Dreaming of Me

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You can imagine that a couple of just-opened cardboard boxes, which earlier that morning had contained brand new mail-order synths, were propped up against the wall as this was recorded. You can *see* David Gahan and Martin Gore sneaking into their big sisters' bedrooms to pinch spray-on stuff to get their hair just right. You expect to hear one of their Mums pop her head around the door - 'everything alright boys - anyone want a biscuit'?

It sounds like the first song Vince Clarke ever wrote. It sounds like the first song *anyone* ever wrote. This afternoon it sounds like the BEST song anyone ever wrote. A shifting boogie bassline (sort of) borrowed from Kraftwerk's 'Komtenmelodie 2', a twinkling one-finger riff and a beatbox. Genius in simplicity.

Sure it's not *about* anything much, but the way the flat vocal harmonies (developed in the wonderful follow-up 'New Life') shift over the the music - 'Dreaming Of Meeeeeeeeee-yeah' and the way they disappear entirely under Gahan's 'yeah' is utterly fantastic. The shift in timbre for the keyboard break is just so....lifting. The lugubrious spoken coda with deadpan 'Oooh-la-la-la' backing vocals just genius.

Of course after Vince Clarke left they never again recorded a note of music that any sane person would consider worthwhile. Amidst their spectacularly sad later descent into squalor and cliche there's a danger that this innocent and sparkling pop could be lost forever. It shouldn't be.

Don't you agree?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Friday, 13 September 2002 14:29 (twenty-three years ago)

As regards the penultimate paragraph, no.

― Marcello Carlin, Friday, 13 September 2002 14:36 (twenty-three years ago)

Dr C you were plugging this line on a Vince Clarke thread weren't you?

No, I definitely don't agree. I think DMode got much stronger and multifaceted after VC left, before finally starting to lose it after 'SoF&D'. I can hardly stand Vince Clarke's stuff in them or Yazoo or etc.
But - you've made me want to listen to those songs again next week.

― Ray M (rdmanston), Friday, 13 September 2002 14:40 (twenty-three years ago)

i agree with everything except the post-VC bit. i thought they were still worthwhile up to an including the excellent Enjoy The Silence

― gareth (gareth), Friday, 13 September 2002 15:26 (twenty-three years ago)

I think Depeche Mode were a bit like Blur - an essentially bad band who made a handful of fantastic tracks (though they don't any more). This was true when Vince Clarke was in the group and true when he wasn't.

Dr C's description of this song is wonderful though.

― Tom (Groke), Friday, 13 September 2002 15:29 (twenty-three years ago)

Of course after Vince Clarke left they never again recorded a note of music that any sane person would consider worthwhile.

This is the oddest thing I've ever read. The following songs rank among the best Depeche Mode ever recorded:

Stories Of Old
Lie To Me
Stripped
Shame
Everything Counts
Black Celebration
Policy Of Truth
Sacred
Never Let Me Down Again
I Feel You
Higher Love
It's No Good
Useless
Comatose
I Am You
Sea Of Sin
Happiest Girl
Dangerous

All of the truly unbearable Depeche Mode songs can be found on the first two albums.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Friday, 13 September 2002 16:50 (twenty-three years ago)

I was never a Goth, Dan ;). I don't think we could ever agree on DM, but I'd be interested to hear why you rate them so much, and which songs you find unbearable and why.

What DM trax do you think are fantastic, Tom?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Saturday, 14 September 2002 11:08 (twenty-three years ago)

Never heard of it, doc.

― the pinefox (the pinefox), Saturday, 14 September 2002 11:40 (twenty-three years ago)

New Life, Master and Servant, Shake The Disease, Never Let Me Down Again, Flies On The Windscreen, Enjoy The Silence. Couple of other early ones maybe. At their best they have this kind of pouty neurotic adolscence to their gothiness which I find really charming - like angsty vanilla goths, or a Morrissey fan trying to make New Beat. And some of these have great pop choruses too. The moment they get into 'rock' this vanishes utterly of course.

― Tom (Groke), Saturday, 14 September 2002 13:51 (twenty-three years ago)

(applause) - that's for dan.
vince clarke - no good at all until
erasure.

ooh ! has there been an erasure thread ?

peak period ?
'the innocents' 1987 era thru 2 'chorus' 1991 era
i'm saying.

― piscesboy, Saturday, 14 September 2002 14:15 (twenty-three years ago)

Haha, sparkly synthpop boyband -> get into rock -> go bad/hang out with Bobby Gillespie = Popism's own narrative of decline of authenticity (cf indie rock band ->get into charts->sell out). After they got into rock, they still made some pretty good tracks (eg the twangy 'Personal Jesus'). Tom's comparison to Blur is accurate, I think.

