Speak To Me: Difference between revisions

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Dave Gahan told [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTihvktG9g Zane Lowe]:
Dave told [https://www.npr.org/2023/03/24/1165578139/depeche-mode-co-founder-david-gahan-wants-us-to-remember-memento-mori NPR]:
<blockquote>
"[The song's subject] certainly is some kind of larger force that I've felt when asking a big question, which was, basically, am I going to do this record or not? You know, it was like, am I back in? Because I felt really torn between jumping into making another Depeche Mode record, or, as I had been for the last couple of years, for the first time in my life, home with friends and family and my animals and really enjoying that. And so the big question for me was, why would this be different? What would really make me say yes?"
</blockquote>
 
Dave told [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htTihvktG9g Zane Lowe]:
<blockquote>
<blockquote>
"Initially the idea sort of came to me, and the song was incredibly elevated by Martin and and James and Marta, into a into a different place, to another world, somewhere else. And that's exactly where I wanted the song to go as well. It was beyond what I could have really put together myself. It's quite a very simple song, but honest and and real. For me, it was a key to open the door to want to continue to make a record with Martin again that was [going to be for] a Depeche Mode record. It was like an answer to that question for me. [...] [It's] a bit sarcastic, you know, "I hear you, I'm here, I'm found..." It's a bit sarcastic, but at the same time, there's an absolute peace and joy in the emptiness of the end. [...] It was awesome when that happened in the studio actually, because Marta is a genius with a tape looping and sending stuff back into the tape machines and then all this process of using analogue tape to create these loops. And we just came to the conclusion that it should just be the end. I think it's the perfect bookmark to [[My Cosmos Is Mine]] which sets up everything."
"Initially the idea sort of came to me, and the song was incredibly elevated by Martin and and James and Marta, into a into a different place, to another world, somewhere else. And that's exactly where I wanted the song to go as well. It was beyond what I could have really put together myself. It's quite a very simple song, but honest and and real. For me, it was a key to open the door to want to continue to make a record with Martin again that was [going to be for] a Depeche Mode record. It was like an answer to that question for me. [...] [It's] a bit sarcastic, you know, "I hear you, I'm here, I'm found..." It's a bit sarcastic, but at the same time, there's an absolute peace and joy in the emptiness of the end. [...] It was awesome when that happened in the studio actually, because Marta is a genius with a tape looping and sending stuff back into the tape machines and then all this process of using analogue tape to create these loops. And we just came to the conclusion that it should just be the end. I think it's the perfect bookmark to [[My Cosmos Is Mine]] which sets up everything."

Revision as of 02:08, 18 February 2024

11. Never Let Me Go
12. Speak To Me
List of Memento Mori songs

 

Speak To Me
Single-STM.jpg
Song Speak To Me
By Depeche Mode
Songwriter Dave Gahan
Christian Eigner
James Ford
Marta Salogni
Produced by James Ford
Marta Salogni
Recorded at Electric Ladyboy (Santa Barbara)
Shangri-La (Malibu)
Length (mm:ss) 4:35
Programmed by James Ford
Marta Salogni
Engineered by Marta Salogni
Engineering assistance Francine Perry
Grace Banks
Mixed by Marta Salogni
Mix engineering Marta Salogni
Mixed at Studio Zona (London)
Mastering engineer Matt Colton
Keyboards James Ford
Art direction Anton Corbijn
Recorded July–October 2022
Originally released 24 March 2023
11 August 2023 ("release")
Live performances as Depeche Mode 39 times *
Total live performances 39 times *

"Speak To Me" is a song from the 2023 album Memento Mori by Depeche Mode. On 11 August 2023, it became the third "release" from the album according to the official website's discography section.

Notes

Newspaper Expresso asked Dave Gahan about the line "you lead me, I follow your voice" and which voice it is referring to, to which Dave answered (translated from Portuguese):

"In that song, I'm actually not referring to any of the leaders that we have right now. I'm talking about something that is not a person, but our conscience. I believe that we always know what the right thing to do is, and are given the possibility of choice, but we invariably end up making the wrong choices. Normally, we choose a path that serves our interests best. That's human, of course. But I think in that song I was trying to ask for something by saying: if there is something out there, show me and I will follow. It's me trying to summon something bigger."

