Depeche Mode 'Construction Time Again' 1983

Song Lyrics by Album

Love, In Itself

author: Martin Gore

All of these insurmountable tasks

That lay before me

All of the firsts

And the definite lasts

That lay in store for me

***

There was a time

When all on my mind was love

Now I find

That most of the time

Love's not enough

In itself

***

Consequently

I've a tendency

To be unhappy, you see

The thoughts in my head

All the words that were said

All the blues and the reds

Get to me

***

All of the absurdities

That lay before us

All of the doubts

And the uncertainties

That lay in store for us

More Than A Party

author: Martin Gore

Lots of surprises in store

This isn't a party

It's a whole lot more

***

We've had enough of this blind man's bluff

You've kept us in the dark for long enough

***

This is more than a party

More than a party

More than a party

***

Keep telling us we're to have fun

Then take all the ice cream so we've got none

***

The failed magician waves his wand

And in an instant the laughter's gone

***

Loads of surprises in store

This isn't a party

It's a whole lot more

Pipeline

author: Martin Gore

Get out the crane

Construction time again

What is it this time

We're laying a pipeline

***

Let the beads of sweat flow

Until the ends have met through

Could take a long time

Working on the pipeline

***

Taking from the greedy

Giving to the needy

***

On this golden day

Work's been sent our way

That could last a lifetime

Working on the pipeline

***

From the heart of our land

To the mouth of the man

Must reach him sometime

We're laying a pipeline

***

Taking from the greedy

Giving to the needy

Everything Counts

author: Martin Gore

The handshake seals the contract

From the contract there's no turning back

The turning point of a career

In Korea being insincere

The holiday was fun-packed

The contract, still intact

***

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

It's a competitive world

***

Everything counts in large amounts

***

The graph on the wall

Tells the story of it all

Picture it now see just how

The lies and deceit gained a little more power

Confidence - taken in

By a suntan and a grin

***

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

The grabbing hands grab all they can

All for themselves - after all

It's a competitive world

***

Everything counts in large amounts

***

The grabbing hands grab all they can

Everything counts in large amounts

Two Minute Warning

author: Alan Wilder

We're lying by the orange sky

Two million miles across the land

Scattered to the highest high

Expect they'll either laugh or cry

No sex, no consequence, no sympathy

You're good enough to heat

***

Two minute warning

Two minutes later

When time has come

My days are numbered

***

The dawning of another year

Marks time for those who understand

One in four still here

While you and I go hand in hand

No radio, no sound, no sin, no sanctuary

So welcome to your last

***

The sun, the solitude, the cemetary

So welcome to your last

Shame

author: Martin Gore

Do you ever get that feeling

When the guilt begins to hurt

Seeing all the children

Wallowing in dirt

Crying out with hunger

Crying out in pain

At least the dirt will wash off

When it starts to rain

***

Soap won't wash away your shame

***

Do you ever get that feeling

That something isn't right

Seeing your brother's fists

Clenched ready for the fight

Soon the fighting turns to weapons

And the weapons turn to wounds

So the doctors stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch

***

Surgery won't improve your pain

***

It all seems so stupid

It makes me want to give up

But why should I give up

When it all seems so stupid

***

Do you ever get the feeling

That something can be done

To eradicate these problems

And make the people one

Do you ever get that feeling

Something like a nagging itch

And all the while the doctors

Stitch and stitch and stitch

And stitch and stitch

***

Hope alone won't remove the stains

Shame

The Landscape Is Changing

author: Alan Wilder

The landscape is changing

The landscape is crying

Thousands of acres of forest are dying

Carbon copies from the hills above the forest line

Acid streams are flowing ill across the countryside

***

'Cause I don't care if you're going nowhere

Just take good care of the world

I don't case if you're going nowhere

Just take good care of the world

***

Now we're re-arranging

There's no use denying

Mountains and valleys, can't you hear them sighing

Evolution, the solution or the certainty

Can you imagine this intrusion of their privacy

***

Token gestures, some semblance of intelligence

Can we be blamed for the security of ignorance

Told You So

author: Martin Gore

And do those feet in modern times

Walk upon the flowers

And walk upon their brothers

While their heads are busy lying low

Trying to keep to cover...oh

***

Something went wrong

Along the way

Everybody's waiting for

Judgment day

***

So they can go

Told you so

***

Bring me my gun of itching desire

Bring me my bullets and I will fire

Sights set higher than the tall church spire

***

Standing in line

The blind lead the blind

Waiting and waiting

For an overdue sign

Brothers and sisters

Playing Chinese whispers

If things aren't suited

Then they'll get diluted

***

There's one more dead with a hole in his head

He shouldn't have said all the things he said

Many tears were shed for the blood he bled

And Then...

author: Martin Gore

Let's take a map of the world

Tear it into pieces

All of the boys and the girls

Will see how easy it is

***

To pull it all down and start again

From the top to the bottom and then

I'll have faith or, I prefer

To think that things couldn't turn out worse

***

All that we need at the start's

Universal Revolution (That's all!)

And if we trust in our hearts

We'll find the solutions

***

Took a plane across the world

Got in a car

When I had reached my destination

I hadn't gone far

***

Let's take the whole of the world

The mountains and the sand

Let all the boys and the girls

Shape it in their hands

B-sides

Work Hard

single: "Everything Counts" / author: Martin Gore, Alan Wilder

You've got to work hard

You've got to work hard

If you want anything at all

***

Nothing comes easy

And that's a fact

Nothing comes easy

But a broken back

***

Nothing comes easy

It never will

Nothing comes easy

But a broken will

***

So work hard

Fools

single: "Love In Itself" / author: Alan Wilder

Don't know the reason why I

Think I've been here before

This place seems so familiar

But then I can't be sure

Here comes that time again when

You'll walk right out the door

Don't tell me secrets anymore

***

And fools don't run away

You'll be followed another day

And all the chances that fall your way

Are in the fire on your dying day

So call me now and tell me that you're home

***

Can't see the sense in crying

There's too many tears to fall

My thoughts are multiplying

So I'll try to save them all

1983