New Life
| 1. New Life List of Speak & Spell songs |
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New Life
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| Song | New Life |
|---|---|
| By | Depeche Mode |
| Songwriter | Vince Clarke |
| Produced by | Depeche Mode Daniel Miller |
| Recorded at | Blackwing Studios (London) |
| Length (mm:ss) | 3:43 (album version) 3:58 (remix) |
| Tempo | 158 BPM |
| Time signature | 4 4 |
| Key | D Major |
| Engineered by | Eric Radcliffe John Fryer |
| Photography | Brian Griffin |
| Originally released | 13 June 1981 |
| Live performances as Depeche Mode | 240 times * |
| Total live performances | 240 times * |
"New Life" is a song from the 1981 album Speak & Spell by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 13 June 1981.
Notes
In May/June 2020, one of Vince Clarke's cousins, named Adam Spector, claimed the following on Facebook:
My brother Paul Spector wrote the lyrics to this song. He didn't want any or got any credit for it. I remember quite clearly Vince "borrowing" them from him. It's about a Chinese Philosopher. I read a whole page about it in a Depeche Mode book and every word about it was true except who wrote it. Vince's highest qualification is in Woodwork and my brother has a Masters Degree in Philosophy from King's College, London. Vince wouldn't be able to explain what it was about other than what he was told by Paul. I did ask Vince for the original, written lyrics back but he said he'd lost them.
In July 2020, Adam Spector uploaded a version of 'New Life' on YouTube (video private; audio mirrored below), claiming in the description that his brother Paul wrote the lyrics, with Vince Clarke having written the music. Adam later clarified to DM Live that he was singing vocals in this clip, with Vince playing keyboards. Susan Ryder Paget, who was in the band No Romance In China along with Vince Clarke, posted a comment on Facebook in which she recognizes Vince speaking at the beginning of the recording (seen in the screenshot to the right), and further feels that the ending of the song is characteristic of Vince Clarke's keyboard playing style of the time; this matches up with Vince's keyboard part heard at the end of the song at 1980-11-14 Essex. Furthermore, the music of this version strongly resembles "Do You Need The Service?" by Tubeway Army.
Audio extracted from Adam Spector's YouTube video of 'New Life'. Warning: the audio is rather loud, turn down your volume before pressing play.
Dave Gahan and Andrew Fletcher in the 1982-01-22 issue of Smash Hits:
Fletcher: "Words were never Vince [Clarke]'s strong point. As a matter of fact, we were sometimes quite embarrassed by his stuff! We didn't understand a lot of his songs. He’d never tell us what they were about!"
Gahan: "I remember walking through town in Basildon one night and I saw these two girls following along behind me. I knew they'd recognised me. And they start singing, [high-pitched squeak] 'I stand still stepping on a shady street'. And I start walking a bit faster, turns me collar up like this! And then... [wails] 'And I watch that man to a stranger.' And I'm thinking: 'Oh no, this is embarrassing! Do they understand these lyrics?! Perhaps they do and we don't!"
Lyrics
New Life
I stand still stepping on the shady streets
And I watched that man to a stranger
You think you only know me when you turn on the light
Now the room is lit, red danger
Complicating, circulating
New life, new life
Operating, generating
New life, new life
Transitions to another place
So the time will pass more slowly
Features fuse and your shadow's red
Like a film I've seen now show me
Your face is hidden and we're out of sight
And the road just leads to nowhere
The stranger in the door is the same as before
So the question answers nowhere
I stand still stepping on the shady streets
And I watched that man to a stranger
You think you only know me when you turn on the light
Now the room is lit, red danger
Songwriter: Vince Clarke
Publishing Information: ©1981 Musical Moments Ltd./Sony Music Publishing Ltd.. All rights reserved.
Live performances
- Main article: Available recordings of "New Life"
- Main article: List of dates where "New Life" was played
