Comatose

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7. Freelove
8. Comatose
List of Exciter songs
9. I Feel Loved
Comatose
Album-Exciter.jpg
Song Comatose
By Depeche Mode
Songwriter Martin L. Gore
Produced by Depeche Mode
Mark Bell
Recorded at RAK and Sarm West (London)
Sound Design (Santa Barbara)
Electric Lady
Sony (New York City)
Length (mm:ss) 3:24
Tempo 173 BPM
Time signature 4
4
Key F Minor
Engineered by Gareth Jones
Engineering assistance Boris Aldridge
Andrew Davies
Andrew Griffiths
Nick Sevilla
Lisa Butterworth
Jonathan Adler
Alissa Myhowich
James Chang
Pre-production Gareth Jones
Additional production Gareth Jones
Mixed by Steve Fitzmaurice
Mastered by Mike Marsh
Art direction Anton Corbijn
Photography Anton Corbijn
Sleeve design Form
Recorded June 2000 - February 2001
Originally released 14 May 2001
Live performances as Depeche Mode 0 times *
Total live performances 0 times *

"Comatose" is a song from the 2001 album Exciter by Depeche Mode.

Notes

Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher said in the May 2001 issue of Keyboard magazine:

Gore: "[Comatose] was one of the weirdest tracks on the record. There's not really a bass going on in that one. There's a lot of really loud hi-hat. The majority of the rest of that backing track was actually a sampled organ that we filtered down until it ended up sounding like a steamboat or something. It works, in a strange kind of way."

Fletcher: "It was a Wurlitzer or something - a big organ, with a Leslie. That track was actually fuller at one point, with a more conventional arrangement. We went more minimal."

Gore: "The chords were a lot more apparent on the demo. Mark sampled some sound; it was one chord. It was a good idea, and it had a good atmosphere, a good vibe to it, but somehow it didn't work. So we really distorted it. It just went a little bit too far: The chords were lost. That's when we had the idea of sampling each individual chord and doing the same sort of treatment he had on the original sample. That worked."

Fletcher: "[The pause after "Don't be afraid // I'm floating away"] was how it was on the demo. The rhythm track carried on under it on the demo, but apart from that it's very similar."

Producer Mark Bell, in the same magazine:

"On 'Comatose' the demo vocal was perfect. I changed the harmonics and rhythm to make Martin sound as if he's in one room singing and the music is being played in another room by some crazy dope nutty professor."

Mark Bell told author Jonathan Miller in 2001: "[W]e used that new PPG soft synth [Steinberg/Waldorf PPG Wave 2.V] on 'Comatose' where it plays an arpeggiating part."

Bell also told Keys magazine (translated from German): "We used a bass and noise-sound from the Casio FZ-10M, which has got a very weird sounding filter, as well as an arpeggio out of the PPG Wave 2.3."

Lyrics


Comatose

Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Of conscious feeling


Take a light

Start the flame

Play the game

I am lost

In your eyes

Hypnotised


Here I believe

Dreams never deceive


Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Life has no meaning


Bodies move

Colours change

Girl, you're strange

Here inside

I'm at home

I'm alive


Don't be afraid

I'm floating away


Comatose, almost

You've got me dreaming

Slipping in

And sliding out

Of conscious feeling


Comatose, almost


Comatose, almost


Comatose


Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©2001 EMI Music Publishing Ltd. London WC2H 0EA. Assigned by Grabbing Hands Music Ltd. All rights Reserved.

Dates where Comatose was played

Comatose has never been played live.