Clean

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Clean
Song	Clean
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Depeche Mode Flood
Recorded at	Puk Studios, Denmark Logic Studios, Milan
Length (mm:ss)	5:32 (album version)
Tempo	92 BPM
Time signature	3 4
Key	G Major
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	171 times *
Total live performances	171 times *

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

Quotes

I just write about things that affect me. I find it very unappealing to write songs that are safe, that go nowhere, that do nothing. I know that 'Clean' has a lot of holy imagery, and that intertwines with the sex theme, which are two ideas I find interesting to mix together. But I don't try to analyze things.

— Martin L. Gore - Select, December 1990

Q&A from Alan Wilder's Shunt:

From: Michel Jouveaux

Q: The opening of 'Clean' sounds exactly like that of Pink Floyd's 'One Of These Days' on 'Meddle'. Was that conscious / unconscious, sampled or programmed? (I've checked in the archives and couldn't see any mention of that, ;-))

A: I recognise the similarity but [it's] not a Floyd sample. It was programmed using a combination of analogue synth and sampled bass [guitar].

Wilder also says on Shunt:

With 'Clean', we never had the delay bass line until the very end.

Lyrics

Clean

Clean

The cleanest I've been

An end to the tears

And the in-between years

And the troubles I've seen

Now that I'm clean

You know what I mean

I've broken my fall

Put an end to it all

I've changed my routine

Now I'm clean

I don't understand

What destiny's planned

I'm starting to grasp

What is in my own hands

I don't claim to know

Where my holiness goes

I just know that I like

What is starting to show

Sometimes

As years go by

All the feelings inside

Twist and they turn

As they ride with the tide

I don't advise

And I don't criticise

I just know what I like

With my own eyes

Sometimes

Clean

The cleanest I've been

An end to the tears

And the in-between years

And the troubles I've seen

Now that I'm clean

Sometimes

You know what I mean

I've broken my fall

Put an end to it all

I've changed my routine

Now I'm clean

Sometimes

Now I'm clean

The cleanest I've been

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

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Clean"

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

Trivia

• 'Clean' has been covered by Fading Colors (1996), Converge (2001), Yelen (2003), Carpe Diem IV (2005), and Armageddon Dildos (2011).
• 'Clean' has been sampled in the following songs by other artists:
  • 'Incubus' - Recoil (1997)
  • 'Missing Piece' - Recoil (1997)
  • 'Ｗｉｐｅ　ｔｈｅ　Ｂｌｏｏｄ　Ｏｆｆ　Ｙｏｕｒ　Ｈａｎｄｓ　Ｈｅａｔｈｅｒ．．．' - ＰＬΔＹＳ✞Δ✞ＩＯＮ｜ＤＲＥΔＭＳ (2015)