Never Let Me Down Again

is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 24 August 1987.
== Notes ==
In this 1988 radio interview, Andy Fletcher says that, although he can't give too much away about the meanings of Martin Gore's songs, he does reveal that 'Never Let Me Down Again' is "just about innocence."
Martin Gore was quoted in issue #44/1987 of Bravo Magazine:
"I wrote this song last March. And it was such a long time ago that I cannot say much about it anymore. But you're wrong [about the song being about my girlfriend], the song has nothing to do with relationships. It's about the concept of fleeing from reality and the evil awakening afterwards. Any kind of fleeing. Drugs, alcohol, or whatever."
Martin Gore in Rolling Stone magazine, 1993:
"There was one instance regarding 'Never Let Me Down Again' when two separate people came up to me after a show one night and said, "I really like that song". One of them thought it was a gay anthem and the other one thought it was a drug anthem. They both loved the song, so that's fine by me."
Martin Gore in Bong magazine issue no. 37, 1998: 
"I think that 'Never Let Me Down Again' is one of our classic old time tracks."
Depeche Mode also said in the 2006 Music For The Masses Remaster DVD documentary:
Martin Gore: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was a stand-out track. It was especially effective when we played live."
Dave Gahan: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was a big song for us, and it still is live."
Andy Fletcher: "That was not a big hit, yet it became a real legendary Depeche Mode song."
Dave Bascombe: "'Never Let Me Down Again' was the one I was really, really pleased with. I was very involved with the drum sounds on that. The guitar intro, actually, was an accident. It was just down to the sequencers we were using in those days. That guitar was sampled, and it ran on the counting. That was the start of the track, but it wasn't supposed to be, and we just all went, "Oh, that's great!". So that was a happy accident. And I have always liked the track, and I was really pleased with the way it turned out."
Alan Wilder told Electricity Club in 2011:
Q: There was an article featuring producer Dave Bascombe which said that you used an EDP Wasp on 'Music For The Masses'?
A: Yes, that's true, it was used to create the famous bass sequencer parts in the Aggro mix of 'Never Let Me Down Again'. I think we used the Wasp and Spider sequencer and then probably sampled the result, as it isn't MIDI controllable. We may have been able to sequence it using cv/gate – I can't quite remember.
When Depeche Mode was interviewed about the songs on the '101' CD for the April 1989 issue of French magazine 'Best', Dave Gahan said (translated from French):
"For me, this is one of the most intense moments during the concert, firstly because this track has a very strong emotional charge, and every time I play it the waving goes well with the crowd. In addition, we were heading towards the end of the show and during this song, the stadium was on fire. When I saw the number of people there, I felt like crying. It was very moving."
Alan Wilder also wrote in his 86-98 editorial in 1998:
"Primarily programmed at Alan's house, the basic demo was restructured to emphasise the chorus in an attempt to improve the overall flow of the track. It displays a blend of distinctive musical components and devices - some old Mode and some making their debut. Most notably, 'Never Let Me Down' illustrated the inaugural use of sections of live performance as opposed to just single notes being sampled and manipulated - best demonstrated by the distinctive opening guitar riff, which was originally played by Martin then heavily processed using a number of effects. There was also significant use of real orchestral sounds such as strings and horns as well as Led Zeppelin drum samples to flesh out the backing. Says Alan: "It also stood out as an obvious single and suggested a 'Stripped'-like feel. It has a very definite anthemic quality which is especially demonstrated when the song is performed live and the whole audience wave their hands in unison at the end - a Depeche high-point I think.""
Dave Bascombe told Super Deluxe Edition in July 2019:
"That's the one [song] that hit me when I first heard that demo, I thought that's just fantastic. My sole contribution, well not my sole contribution – this is before we got to Paris, we were round at Alan's house – and I said "Right, I want to use 'When The Levee Breaks' [Led Zeppelin] drums on this." I know that it's been used 10 billion times now, but they were still quite new then and I'd always loved those drum sounds and as I say they weren't a cliched thing then, so I suggested using them for the main kick and snare. But I actually loved that track, still do."
