To Have And To Hold
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8. To Have And To Hold List of Music for the Masses songs |
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To Have And To Hold
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Song
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'To Have And To Hold' is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode.
Notes
A sample of a Russian radio news broadcast can be heard throughout the song. In the sample, the speaker says: "В докладах рассматривается эволюция ядерных арсеналов и социально-психологические проблемы гонки вооружений" ("The report examines the evolution of nuclear arsenals and socio-psychological problems of the arms race").
Q&A from Alan Wilder's Shunt:
Heiko Brune: Which version of 'To Have And To Hold' was first - LP or Spanish Taster? Which of the two do you prefer and why?
Alan: The LP version was recorded first and is possibly one of DM's darkest tracks. The Spanish Taster is basically Martin's demo which he insisted on recording as well. Which one do you think I prefer? I don't think there is a more perfect example of the musical differences between myself and Martin.
Carsten Vogt: How much effort did it actually take you to convince (or persuade) Martin to release your version of 'To Have And To Hold' rather than his?
Alan: It wasn't really a question of persuading or convincing - the album version was the primary one, he just wanted to include his demo on the album.
Aaron Henderson: On 31/8/98, Carsten Vogt asked a question about Martin's demo of 'To Have And To Hold'. The whole question + answer has me a bit confused... Was there an argument or something regarding which version went on the album and did Martin's demo end up out there somewhere? Please enlighten me.
Alan: It's really very simple. Martin submitted his demo in the usual way and although I liked the song, his original idea was too 'lightweight' for my taste (and I felt, the mood of the album) so I pushed it in a darker, more atmospheric direction. This was the primary version of the song which was always intended to be on the album. Martin however was very attached to his more 'poppy' demo and said that he wanted to record it too - hence the 'Spanish Taster'. It wasn't a question of fighting with one another over this, it's just that Martin saw the song in a different way to me. When I originally answered this question, I said that it was a good example of the musical differences between us.
Lyrics
To Have And To Hold
I need to be cleansed
It's time to make amends
For all of the fun
The damage is done
And I feel diseased
I'm down on my knees
And I need forgiveness
Someone to bear witness
To the goodness within
Beneath the sin
Although I may flirt
With all kinds of dirt
To the point of disease
Now I want release
From all this decay
Take it away
And somewhere
There's someone who cares
With a heart of gold
To have and to hold
Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1987 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Dates where To Have And To Hold was played
To Have And To Hold has never been played live.
Trivia
- The sampled radio broadcast and dark, reverberated pad heard throughout 'To Have And To Hold' was sampled and used to atmospheric effect in the song 'The Vault of the Future', an ambient track written by Mark Morgan for use in the 1997 post-apocalyptic adventure game Fallout. The song would later be re-used in 1998's Fallout 2 and 2010's critically-acclaimed Fallout: New Vegas developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Bethesda Softworks, as well as 2010's Vault Archives, a remastered compilation album by Morgan released on 10 May 2010 through Aural Network.
