Never Let Me Down Again
| 1. Never Let Me Down Again List of Music for the Masses songs |
|
Never Let Me Down Again
| |
| |
| Song | Never Let Me Down Again |
|---|---|
| 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) | 4:47 (album version) 4:20 (single version) |
| Tempo | 106 BPM |
| Time signature | 4 4 |
| Key | C Major |
| Recorded | February–July 1987 |
| Originally released | 24 August 1987 |
| Live performances as Depeche Mode | 1076 times * |
| Total live performances | 1147 times * |
"Never Let Me Down Again" is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 24 August 1987.
Notes
In this 1988 radio interview, Andy Fletcher says that, although he can't give too much away about the meanings of Martin Gore's songs, he does reveal that 'Never Let Me Down Again' is "just about innocence."
Martin Gore was quoted in issue #44/1987 of Bravo Magazine:
"I wrote this song last March. And it was such a long time ago that I cannot say much about it anymore. But you're wrong [about the song because about my girlfriend], the song has nothing to do with relationships. It's about the concept of fleeing from reality and the evil awakening afterwards. Any kind of fleeing. Drugs, alcohol, or whatever."
Martin Gore in Rolling Stone magazine, 1993:
"There was one instance regarding 'Never Let Me Down Again' when two separate people came up to me after a show one night and said, "I really like that song". One of them thought it was a gay anthem and the other one thought it was a drug anthem. They both loved the song, so that's fine by me."
Martin Gore in Bong magazine issue no. 37, 1998:
"I think that 'Never Let Me Down Again' is one of our classic old time tracks."
Depeche Mode also said in the 2006 Music For The Masses Remaster DVD documentary:
Martin Gore: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was a stand-out track. It was especially effective when we played live."
Dave Gahan: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was a big song for us, and it still is live."
Andy Fletcher: "That was not a big hit, yet it became a real legendary Depeche Mode song."
Dave Bascombe: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was the one I was really, really pleased with. I was very involved with the drum sounds on that. The guitar intro, actually, was an accident. It was just down to the sequencers we were using in those days. That guitar was sampled, and it ran on the counting. That was the start of the track, but it wasn't supposed to be, and we just all went, "Oh, that's great!". So that was a happy accident. And I have always liked the track, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out."
Alan Wilder told Electricity Club in 2011:
Q: There was an article featuring producer Dave Bascombe which said that you used an EDP Wasp on 'Music For The Masses'?
A: Yes, that's true, it was used to create the famous bass sequencer parts in the Aggro mix of 'Never Let Me Down Again'. I think we used the Wasp and Spider sequencer and then probably sampled the result, as it isn't MIDI controllable. We may have been able to sequence it using cv/gate – I can't quite remember.
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):
"For me, this is one of the most intense moments during the concert, firstly because this track has a very strong emotional charge, and every time I play it the waving goes well with the crowd. In addition, we were heading towards the end of the show and during this song, the stadium was on fire. When I saw the number of people there, I felt like crying. It was very moving."
Alan Wilder also wrote in his 86-98 editorial in 1998:
"Primarily programmed at Alan's house, the basic demo was restructured to emphasise the chorus in an attempt to improve the overall flow of the track. It displays a blend of distinctive musical components and devices - some old Mode and some making their debut. Most notably, 'Never Let Me Down' illustrated the inaugural use of sections of live performance as opposed to just single notes being sampled and manipulated - best demonstrated by the distinctive opening guitar riff, which was originally played by Martin then heavily processed using a number of effects. There was also significant use of real orchestral sounds such as strings and horns as well as Led Zeppelin drum samples to flesh out the backing. Says Alan: "It also stood out as an obvious single and suggested a 'Stripped'-like feel. It has a very definite anthemic quality which is especially demonstrated when the song is performed live and the whole audience wave their hands in unison at the end - a Depeche high-point I think.""
Dave Bascombe told Super Deluxe Edition in July 2019:
"That's the one [song] that hit me when I first heard that demo, I thought that's just fantastic. My sole contribution, well not my sole contribution – this is before we got to Paris, we were round at Alan's house – and I said "Right, I want to use 'When The Levee Breaks' [Led Zeppelin] drums on this." I know that it's been used 10 billion times now, but they were still quite new then and I'd always loved those drum sounds and as I say they weren't a cliched thing then, so I suggested using them for the main kick and snare. But I actually loved that track, still do."
He also told Vaughn George (part 1, part 2) in April 2020:
"I think [samples at the end of 'Never Let Me Down Again' were] sampled from Carmina Burana. We'll probably get sued, though, for saying that. I'm pretty sure it was sampled from that. [...] The tom-toms are a combination of the toms from Stripped, mixed with some other samples. [...] The guitar [intro] we did at PUK [Studios]. It was probably [first] a synth part, then we thought, "Let's just do it on guitar. I think I went out and set the amp up and messed around with a few effect pedals. I was just mucking about, and I remember them and Daniel [Miller] going "Yes!" And then we put it through a synth, Daniel's ARP 2600, and altered it a bit more. But the happy accident was: Martin had played this [guitar part] a few times, and we picked the best one, and then we put it in the Synclavier because that was the best quality sampler we had. And then you record it back into the track by triggering it. And the way you have to do it is, there is a flashing light, and you have to press it right before you want it, and then it would trigger the thing in time. So I was prepared to do this in all the various spots where it was supposed to happen in the song. But what I had forgotten was that this thing would trigger by itself right at the beginning of the song automatically. And off it went. And that was obviously meant to be. It was a lovely moment, because we all looked, "Wow, just perfect"."
Fan Peter Harper wrote on the HOME forum in 2003:
"I once asked Martin Gore about the fact that [Never Let Me Down Again's] guitar intro was borrowed by the band 'Third Bass' on their track "Wordz Of Wizdom, Pt. 2". After Depeche Mode heard it they were impressed with the way that it had been reversed and distorted the way 'Third Bass' did. So Depeche Mode knicked it back off the 'Third Bass' record, and the new distorted and reversed sample was added to the version of 'Never Let Me Down Again' that was performed in 1990 [on the World Violation tour], and it works really well. To those who don't know what to look for: its in the aggro part of the song, it's quite loud in the mix - it's very staggered. You probably need to hear the 'Third Bass' track to really notice, it's very prominent on that."
Alan Wilder says about that guitar riff in 2010:
"That's still one of my favourites, and it's clearly still a live favourite as well. It's a really good guitar riff – guitar sound and riff. I think we put it through some kind of filter and re-recorded it back in, then sampled it. It's just got a great sound. I remember there was a rap group called 3rd Bass that sampled that riff and then put it over a rap rhythm. I always liked their track as well."
Lyrics
Never Let Me Down Again
I'm taking a ride
With my best friend
I hope he never lets me down again
He knows where he's taking me
Taking me where I want to be
I'm taking a ride
With my best friend
We're flying high
We're watching the world pass us by
Never want to come down
Never want to put my feet back down
On the ground
I'm taking a ride
With my best friend
I hope he never lets me down again
Promises me I'm safe as houses
As long as I remember who's wearing the trousers
I hope he never lets me down again
We're flying high
We're watching the world pass us by
Never want to come down
Never want to put my feet back down
On the ground
We're flying high
We're watching the world pass us by
Never want to come down
Never want to put my feet back down
On the ground
Never let me down
Never let me down
Never let me down
Never let me down
See the stars, they're shining bright (Never let me down)
Everything's alright tonight (Never let me down)
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 "Never Let Me Down Again"
- Main article: List of dates where "Never Let Me Down Again" was played