― Jerry the Nipper (Jerrynipper), Saturday, 14 September 2002 15:30 (twenty-three years ago)

I'm sorry but I have to disagree with everything that has been said. Before Black Celebration, DM were patchy a few great tracks and alot of shitty ones. For me the best tracks during this period (1981-1984 that is) would be Shake the Disease, Everything Counts and Photograph ( the Some Bizarre version),Shame,Get the Balance Right. From 1986 to 1993, Depeche Mode were at their best including the "rock" album called SOFAD. This album certainly contains tracks of higher quality than say People Are People or Just Can't Get Enough.

― Micheline Gros-Jean (Micheline), Saturday, 14 September 2002 16:59 (twenty-three years ago)

Most of the DM songs I find unbearable are the VC ones that push the twee envelope, mostly because of the dinky-plinky keyboard sounds. He pretty much ruined _Speak and Spell_ for me and I can't listen to large sections of _A Broken Frame_ because Gore was still trying to imitate Clarke's writing style at that point in his career. In particular, I'm thinking of "Puppets", "Just Can't Get Enough" (which I've only come to appreciate after years of forced exposure), "My Secret Garden", "See You" (the song that almost turned me into a DM hater) and "The Meaning Of Love". It wasn't until they got to "Love In Itself" and _Construction Time Again_ that I feel like they really started to forge their ow identity and find a musical voice that I could identify with.

(I shohuld note that I'm embarrassed that I left "Fly On The Windscreen" and "Shake The Disease" off of my original list. Also, Micheline is dead-on in saying that _SOFAD_ doesn't get the respect it deserves.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 14 September 2002 18:46 (twenty-three years ago)

The Nipper's point is very fine. Down with Popism. (Dome Rule is Rome Rule.)

― the pinefox, Saturday, 14 September 2002 18:52 (twenty-three years ago)

haha, See You is one of their best songs!

― gareth (gareth), Saturday, 14 September 2002 19:17 (twenty-three years ago)

Last 16 words in Dr.C's penultimate paragraph speaks truth, though, even if I disagree with the paragraph as a whole.

― OleM (OleM), Saturday, 14 September 2002 20:50 (twenty-three years ago)

But doesnt inoccent and sparkling pop = Hoku?

― vic (vicc13), Saturday, 14 September 2002 20:54 (twenty-three years ago)

Yeah, it's funny that you list "See You", Dan. Not only do I think it's one of the best early DM songs, it seemed to me to be more indicative of the direction the group would head in than basically anything else off that album. Is it the (fairly twee) chorus you're thinking of?

― Vinnie (vprabhu), Saturday, 14 September 2002 21:40 (twenty-three years ago)

YES. The chorus is completely from hell and absolutely ruins the song for me.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Saturday, 14 September 2002 22:22 (twenty-three years ago)

Dan Perry = OTfuckinM

― Ray M (rdmanston), Sunday, 15 September 2002 23:53 (twenty-three years ago)

**pouty neurotic adolscence to their gothiness which I find really charming**

That's a great description, Tom. I might to listen to some of tracks that you mentioned to see if I can hear this.

I**t wasn't until they got to "Love In Itself" and _Construction Time Again_ that I feel like they really started to forge their ow identity and find a musical voice that I could identify with.**

Dan - what is this musical voice and why do you identify with it?

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 16 September 2002 08:07 (twenty-three years ago)

I think a large part of it is the synthy pop-goth aspect that you dislike; it was the juxtaposition of the cynical lyrics with the sinister synth lines ("Pipeline", "Shame", "Love In Itself" sort of) that really attracted me to them. I remember liking them when I was young because the ready-made sloganeering of "People Are People" really resonated with me along with all the cool industrial-sounding clanging noises, then two of my friends read the lyrics to "Blasphemous Rumours" to our sixth-grade class and it was just the coolest thing I'd ever heard. (In retrospect, actually hearing the song was something of a letdown.) _Some Great Reward_ is an absolutely brilliant album, with the clatter and storminess of "People Are People" and "Master And Servant", the reflective earnestness of "Somebody", the relentlessly creepy "Something To Do", the ultra-slinky and insidious "Lie To Me", the brutal honest of "Stories Of Old"... It's a seam of bad will that echoes throughout most of their albums starting with _Construction Time Again_ that resonates with large chunks of my adolescent world view. (I've since become a much more cheerful person, but not necessarily because I've rejected that world view; more because I've recognized that the fact that other people suck ass doesn't automatically mean that life is worthless.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Monday, 16 September 2002 13:54 (twenty-three years ago)

**it was the juxtaposition of the cynical lyrics with the sinister synth lines**

Yes, I do dislike **this**. Partly because it's so *easy* - a kind of default state that far too many bands trudged along with in the 80's. (And 90's - grunge) New pop promised more. Factory Records promised more. (Factory was NEVER about grimness).Post-punk promised more, then it sort of evaporated into an off-the-peg gloom exemplified by DM, The Mission, *industrial* music, some Cure, 4AD.

