Depeche Mode

Released: June 13, 1981

Songwriter: Vince Clarke

Producer: Daniel Miller Depeche Mode

[Verse 1]
She was silent, trying to be
Like the girl who acted on the TV
Always knowing when to say
Wishing for a moment so that they could see

[Pre-Chorus]
Staring in the night
A picture in my room
And I think that she knew her lines

[Chorus]
Break away tonight
I wanna hold your hand
We've got to get it right
We've got to understand

[Verse 2]
Carefully watching waiting
As I stood upon the back streets and we start to play
I was screaming louder
As the curtains fall between us in a twisted way

[Pre-Chorus]
Staring in the night
A picture in my room
And I think that she knew her lines

[Chorus]
Break away tonight
I wanna hold your hand
We've got to get it right
We've got to understand

[Interlude]

[Verse 3]
Placing all the questions
In the minutes of a game we won so long ago
Dangerous and beautiful
The radio transmission that I have to know

[Pre-Chorus 2]
You could never run
You could never stay
And I think you belong to me

[Chorus]
Break away tonight
I wanna hold your hand
We've got to get it right
We've got to understand

[Chorus]
Break away tonight
I wanna hold your hand
We've got to get it right
We've got to understand

[Interlude]

[Outro]
Get it right

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

Remixes 81··04

From the albums

Depeche Mode popular songs

Shout! (Rio Mix)Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

Remixes 81··04