Somebody

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5. Stories Of Old
6. Somebody
List of Some Great Reward songs
7. Master And Servant
Somebody
Single-Rumours.jpg
Song Somebody
By Depeche Mode
Songwriter Martin L. Gore
Produced by Depeche Mode
Daniel Miller
Gareth Jones
Recorded at Music Works (Highbury, London)
Hansa Mischraum (Berlin)
Length (mm:ss) 4:27 (album version)
4:19 (edit)
Tempo 78 BPM
Time signature 3
4
Key G Major
Engineering assistance Ben Ward
Stefi Marcus
Colin McMahon
Design Martyn Atkins
David A. Jones
Marcx
Photography Brian Griffin
Photography assistance Stuart Graham
Recorded June 1984
Originally released 29 October 1984
Live performances as Depeche Mode 371 times *
Total live performances 371 times *

"Somebody" is a song from the 1984 album Some Great Reward by Depeche Mode. It was released as a double A-side single alongside "Blasphemous Rumours" on 29 October 1984.

Notes

While Depeche Mode were working on Some Great Reward at Hansa Studios, Martin Gore told the November 1984 issue of International Musician And Recording World: "We're going to go for a completely human feel on that one. Just a piano played by Alan and Dave singing and Andy playing tapes on the Fostex X15. It'll be very different."

In the documentary on the 2006 remaster CD/DVD of 'Some Great Reward', you can see footage of Dave studying this song at Hansa Studios.

Quotes from the documentary on the DVD of the Some Great Reward remaster from 2006:

Daniel Miller: "There are a lot of stories about how Somebody was recorded. It might as well have been that Dave tried it and it didn't work out. There's bound to be a couple of songs that Martin writes for the album where it works better with his voice."

Andy Fletcher: "It was really down to two things: If we thought it suited Martin's voice more, or if they were of a more personal nature, like Somebody."

Alan Wilder: "It was probably the first of what you'd call an acoustic performed track on an album. In fact, Martin sang it naked. It was his call. [laughs] I turned the piano away as I was playing, but yeah, we recorded it live, just him and me, in the big studio 2 hall, and he stripped off for that one."

From the 1984-09-22 issue of Melody Maker:

Suggesting that 'Some Great Reward' is dominated by "anti-love" songs brings a considered but emphatic "No" from Martin.

Martin: 'Somebody' is pretty much a straightforward 'I love you' song if you like, certainly not an anti-love song. [...] The song is based on a sort of Jonathan Richman back-to-basics theory. It's performed all together – it just needed three takes, mainly to get the sound okay – and really uses the bare essentials. In fact I sang it completely naked in the cellar of the studio which we use for ambiance, and the others sent the female tape op downstairs while I was doing it to 'check the connections'."

Dave told BBC Radio in 1984:

"We sent Steffi down there, who's the girl taper in Germany, to check out some wires, and Martin, not knowing she was coming down and us knowing that Martin has stripped off, and then we heard a little shriek when she got down there, and Martin going "Eh, eh, sorry, eh...""

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

"I do not like this song anymore. Looking back on it, I think it's too soft and tender. Most of my songs are not as naive. I usually arrange songs in such a way that they take an unexpected turn at some point. I prefer it to contain doubt, when it does not rule out the possibility that a loving relationship may go wrong."

Lyrics


Somebody

I want somebody to share

Share the rest of my life

Share my innermost thoughts

Know my intimate details

Someone who'll stand by my side

And give me support

And in return

She'll get my support

She will listen to me

When I want to speak

About the world we live in

And life in general

Though my views may be wrong

They may even be perverted

She will hear me out

And won't easily be converted

To my way of thinking

In fact she'll often disagree

But at the end of it all

She will understand me


I want somebody who cares

For me passionately

With every thought and with every breath

Someone who'll help me see things

In a different light

All the things I detest

I will almost like

I don't want to be tied

To anyone's strings

I'm carefully trying to steer clear

Of those things

But when I'm asleep

I want somebody

Who will put their arms around me

And kiss me tenderly

Though things like this

Make me sick

In a case like this

I'll get away with it


In a place like this[1]

I'll get away with it


Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1984 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Music video

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Somebody"
Main article: List of dates where "Somebody" was played


1981-1985: Dreaming Of MeNew LifeJust Can't Get EnoughSee YouThe Meaning Of Love
Leave In SilenceGet The Balance RightEverything CountsLove In ItselfPeople Are PeopleMaster And ServantBlasphemous Rumours / SomebodyShake The DiseaseIt's Called A Heart
1986-1989: StrippedBut Not TonightA Question Of LustA Question Of TimeStrangelove
Never Let Me Down AgainBehind The WheelLittle 15Personal Jesus
1990-1998: Enjoy The SilencePolicy Of TruthWorld In My EyesI Feel YouWalking In My ShoesCondemnationIn Your RoomBarrel Of A GunIt's No GoodHomeUseless
Only When I Lose Myself
2001-2009: Dream OnI Feel LovedFreeloveGoodnight LoversPreciousA Pain That I'm Used To
Suffer WellJohn The Revelator / LilianMartyrWrongPeaceFragile Tension / Hole To Feed
2013-2017: HeavenSoothe My SoulShould Be HigherWhere's The RevolutionGoing Backwards
Cover Me
2023: Ghosts Again
1992-1998: Faith HealerDriftingStalker / Missing Piece
2000-2008: Strange HoursJezebelPreyAllelujah
2003-2008: Dirty Sticky FloorsI Need YouBottle Living / Hold OnA Little PieceKingdomSaw Something / Deeper And Deeper
2012-2015: Longest DayTake Me Back HomeAll Of This And NothingShine
1989-2003: CompulsionStardustLoverman
2012-2015: SpockSingle BlipAftermathsEuropa Hymn • "Pinking" (Christoffer Berg Remix)
Official releases


References

  1. Martin Gore occasionally sings these additional lyrics during live performances.