New Depeche Mode Ballad: Come Back

March 16th, 2009

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As a Depeche Mode superfan, I adore the new, reworked studio version of Come Back, which was written by Dave Gahan and his usual cowriters, Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. It reminds me of something that’d belong on SOFAD or Ultra. It’s especially beautiful when Martin Gore kicks in with the harmonies towards the middle (2:55). I’ve got chills.

But this song is unique for other reasons - first of all, almost all of Depeche Mode’s (best) ballads are sung by Martin Gore. So for this song to be written AND sung by Dave Gahan is special.

The Depeche Mode songwriting process is an unusual one and I didn’t realize HOW unusual until I just read this tidbit - Oh Well, the b-side to Wrong, the first single from Sounds Of The Universe, marks the first ever collaboration between Martin Gore and Dave Gahan. The lyrics are Dave’s and the music is Martin’s. That is a wild stat considering that the band has been together for almost THIRTY years - so for the 2/3 of the band to have never collaborated on a song before is massive. I wonder what this song will sound like.

Typically, the deity that is Martin Gore writes all of the music AND all of the lyrics for everything that Depeche Mode does. It was only on 2005’s Playing The Angel that Dave Gahan started writing some of his own lyrics, and the musical components for those songs were written by Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott. You can immediately tell which songs are Dave’s because they’re ‘weaker’ than anything Martin Gore could write on a bad day. It’s like a Liam vs. Noel song - you can always tell. And the lyrics in Come Back are no exception - they’re much more basic and cliche than anything Martin Gore would pen.

So have a listen - Depeche Mode in the studio recording Come Back. What do you think?

Posted on Monday, March 16th, 2009 at 10:36 am by Kat and is filed under Music & Videos.

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