He also told Vaughn George (part 1, part 2) in April 2020:
"I think [samples at the end of 'Never Let Me Down Again' were] sampled from Carmina Burana. We'll probably get sued, though, for saying that. I'm pretty sure it was sampled from that. [...] The tom-toms are a combination of the toms from Stripped, mixed with some other samples. [...] The guitar [intro] we did at PUK [Studios]. It was probably [first] a synth part, then we thought, "Let's just do it on guitar. I think I went out and set the amp up and messed around with a few effect pedals. I was just mucking about, and I remember them and Daniel [Miller] going "Yes!" And then we put it through a synth, Daniel's ARP 2600, and altered it a bit more. But the happy accident was: Martin had played this [guitar part] a few times, and we picked the best one, and then we put it in the Synclavier because that was the best quality sampler we had. And then you record it back into the track by triggering it. And the way you have to do it is, there is a flashing light, and you have to press it right before you want it, and then it would trigger the thing in time. So I was prepared to do this in all the various spots where it was supposed to happen in the song. But what I had forgotten was that this thing would trigger by itself right at the beginning of the song automatically. And off it went. And that was obviously meant to be. It was a lovely moment, because we all looked, "Wow, just perfect"."
Alan Wilder says about that guitar riff in 2010:
"That's still one of my favourites, and it's clearly still a live favourite as well. It's a really good guitar riff – guitar sound and riff. I think we put it through some kind of filter and re-recorded it back in, then sampled it. It's just got a great sound. I remember there was a rap group called 3rd Bass that sampled that riff and then put it over a rap rhythm. I always liked their track as well."
== Composition ==
=== Sample sources ===
== Music video ==
== Live performances ==
== Live versions == 
This section provides an example of a live version of Never Let Me Down Again from each tour that it was played. 
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1988-01-11.aud.Gary.0.flac1644/CD2/06.m4a</sm2> 1987-1988 Music For The Masses Tour: 1988-01-11 Wembley Arena, London, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1990-08-04.sbd.violatorlive.0.flac1644/07.m4a</sm2> 1990 World Violation Tour: 1990-08-04 Dodgers Stadium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1993-07-31.FM.BBC2-gadget242-Stealth71.0.flac1648/09.m4a</sm2> 1993 Devotional Tour: 1993-07-31 Crystal Palace Sports Ground, London, England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1994-05-14.sbd.ER.0.flac1648/11.m4a</sm2> 1994 Exotic Tour: 1994-05-14 Shoreline Amphitheatre, Mountainview, San Francisco, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1997-05-16.sbd-aud-mtx.bias.flac1648/07.m4a</sm2> 1997 Ultra Parties: 1997-05-16 Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1998-10-05.sbd.MTV.0.flac1644/04.m4a</sm2> 1998 The Singles Tour (Regular): 1998-10-05 Cologne Arena, Cologne, Germany
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm1998-12-12.sbd.LiveInLosAngeles.0.flac1644/12.m4a</sm2> 1998 The Singles Tour (With Billy Corgan): 1998-12-12 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2001-10-11.sbd.mute.0.flac1644/21.m4a</sm2> 2001 Exciter Tour: 2001-10-11 Festhalle, Frankfurt, Germany
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dg2003-06-12.fm.unknown.0.flac1648/11.m4a</sm2> 2003 Paper Monsters Tour: 2003-06-12 Hultsfred Festival, Hultsfred, Sweden
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2006-06-04.sbd.unknown.unknown.mp2256/18.m4a</sm2> 2005-2006 Touring The Angel (Regular): 2006-06-04 Rock Am Ring, Nurburgring, Germany
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2005-12-11.sbd-PreFM.0.flac1644/13.m4a</sm2> 2005-2006 Touring The Angel ("God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen" version): 2005-12-11 KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas, Gibson Amphitheatre, Universal City, CA, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2009-05-06.SP-CMC-8.motr1912.0.flac1644/17.m4a</sm2> 2009-2010 Tour Of The Universe: 2009-05-06 Rockhal, Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2013-10-11.sbd.acl.webstream.aac256/15.m4a</sm2> 2013-2014 Delta Machine Tour: 2013-10-11 Austin City Limits Festival, Austin, TX, USA
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2018-06-23.sbd.SkyArts.0.m4a224/04.m4a</sm2> 2017-2018 Global Spirit Tour: 2018-06-23 Isle of Wight Festival, Newport (Isle of Wight), England, UK
* <sm2>https://media.dmlive.wiki/stream/dm2023-03-30.matrix.ryanj-anonymous.0.flac1644/25.m4a</sm2> 2023-2024 Memento Mori Tour: 2023-03-30 T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas, NV, USA
== References == 
Category:Singles
Category:Depeche Mode songs
Category:Depeche Mode singles
Category:Music for the Masses songs
Category:Music for the Masses singles
Category:Songs in C Major
Category:Songs between 105-109 BPM
Category:Songs written by Martin L. Gore
Category:Songs with official music videos
<metadesc>"Never Let Me Down Again" is a song from the 1987 album Music For The Masses by Depeche Mode. It was released as a single on 24 August 1987.</metadesc>