Depeche Mode

Released: July 11, 1983

Songwriter: Vince Clarke

[Intro: Dave Gahan]
"Okay, let's see you moving"
"This is New Life"

[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
I stand still, stepping on the shady streets
And I watched that man to a stranger
You think you only know me when you turn on the light
Now the room is lit red danger

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
Complicating, circulating
New life, new life
Operating, generating
New life, new life

[Interlude]

[Verse 2: Dave Gahan]
Transition to another place
So the time will pass more slowly
Your features fuse and your shadow's red
Like a film I've seen, now show me

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
Complicating, circulating
New life, new life
Operating, generating
New life, new life

[Interlude]

[Verse 3: Dave Gahan]
Your face is hidden and we're out of sight
And the road just leads to nowhere
The stranger in the door is the same as before
So the question answer's nowhere

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
Complicating, circulating
New life, new life
Operating, generating
New life, new life

[Interlude]

[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
I stand still stepping on the shady streets
And I watched that man to a stranger
You think you only know me when you turn on the light
Now the room is lit red danger

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
Complicating, circulating
New life, new life
Operating generating
New life, new life

[Interlude: Dave Gahan]
"Come on!"

[Outro: Dave Gahan]
"Thank you very much"

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

X¹ + X²

From the albums

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

Depeche Mode popular songs

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

Depeche Mode

X¹ + X²