Depeche Mode

Released: April 4, 1997

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore

Producer: Tim Simenon

[Verse 1]
Oh, the tears that you weep
For the poor tortured souls
Who fall at your feet
With their love begging bowls
All the clerks and the tailors
The sharks and the sailors
All good at their trades, but
They'll always be failures

[Verse 2]
Alms for the poor
For the wretched disciples
And the love that they swore
With their hearts on the Bible
Beseeching the honor
To sit at your table
And feast on your holiness
As long as they're able

[Chorus]
Love needs its martyrs
Needs its sacrifices
They live for your beauty
And pay for their vices
Love will be the death of
My lonely soul brothers
But their spirits shall live on in
The hearts of all lovers

[Verse 3]
You're holding court
With your lips and your smile
Your body's a halo
Their minds are on trial
Sure as Adam is Eve
Sure as Jonah turned whaler
They're crooked love thieves
And you are their jailer

[Chorus]
Love needs its martyrs
Needs its sacrifices
They live for your beauty
And pay for their vices
Love will be the death of
My lonely soul brothers
But their spirits shall live on in
The hearts of all lovers

[Outro]
Love will be the death of
My lonely soul brothers
But their spirits shall live on in
The hearts of all lovers

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.

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