Little 15
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5. Little 15 List of Music for the Masses songs |
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Little 15
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| Song | Little 15 |
|---|---|
| By | Depeche Mode |
| Songwriter | Martin L. Gore |
| Produced by | Depeche Mode Dave Bascombe Daniel Miller |
| Recorded at | Guillaume Tell (Paris), Konk (London), Puk (Denmark) |
| Length (mm:ss) | 4:15 |
| Tempo | 108 BPM |
| Time signature | 4 4 |
| Key | D♭ Minor |
| Recorded | February–July 1987 |
| Originally released | 16 May 1988 |
| Live performances as Depeche Mode | 3 times * |
| Total live performances | 3 times * |
"Little 15" is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 16 May 1988.
Notes
Martin Gore told Swedish magazine "Slitz" in 1987 (translated from Swedish):
"To me, it’s about a bored, middle-aged house wife trying to find a new lease on life through a young boy. It doesn’t have to be sexual. Although this particular song is about one of our classmates who DID have an affair with a middle-aged woman when he was 15."
Dave Gahan told KROQ radio in 1987:
'Little 15' is actually about a guy. It's about a boy. See, a lot of people have taken that song already in the wrong way, they think it's about a small girl, but it's not. It's actually about a boy, and his mother is talking to him. She's saying, "Look, you're gonna grow up and everything, and this is what it's gonna be like. It's not a bed of roses, and you're gonna be going out into the big, bad world soon." It's about a boy and his mother, his older mother. To be honest, when Martin wrote the song and he brought it to us and I read the lyrics and stuff - it's actually one of my favourite songs on the album - but when he brought it to me I thought immediately it was about a little girl, one of his, you know, "things"... But we won't talk about those!
Q & A from Alan Wilder's Shunt archive:
Steph: You're smart to expose Paris [Wilder's daughter] to Nyman - what is your favourite of his work? I am partial to The Piano soundtrack. I can't listen to him without being transported somewhere else in the universe. Has he influenced you in any way? Do you see any similarities in your respective styles?
Alan Wilder: I didn't think 'The Piano' was very good. I hated the film too. I prefer A Zed And Two Noughts. I suppose there is some influence - listen to 'Little 15'.
Wilder and Gahan elaborate on this influence in the 2006 Music For The Masses remaster DVD documentary:
Alan Wilder: I remember [that] 'Little 15' was being quite a difficult track. We had left it to the last [day] because we really didn't know how to go about it. We had this song, it seemed... it was just difficult to know what to do with it. And I can remember I had just been to see A Zed & Two Noughts by Peter Greenway, and all his music, that is [from] Michael Nyman. And so, somewhere amongst our discussions, we said: "Why don't we try and do it in this sort of Nyman and A Zed & Two Noughts kind of way?". But from there, it was just easy, it just flowed. It all started with this funny, little, hypnotic cycle sequence, and then - bang, bang, bang - all the parts came together.
Dave Gahan: That was Alan's, like, schooling, his musicianship. He's a fantastic piano player. And I don't think we appreciated that at the time.
Album producer Dave Bascombe describes the impact of Wilder's influence on the production of 'Little 15'[1]:
"... There’s a lot of reverb on that album which is ‘of the time’, but I suppose the cinematic thing was Alan. And the orchestral stuff, like in ‘Little 15’, there’s a lot of orchestral samples in there that we spent ages working on and that was definitely Alan, [he’s] definitely the reason for that."
Wilder writes on the official Recoil website in 1998:
"'Little 15' was never intended as a single - in fact from the outset, it was touch and go as to whether the track would even be recorded at all. However, encouraged by Dan Miller, an experimental approach in the studio gave rise to a simple ballad based around a Nymanesque opening string arrangement. It was the French record company who later insisted the song was perfect for their market resulting in a release geared towards this territory only. There is some confusion over which other European countries eventually released the single. Certainly, it was never officially released in England and yet, remarkably still managed to chart on Import only - a perfect demonstration of the die hard following that DM now enjoyed."[2]
Martin describes an unnammed ballad in Bravo Magazine issue #44 in 1987. Given the fact that the recording of this song is said to have been postponed until the end, and Alan's quotes of 'Little 15' being postponed until the end of the recording session, it can be guessed that this quote is about 'Little 15':
"There's a ballad on the new album that Andy has rejected from the start. He refused to play the thing. He thought it was too sad, and it really seemed to affect him. We nevertheless started to work on it. And almost until the end he kept saying that he didn't want to play the thing. Funnily enough, the song is now his favorite on the record."
Gore in Bong issue no. 37, 1998:
"This was the only ever single in France. We were convinced by our French record company that it was a great single for France and that it had all the right ingredients to be a massive hit in France. We just looked at them and said "You're mad, Little 15 is not a single", but as it was Mute France at that time and we knew the people very well, we basically gave in to them and let them have their way. And was it a massive hit? No! Was it a hit? No!"
Lyrics
Little 15
Little 15
You help her forget
The world outside
You're not part of it yet
And if you could drive
You could drive her away
To a happier place
To a happier day
That exists in your mind
And in your smile
She could escape there
Just for a while
Little 15
Little 15
Why take the smooth with the rough
When things run smooth
It's already more than enough
She knows your mind
Is not yet in league
With the rest of the world
And its little intrigues
Do you understand
Do you know what she means
As time goes by
And when you've seen what she's seen
You will
Little 15
Little 15
Why does she have to defend
Her feelings inside
Why pretend
She's not had a life
A life of near misses
Now all that she wants
Is 3 little wishes
She wants to see with your eyes
She wants to smile with your smile
She wants a nice surprise
Every once in a while
Little 15
Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1987 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Music video
Live performances
- Main article: Available recordings of "Little 15"
- Main article: List of dates where "Little 15" was played
References
- ↑ Source: Producer Dave Bascombe on Depeche Mode’s ‘Music For The Masses’ - Super Deluxe Edition - July 2019
- ↑ Source: recoil.co.uk
