The band has been highly influential in the electronic dance music scene, especially synthpop, techno, and trance, partly due to their innovative work, recording techniques, and use of sampling. Their most successful album is arguably 1990's Violator, which reached the #2 position in the UK, #7 in the US, and sold over 8 million copies worldwide. The band has released a long series of high-charting singles over their three-decades long career. Enjoy the Silence is their most recognized song and one of history's most covered songs.
The original line-up was Dave Gahan, Martin L. Gore, Andy Fletcher, and Vince Clarke. In December 1981, Clarke left the band and later formed Yazoo, The Assembly, and Erasure. Alan Wilder joined the group initially in January 1982 as a live keyboardist but became an official member in December 1982. He left in mid-1995 to fully concentrate on his Recoil project, and the band continued as a trio. In 2010 Wilder re-joined Depeche Mode on stage after 16 years for a performance of Somebody during a show at London's Royal Albert Hall in aid of the Teenage Cancer Trust.
Depeche Mode's origins date back to 1977, when Vince Clarke and Andrew Fletcher formed a band called No Romance in China, with Clarke on vocals and guitar and Fletcher on bass. In March 1980, Clarke, Gore, and Fletcher formed a band called Composition of Sound, with Clarke on vocals/guitar, Gore on keyboards, and Fletcher on bass. Soon after the formation of Composition of Sound, Clarke, and Fletcher switched to synthesizers. Dave Gahan joined the band in 1980 after Clarke heard him perform at a local scout hut jam session, singing to a rendition of David Bowie's "Heroes" and Depeche Mode was born.
While playing a live gig at the Bridge House in Canning Town, Daniel Miller, the founder of Mute Records, approached the band, who proposed a verbal contract. The result was their first single, Dreaming of Me, recorded in December 1980 and released in February 1981, reaching number 57 in the UK charts and followed soon by a real contract with Mute.
To date, Depeche Mode have released:
15 studio albums: Speak & Spell (1981), A Broken Frame (1982), Construction Time Again (1983), Some Great Reward (1984), Black Celebration (1986), Music For the Masses (1987), Violator (1990), Songs of Faith and Devotion (1993), Ultra (1997), Exciter (2001), Playing the Angel (2005), Sounds of the Universe (2009), Delta Machine (2013), Spirit (2017), and Memento Mori (2023);
8 compilations: People Are People (1984), The Singles 81-85 (1985), Catching Up with Depeche Mode (1985), Greatest Hits (1987), The Singles 86>98 (1998), Remixes 81-04 (2004), The Best Of Depeche Mode Volume 1 (2006), The Complete Depeche Mode (2006);
5 live albums: 101 (1989), Songs of Faith and Devotion Live (1993), Recording the Angel (a series of live recordings; 2006), Tour Of The Universe: Barcelona 20/21:11:09 (2009) and Live In Berlin (Soundtrack) (2014) ;
Over 50 singles: including Just Can't Get Enough, Everything Counts, People Are People, Master and Servant, Shake the Disease, Stripped, A Question of Time, Strangelove, Never Let Me Down Again, Personal Jesus, Enjoy the Silence, World in My Eyes, Policy of Truth, I Feel You, Walking in My Shoes, In Your Room, Barrel of a Gun, It's No Good, Home, Dream On, Freelove, Precious, Wrong and Heaven ;
14 live / video collections (VHS/DVD/Blu-ray): The World We Live In and Live in Hamburg (1985), Some Great Videos (1985), Strange (1988), 101 (1989), Strange Too (1990), Devotional (1993), The Videos 86>98 (1998), One Night in Paris (2002), The Videos 86>98 (2002), Touring the Angel: Live in Milan (2006), The Best of - Volume 1 (2006), Tour of the Universe : Barcelona 20/21.11.09 (2009), Live in Berlin (2014) and Video Singles Collection (2016)
The Child Inside
Depeche Mode Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
What have you got buried inside?
The shallow grave in your soul
The ghosts that have taken control
You really should have dug a little deeper there
Body parts are starting to appear and scare
The child inside away
Each tear that flows down your face
Trickles then picks up the pace
And turns to a river inside
A river that will not subside
I can hear that dreadful overflowing sound
And watching from afar I see a child is drowned
The child inside your heart
I can see you drifting away
Heading for the light
I can see you drifting away
Every night
Why were you always inside?
