Blasphemous Rumours / Somebody Explained

Blasphemous Rumours" / "Somebody
Cover:DepecheModeBlasphemousRumours.jpg
Type:single
Artist:Depeche Mode
Album:Some Great Reward
Released:29 October 1984
Recorded:June 1984
Studio:
Genre:New wave[1]
Length:
  • "Blasphemous Rumours":
  • 5:06 (single version)
  • 6:20 (12″/album version)
  • "Somebody":
  • 4:19 (remix)
  • 4:27 (album version)
Label:Mute
Producer:
Prev Title:Master and Servant
Prev Year:1984
Blasphemous Rumours
Title2:Somebody
Next Title:Shake the Disease
Next Year:1985

"Blasphemous Rumours" / "Somebody" is a single by English electronic band Depeche Mode. It was released on 29 October 1984, as their twelfth UK single and first double A-side single.[2] [3] Both A-side songs are from the album Some Great Reward.

Background

"Blasphemous Rumours"

The verses to "Blasphemous Rumours" describe a 16-year-old girl who attempts suicide but fails. She experiences a religious revival but is then "Hit by a car / Ended up / On a life support machine" (from the lyrics). The chorus uses these incidents to conclude, "I don't want to start any blasphemous rumours / But I think that God's got a sick sense of humour / And when I die, I expect to find him laughing." Like other songs on Some Great Reward, the song uses a dense sound with extensive sampled percussion. The song stems from the times that Martin Gore would go with bandmate Andy Fletcher and former bandmate Vince Clarke to the church.[4] When Gore initially showed Fletcher the song, he found it quite offensive and said, "It certainly verges on the offensive." Gore describes the song's meaning: Dave Gahan said,

When Depeche Mode announced that they were planning to release "Blasphemous Rumours" as a single, pushback from the religious community[5] resulted, and consequently, the band decided as a compromise to release the single as a double-A side with "Somebody".

"Somebody"

"Somebody", which was sung by Gore in the studio in the nude,[6] includes one of Gore's "little twists", where the song builds as if it is a song about finding your perfect love, only to have him reveal at the end "though things like this make me sick / in a case like this I'll get away with it." Gore added this because "I simply can't write your conventional pop fare. A pleasant song to me is unfinished, it isn't telling the full story. Which is why I introduced the twist at the end of 'Somebody' because the song was just too nice. You say I'm cynical about love in my songs and perhaps I am but I think that's an interesting angle. Otherwise you just become mundane like most chart music. Relationships do have their darker side and I like to write about it."[7]

In a significant moment in the Tour of the Universe at the Royal Albert Hall, Alan Wilder made a surprise appearance accompanying by playing the piano while Gore sang "Somebody".[8]

Track listings

All tracks written by Martin L. Gore, except "Ice Machine", written by Vince Clarke, and "Two Minute Warning", written by Alan Wilder

7″: Mute / 7Bong7 (UK)

  1. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 5:06
  2. "Somebody" (remix) – 4:19

7″ EP: Mute / 7Bong7E (UK)

  1. "Somebody" (remix) – 4:19
  2. "Everything Counts" (live) – 5:53
  3. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 5:06
  4. "Told You So" (live version) – 4:54

12″: Mute / 12Bong7 (UK)

  1. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 6:20
  2. "Somebody" (live) – 4:26
  3. "Two Minute Warning" (live) – 4:36
  4. "Ice Machine" (live) – 3:45
  5. "Everything Counts" (live) – 5:53

CD: Mute / CDBong7 (UK)

  1. "Blasphemous Rumours" – 6:20
  2. "Told You So" (live) – 4:56
  3. "Somebody" (remix) – 4:19
  4. "Everything Counts" (live) – 5:53

All live tracks recorded at the Empire Theatre in Liverpool, England on 29 September 1984

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Sutton. Michael. Forever – Dune. AllMusic. 1 November 2023.
  2. Book: Baker . Trevor . Dave Gahan - Depeche Mode & The Second Coming . 2009-11-05 . Bonnier Zaffre . 978-1-78418-955-6 . en . 23 May 2021.
  3. Book: Christopher . Michael . Depeche Mode FAQ: All That's Left to Know About the World's Finest Synth-Pop Band . 2020-12-28 . Rowman & Littlefield . 978-1-4930-5400-8 . 88 . en . 23 May 2021.
  4. Web site: 1999-11-11 . DM articles: Andy Fletcher, the brigade boy . 2022-09-26 . https://web.archive.org/web/19991111132018/http://www.tuug.org/~jaakko/dm/dmtekstit/privateaf.html . 11 November 1999 .
  5. Book: Thompson. Dave. Depeche Mode: Some Great Reward. 152–155. St. Martin's Press . 15 November 1994. 9780312112622. registration.
  6. Web site: Robbins . Jenna Rose . The Hallowed Halls of Hansa . Where Traveler . 2017-07-12 . 2021-08-05.
  7. Web site: 2009-01-07 . Sacred DM - NME 17 02 90 - page 2 . 2023-07-02 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090107025903/http://www.sacreddm.net/1990s/nme170290/text2.htm . 7 January 2009 .
  8. Web site: Murray . Robin . 2010-02-19 . Depeche Mode Joined By Former Member . 2022-10-15 . Clash Magazine Music News, Reviews & Interviews .