Depeche Mode

Released: March 22, 2013

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore

Producer: Ben Hillier

[Verse 1]
I was there when you needed me most
I was there when you wanted me least
I was your father, your son and your Holy Ghost and priest
Through your failures and success
Through your losses and gains
I didn’t see much happiness or pain

[Chorus]
I couldn’t save your soul
I couldn’t even take you home
I couldn’t fill that hole
Alone

[Verse 2]
I saw you at your best
I knew you at your worst
I couldn’t tell if you were blessed or cursed
There’s a thin grey line
Between the black and the white
It’s evidently hard to find at night

[Chorus]
I couldn’t save your soul
I couldn’t even take you home
I couldn’t play that role
Alone

[Bridge]
Now it’s too
Too late for words that should have been said
Long ago

[Verse 3]
I was there when you needed me most
I was there when you wanted me least
I was your father, your son and your Holy Ghost and priest

[Chorus]
I couldn’t save your soul
I couldn’t even take you home
I couldn’t fill that hole
Alone

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.

more tracks from the album

Delta Machine

From the album

Delta Machine (2013)

Depeche Mode popular songs

AloneDepeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Delta Machine