Depeche Mode

Released: October 25, 1982

Songwriter: Vince Clarke

[Intro: Dave Gahan]
"This is Photographic!"

[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
A white house, a white room, the program of today
Lights on, switch on, your eyes are far away
The map represents you and the tape is your voice
Follow all along you 'til you recognise the choice

[Chorus: Dave Gahan]
I take pictures
Photographic pictures
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room

[Verse 2: Dave Gahan]
I said I'd write a letter, but I never got the time
And I'm looking to the day I mesmerise the light
The years I spend just thinking of a moment we both knew
A second boss looking into it seems it can't be true

[Chorus: Dave Gahan]
I take pictures
Photographic pictures
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room

[Interlude: Dave Gahan]
"Let's go!"

[Chorus: Dave Gahan]
I take pictures
Photographic pictures
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room

[Outro: Dave Gahan]
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room
Bright light, dark room
Bright light

"Thank you very much, good men!"
"Thank you"

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

Rare Early Live Performances

From the albums

X¹ + X² (1991)
Rare Early Live Performances (2006)

Depeche Mode popular songs

Photographic [Live in London, Hammersmith Odeon, UK - 1982/10/25]Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Rare Early Live Performances