On days when the weather was fine
And while we were running around
You were nowhere to be found
You know you should have taken all your dolls to bed
Well you were made to play games with your soul instead
The child inside you died
The lyrics of Depeche Mode's "The Child Inside" are a representation of the darkness and pain that a person has buried deep inside their soul. The song talks about the struggle of coming to terms with the ghosts of our past, the pain and sadness that we try to hide from the world. The opening lines "There is darkness and death in your eyes, what have you got buried inside?" suggest that there is something dark and dangerous within the person's soul, something that they are unwilling to confront.
The second line "The shallow grave in your soul, the ghosts that have taken control" suggests that the past traumas have taken control of the person's life, haunting them. These ghosts are preventing them from moving forward, pulling them back into the painful memories of the past. The lines "You really should have dug a little deeper there, body parts are starting to appear and scare, the child inside away" suggest that the person should have confronted these issues a long time ago, before the pain and sadness became too much to bear. Avoiding dealing with the inner pain has resulted in the death of the child inside them.
The chorus suggests that the sadness and pain inside the person keep increasing with time, turning into an uncontrollable river that never subsides. The final few lines "The child inside your heart, I can see you drifting away, heading for the light, every night," suggest that the person has lost touch with their inner child and is headed towards a life of darkness and despair. The song is a poignant reminder that we need to confront our inner demons and heal the pain of our past.
Line by Line Meaning
There is darkness and death in your eyes
I can sense the suffering and pain that you carry inside you through the look in your eyes.
What have you got buried inside?
I wonder what is the cause of your inner turmoil and sadness that you keep hidden deep inside you.
The shallow grave in your soul
You are carrying a deep wound inside you that is slowly killing the essence of your being.
The ghosts that have taken control
You are haunted by the memories of your past that refuse to let you go and control your life.
You really should have dug a little deeper there
You should have dug deeper inside yourself to heal the inner wounds that have caused you so much pain.
Body parts are starting to appear and scare
Your untended inner wounds are becoming visible and causing a sense of unease to those around you.
The child inside away
The happiness and innocence that were once part of your inner self have been buried and lost forever.
Each tear that flows down your face
Your sorrow and pain are welling up inside and flowing out in the form of tears down your face.
Trickles then picks up the pace
At first, your tears come out slowly, but soon they start flowing out uncontrollably.
And turns to a river inside
Your pain and sorrow are now flooding your inner self, and you are unable to control them anymore.
A river that will not subside
Your inner turmoil is overwhelming, and it seems like it will never end or heal.
I can hear that dreadful overflowing sound
I can sense the overwhelming pain and turmoil in your heart that is starting to overflow and impact your entire being.
And watching from afar I see a child is drowned
I can see that the child within you, the part of you that was once happy and full of life, is now lost forever.
The child inside your heart
The part of your heart that was once happy and filled with joy has now been lost and is no more.
I can see you drifting away
I can sense that you are slowly losing your grip on reality and drifting away from the world around you.
Heading for the light
You are searching for a way out of the darkness and pain that fill your life and have started to detach yourself from the world.
Every night
Your struggles are so intense that they keep you awake each night as you keep trying to find a way out of your suffering.
Why were you always inside?
I wonder why you always kept yourself isolated and aloof from the world when it was full of opportunities to live life to the fullest.
On days when the weather was fine
Even when the world was bright and full of life, you kept yourself shut away in the darkness and pain inside you.
And while we were running around
While the world was living and laughing around you, you remained trapped inside yourself, unable to escape the pain.
You were nowhere to be found
You had retreated so far inside yourself that you had become invisible to the world around you.
You know you should have taken all your dolls to bed
You should have made an effort to keep the child within you alive and not let the pain and sorrow of your past destroy your innocence.
Well you were made to play games with your soul instead
You were consumed by the pain of the past, and instead of finding joy in life, you played games with yourself, trying to manage the pain.
The child inside you died
The part of you that was once innocent and happy died because you were not able to heal the wounds that caused you so much pain.
Lyrics © Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Written by: Martin Gore
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind