Everything Counts

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Everything Counts
Song	Everything Counts
By	Depeche Mode
Songwriter	Martin L. Gore
Produced by	Daniel Miller Depeche Mode
Recorded at	The Garden (London)
Length (mm:ss)	4:19 (album version) 3:58 (7"/single version) 7:18 (12" version)
Tempo	114 BPM
Time signature	4 4
Key	C Major
Engineered by	Ferg Peterkin Gareth Jones
Tonmeister	Gareth Jones
Mixed at	Hansa Mischraum
Mastered by	Christian Stegmaier
Design	Martyn Atkins Town & Country Planning
Photography	Brian Griffin
Illustrations	Ian Wright
Recorded	May 1983
Originally released	11 July 1983
Live performances as Depeche Mode	863 times *
Total live performances	863 times *

"Everything Counts" is a song from the 1983 album Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 11 July 1983.

Notes

Martin Gore was quoted in the 1983-09-17 issue of NME:

"I think ['Everything Counts'] was partly [inspired by] going to Thailand as well [as the song 'Shame'] — that's where the oriental flavour comes in, like Korea 'n' all that. But you go over there and all the hotels are full of, like, businessmen and basically they tend to treat people as though they're nothing. All they're interested in is their business — that's what I really hate about big business, people just don't seem to matter. Just money. You see all the women over there 'n' they're all prostitutes — that's the only way they can make any money. 'Course, the businessmen love it. Work [will "remove the stains"]. It's no good just sitting back and hoping things'll change, you've got to actually work together. The material's there; it's like, there's enough food in the world to feed everybody and then half the world's eating three quarters of it and the rest of the world's starving. But the food is there. There is a solution. The thing is, the people in power don't care about someone with a low wage, they only care about their own power. But I think people should care about other people, y'know, cos from the moment we're born we're put into competition with everybody else. I really don't understand why people go into politics — what makes someone at 16 or 17 decide to go into parliament? It's got to be people themselves. People's attitudes have got to be changed. For instance, when I wrote "All we need's universal revolution", I didn't mean, like, everyone to take up arms, but more a total change of attitude. That's what's needed. People's attitudes have got to be changed. You've got to look at the world to change things. Attitudes in the world, poverty in the world. The thing is when we talk about socialism, we don't mean "English Socialism" we mean "International Socialism"."

When Depeche Mode was interviewed about the songs on the 101 CD for the April 1989 issue of French magazine Best, Dave Gahan said (translated from French):

"It's one of my favorite songs. It's taken from the Construction Time Again album, which was an important step in our career. That's when we started becoming successful in Europe. At the time, in England, 'Everything Counts' went into the Top 10, but elsewhere, it did not work. That's why we wanted it to be on the live album. The lyrics are timeless. They talk of money, power and corruption."

When Will Arnett asked the band in the Smartless podcast in 2023 what the strange sound at the beginning of the song is, Martin replied: "That was a Chinese violin that we badly sampled, I think", and Dave continued in jest, "Yeah, that we couldn't play. It was an instrument that we couldn't play."

Live versions

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

• Play 1983-1984 Construction Time Again Tour (Without additional synth line): 1983-12-06 Paradiso, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
• Play 1983-1984 Construction Time Again Tour (With additional synth line): 1984-02-03 Odeon, Birmingham, England, UK
• Play 1984-1985 Some Great Reward Tour: 1984-11-02 Hammersmith Odeon, London, England, UK
• Play 1986 Black Celebration Tour: 1986-04-10 N.E.C., Birmingham, England, UK
• Play 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour: 1988-01-11 Wembley Arena, London, England, UK
• Play 1990 World Violation Tour: 1990-08-04 Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
• Play 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK
• Play 1994 Exotic Tour: 1994-03-26 Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI, USA
• Play 2005-2006 Touring The Angel: 2005-11-18 HP Pavilion, San Jose, CA, USA
• Play 2010-2011 Selected Events Tour: 2010-03-19 Meistersaal, Hansa Tonstudios, Berlin, Germany
• 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

Lyrics

Everything Counts

The handshake seals the contract

From the contract there's no turning back

The turning point of a career

In Korea being insincere

The holiday was fun-packed

The contract, still intact

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

It's a competitive world

Everything counts in large amounts

The graph on the wall

Tells the story of it all

Picture it now, see just how

The lies and deceit gained a little more power

Confidence - taken in

By a sun-tan and a grin

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

It's a competitive world

Everything counts in large amounts

The grabbing hands grab all they can

Everything counts in large amounts

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1983 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Everything Counts"

Main article: List of dates where "Everything Counts" was played

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