precious', I thought that was really good but it just needed to have a bit more dynamic and sort of drive to it."

Martin Gore told the November 2005 of Keyboard magazine:

"The main [piano] motif that goes throughout 'Precious' was on the demo, and remained intact for the version on the record."

Lyrics

Precious

Precious and fragile things

Need special handling

My God what have we done to you

We always tried to share

The tenderest of care

Now look what we have put you through

Things get damaged

Things get broken

I thought we'd manage

But words left unspoken

Left us so brittle

There was so little left to give

Angels with silver wings

Shouldn't know suffering

I wish I could take the pain for you

If God has a master plan

That only He understands

I hope it's your eyes He's seeing through

Things get damaged

Things get broken

I thought we'd manage

But words left unspoken

Left us so brittle

There was so little left to give

I pray you learn to trust

Have faith in both of us

And keep room in your hearts for two

Things get damaged

Things get broken

I thought we'd manage

But words left unspoken

Left us so brittle

There was so little left to give

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 "Precious"

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

Live versions

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

• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel (Regular): 2005-12-09 Patriot Centre, Washington, DC, USA
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel (Acoustic): 2005-12-11 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA
• Play 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-05-06 Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
• Play 2013-2014 Delta Machine Tour: 2013-10-11 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA
• Play 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-26 Volt Festival, Sopron, Hungary
• Play 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2023-03-30 T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA

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