Shame
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6. Shame List of Construction Time Again songs |
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Shame
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| Song | Shame |
|---|---|
| By | Depeche Mode |
| Songwriter | Martin L. Gore |
| Produced by | Daniel Miller Depeche Mode |
| Recorded at | The Garden (London) |
| Length (mm:ss) | 3:51 |
| Tempo | 108 BPM |
| Time signature | 4 4 |
| Key | G Major |
| Engineered by | Gareth Jones |
| Tonmeister | Gareth Jones |
| Mixed at | Hansa Mischraum |
| Mastered by | Christian Stegmaier |
| Design | Martyn Atkins Town & Country Planning |
| Illustrations | Ian Wright |
| Originally released | 22 August 1983 |
| Live performances as Depeche Mode | 125 times * |
| Total live performances | 125 times * |
"Shame" is a song from the 1983 album Construction Time Again by Depeche Mode.
Notes
Martin Gore was quoted in the 1983-09-17 issue of NME:
"I think ['Everything Counts'] was partly [inspired by] going to Thailand as well [as the song 'Shame'] – that’s where the oriental flavour comes in, like Korea ‘n’ all that. But you go over there and all the hotels are full of, like, businessmen and basically they tend to treat people as though they’re nothing. All they’re interested in is their business – that’s what I really hate about big business, people just don’t seem to matter. Just money. You see all the women over there ‘n’ they’re all prostitutes – that’s the only way they can make any money. ’Course, the businessmen love it. Work [will "remove the stains"]. It’s no good just sitting back and hoping things’ll change, you’ve got to actually work together. The material’s there; it’s like, there’s enough food in the world to feed everybody and then half the world’s eating three quarters of it and the rest of the world’s starving. But the food is there. There is a solution. The thing is, the people in power don’t care about someone with a low wage, they only care about their own power. But I think people should care about other people, y’know, cos from the moment we’re born we’re put into competition with everybody else. I really don’t understand why people go into politics – what makes someone at 16 or 17 decide to go into parliament? It’s got to be people themselves. People’s attitudes have got to be changed. For instance, when I wrote “All we need’s universal revolution”, I didn’t mean, like, everyone to take up arms, but more a total change of attitude. That’s what’s needed. People’s attitudes have got to be changed. You’ve got to look at the world to change things. Attitudes in the world, poverty in the world. The thing is when we talk about socialism, we don’t mean “English Socialism” we mean “International Socialism”."
Lyrics
Shame
Do you ever get that feeling
When the guilt begins to hurt
Seeing all the children
Wallowing in dirt
Crying out with hunger
Crying out in pain
At least the dirt will wash off
When it starts to rain
Soap won't wash away your shame
Do you ever get that feeling
That something isn't right
Seeing your brother's fists
Clenched ready for the fight
Soon the fighting turns to weapons
And the weapons turn to wounds
So the doctors stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch
Surgery won't improve your pain
It all seems so stupid
It makes me want to give up
But why should I give up
When it all seems so stupid
Do you ever get the feeling
That something can be done
To eradicate these problems
And make the people one
Do you ever get that feeling
Something like a nagging itch
And all the while the doctors
Stitch and stitch and stitch
And stitch and stitch
Hope alone won't remove the stains
Shame
Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1983 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.
Live performances
- Main article: Available recordings of "Shame"
- Main article: List of dates where "Shame" was played