Dave told NPR:

"[The song's subject] certainly is some kind of larger force that I've felt when asking a big question, which was, basically, am I going to do this record or not? You know, it was like, am I back in? Because I felt really torn between jumping into making another Depeche Mode record, or, as I had been for the last couple of years, for the first time in my life, home with friends and family and my animals and really enjoying that. And so the big question for me was, why would this be different? What would really make me say yes?"

Dave told Zane Lowe:

"Initially the idea sort of came to me, and the song was incredibly elevated by Martin and and James and Marta, into a into a different place, to another world, somewhere else. And that's exactly where I wanted the song to go as well. It was beyond what I could have really put together myself. It's quite a very simple song, but honest and and real. For me, it was a key to open the door to want to continue to make a record with Martin again that was [going to be for] a Depeche Mode record. It was like an answer to that question for me. [...] [It's] a bit sarcastic, you know, "I hear you, I'm here, I'm found..." It's a bit sarcastic, but at the same time, there's an absolute peace and joy in the emptiness of the end. [...] It was awesome when that happened in the studio actually, because Marta is a genius with a tape looping and sending stuff back into the tape machines and then all this process of using analogue tape to create these loops. And we just came to the conclusion that it should just be the end. I think it's the perfect bookmark to My Cosmos Is Mine which sets up everything."

Engineer Marta Salogni told Sound On Sound:

"I also was honoured to receive a writing credit on one song, 'Speak To Me'. It was written by Dave, and James and I literally locked ourselves in the studio one day and completely remade his demo, and presented it to him. He loved it, so much that he gave us a writing credit on it. We changed key, changed tempo, and took out all the instruments, and built the arrangement back up from the vocals. James and I used the EMS Synthi A for a lot of this, for example creating the high-pitched drones and the heavy kicks at the end."

Lyrics


Speak To Me

Speak to me, and I will follow

I heard you call my name

Lying, on the bathroom floor

No one here to blame

There's a message I know can be found

I'm listening, I hear you, your sound


Speak to me, in a language

That I can understand

Tell me, that you're listening

Give me some kind of plan

Give me something, you'd be my drug of choice

You lead me, I follow, your voice


I will disappoint you

I will let you down

I need to know

You're here with me

Turn it all around

I'd be grateful, I'd follow you around

I'm listening, I'm here now, I'm found


Songwriter: Dave Gahan / Christian Eigner / James Ford / Marta Salogni
Publishing Information: EMI Blackwood Music Inc. (BMI) o/b/o JJSR Productions Inc. (PRS) / Reservoir 416 (BMI), published by Reservoir Media Management, Inc. (PRS) / WC Music Corp. (ASCAP) o/b/o Warner/Chappell Music Ltd. (PRS) / Marta Salogni Publishing Designee.

Official audio on YouTube

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Speak To Me"
Main article: List of dates where "Speak To Me" was played


1981-1985: Dreaming Of MeNew LifeJust Can't Get EnoughSee YouThe Meaning Of Love
Leave In SilenceGet The Balance RightEverything CountsLove In ItselfPeople Are PeopleMaster And ServantBlasphemous Rumours / SomebodyShake The DiseaseIt's Called A Heart
1986-1989: StrippedBut Not TonightA Question Of LustA Question Of TimeStrangelove
Never Let Me Down AgainBehind The WheelLittle 15Personal Jesus
1990-1998: Enjoy The SilencePolicy Of TruthWorld In My EyesI Feel YouWalking In My ShoesCondemnationIn Your RoomBarrel Of A GunIt's No GoodHomeUseless
Only When I Lose Myself
2001-2009: Dream OnI Feel LovedFreeloveGoodnight LoversPreciousA Pain That I'm Used To
Suffer WellJohn The Revelator / LilianMartyrWrongPeaceFragile Tension / Hole To Feed
2013-2017: HeavenSoothe My SoulShould Be HigherWhere's The RevolutionGoing Backwards
Cover Me
2023: Ghosts Again
1992-1998: Faith HealerDriftingStalker / Missing Piece
2000-2008: Strange HoursJezebelPreyAllelujah
2003-2008: Dirty Sticky FloorsI Need YouBottle Living / Hold OnA Little PieceKingdomSaw Something / Deeper And Deeper
2012-2015: Longest DayTake Me Back HomeAll Of This And NothingShine
1989-2003: CompulsionStardustLoverman
2012-2015: SpockSingle BlipAftermathsEuropa Hymn • "Pinking" (Christoffer Berg Remix)
Official releases