Released: August 11, 1986

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore

Producer: Gareth Jones Daniel Miller Depeche Mode

[Chorus]
Let's have a black celebration
Black celebration
Tonight

[Post-Chorus]
To celebrate the fact
That we've seen the back
Of another black day

[Verse 1]
I look to you, how you carry on
When all hope is gone, can't you see?
Your optimistic eyes seem like paradise
To someone like me

[Pre-Chorus]
I want to take you in my arms
Forgetting all I couldn't do today

[Chorus]
Black celebration
Black celebration
Tonight

[Post-Chorus]
To celebrate the fact
That we've seen the back
Of another black day

[Verse 2]
I look to you and your strong belief
Me, I want relief tonight
Consolation, I want so much
Want to feel your touch tonight

[Pre-Chorus]
Take me in your arms
Forgetting all you couldn't do today

[Chorus]
Black celebration
Black celebration
Tonight
Black celebration (I'll drink to that)
Black celebration
Tonight
Black celebration (I'll drink to that)
Black celebration
Tonight
Black celebration (I'll drink to that)
Black celebration
Tonight

[Outro]
"Thank you! Alright! Good evening, Birmingham! Woo! Thank you."

Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode are recognized as one of the most artistically influential bands of the late 20th century. Commercially, they have released 14 studio albums to date, and sold more than 100 million records. Their most recent album, Spirit, hit the streets in March 2017.

The band got their start in Basildon, Essex in 1980, and named themselves after a French fashion magazine. They rose to fame with hits that have become “Just Can’t Get Enough” (1981), “Everything Counts” (1983), and “People Are People” (1984), to name a few. One of their most famous concerts was at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in 1988.

Martin Gore has been the band’s primary songwriter since Vince Clarke left in the early 1980s (and went on to form Yazoo and Erasure). Alan Wilder replaced Clarke on keyboards in 1982, but left in 1995 (reinvesting his creative energy in his band, Recoil, which he had started in 1986). Since then, the band has comprised frontman Dave Gahan, multi-instrumentalist Martin Gore, and keyboardist Andy Fletcher—all of whom are original members.