I suspect I'm being hard on DM - at least they made a couple of great singles with Vince - but I really cannot stand them.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 16 September 2002 18:27 (twenty-three years ago)

Dr C, "Shake The Disease" is one to go for - think of it not as a companion to the rest of DM's stuff but as a companion to Strawberry Switchblade's "Since Yesterday" and Stephen 'Tin Tin' Duffy's "Kiss Me" - eyeliner angst pop classics all!

― Tom (Groke), Monday, 16 September 2002 18:32 (twenty-three years ago)

**eyeliner angst pop classics all!**

Now you're talking.

― Dr. C (Dr. C), Monday, 16 September 2002 20:54 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't understand how someone could like "Shake The Disease" and not get behind 85% of Depeche Mode's output.

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 15:35 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't own any DM records but if I was going to buy one it would definitely be their first. Not only do I have a high tolerance for tweeness but I truly love the sound of Speak and Spell (that was the first, wasn't it?). Soft and sterile.

― lawrence kansas, Tuesday, 17 September 2002 15:55 (twenty-three years ago)

DM, The Mission, *industrial* music, some Cure, 4AD.

Sounds like heaven to me!

Dr. C, I honestly think this is a difference of time and place to an extent. Keep in mind Dan and I didn't grow up with New Pop and the early days of Factory -- in 1981 I was ten years old and half a world away, Dan even younger! Those discoveries I've made from those times were deep and passionate, but always through a sense of what is past. In contrast, Depeche and the Cure and etc. were very much the songs of my teen years, that was our context, mediated through alt radio and MTV and all but still there, and often jarringly out of context with a lot that surrounded it (which often made it more treasurable). Dan I know went through similar and equally (and at times even more so) passionate experiences with encountering them. But the thing that goes further than initial late teen crush mode is that the music and the songs for us at least last, and that of course is just the mysteries of taste and personal opinion. ;-)

You will pry albums like Music for the Masses and Violator and Ultra from my cold dead fingers etc.

But that all said, unlike Dan, I lurv Vince Clarke era Mode and think "Dreaming of Me" is the bee's knees.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 16:14 (twenty-three years ago)

in 1981 I was ten years old and half a world away, Dan even younger!

Yeah, I was eight. I'm such a baby. Etc.

"Dreaming Of Me" is actually a halfway-decent song. I'd say that "Dreaming Of Me", "New Life", and "Tora! Tora! Tora!" are the three songs on _Speak and Spell_ that I really like; the others range from "meh" to "Oh my god KILL KILL KILL KILL KILL". (_A Broken Frame_ is much worse, though.)

― Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Tuesday, 17 September 2002 16:53 (twenty-three years ago)

one year passes...

this -- or "blasphemous rumours" -- is prob. my favorite depeche mode song of all time. fwiw.

― Little Big Macher (llamasfur), Friday, 24 October 2003 06:06 (twenty-two years ago)

While the original post exaggerates a little, "Dreaming Of Me" is a truly great pop song, and shame it didn't become a bigger hit than it did.

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Friday, 24 October 2003 07:51 (twenty-two years ago)

i love it too, but i've always thought the real gems off of that album were "any second now" which was a taste of the lovely Yaz that was to come, and "what's your name?", which was written by a gay man about liking other man, but sung by a straight Gahan (one of my favorites things about DM is that if you didn't know they all had wives and kids, you'd swear they were gay). the "P-R-E-Double-T-Y" thing at the end always kills me too.
"It sounds like the first song Vince Clarke ever wrote."
not sure if it was, but their first release was actually a primitive (and much better version) of "photographic" that came out on a Some Bizarre comp. you can get it on the Singles 81-85 CD.
"You will pry albums like Music for the Masses and Violator and Ultra from my cold dead fingers"
ditto, but add SOFAD and Black Celebration

― Felcher (Felcher), Friday, 24 October 2003 16:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"what's your name?", which was written by a gay man about liking other man

Is Clarke openly gay? I was seriously under the impression he was straight, and married to boot.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Saturday, 25 October 2003 17:55 (twenty-two years ago)

Actually "Dreaming Of Me" coupled with "Ice Machine" makes one of the best double-sided singles of all time

― Geir Hongro (GeirHong), Saturday, 25 October 2003 18:05 (twenty-two years ago)

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