Depeche Mode

Released: March 13, 1989

Songwriter: Martin L. Gore

Producer: Depeche Mode

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?

[Verse 1: Dave Gahan]
And so we're different colours and we're different creeds
And different people have different needs
It's obvious you hate me, though I've done nothing wrong
I've never even met you, so what could I have done?

[Pre-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?

[Post-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
(Help me understand)
(Help me understand, help me understand)

[Verse 2: Dave Gahan]
Now you're punching and you're kicking and you're shouting at me
I'm relying on your common decency
So far it hasn't surfaced, but I'm sure it exists
It just takes a while to travel from your head to your fists

[Pre-Chorus: Martin L. Gore]
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand

[Chorus: Dave Gahan & Martin L. Gore]
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?
People are people, so why should it be
You and I should get along so awfully?

[Outro: Martin L. Gore]
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
What makes a man
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
(People are people)
What makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
(People are people)
What makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man
Help me understand
I can't understand
(People are people)
What makes a man
(Why should it be?)
Hate another man
Help me understand

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

101 (1989)
X¹ + X² (1991)

Depeche Mode popular songs

People Are People (Live) [Rose Bowl 18/06/88]Depeche Mode

Depeche Mode

X¹ + X²