Condemnation

"**Condemnation**" is a song by English electronic music band Depeche Mode, released on 13 September 1993 as the third single from their eighth studio album, *Songs of Faith and Devotion* (1993). The song reached No. 9 on the UK Singles Chart, No. 3 in Sweden, and No. 1 in Portugal.

The B-sides are remixes of "Death's Door" and "Rush", and some live tracks from the *Devotional Tour*. "Death's Door" was a song from the 1991 *Until the End of the World* soundtrack. The original version, recorded by Martin Gore and Alan Wilder after the *World Violation Tour* was over, was exclusive to that album until the 2020s *MODE* box compilation.

“Condemnation” is a gospel-esque song with a rock twist. The 7" version is the “Paris Mix”, with female backing vocals added and an emerging drum beat scheme. Band members indicated that this song normally would have been sung by Martin Gore, but Dave Gahan insisted on singing it instead. Gahan voted for “Condemnation” to be the first single for Songs of Faith and Devotion, but lost.

Martin Gore in Bong issue no. 37, 1998:

> *"Being the songwriter, I am not supposed to keep saying that I think it's a great song, somebody else is supposed to say it. I really like that song, but I am not sure that we got the best out of it. Our album version is sort of pastiche gospel but the single version, that we recorded using gospel singers, is probably better. Although I am still not sure that that's the optimum we could have got out of the song."*
>
>

Alan Wilder said in the May 1993 issue of Keyboard magazine:

> *"[O]n 'Condemnation', we put the piano through some kind of wobbly pitch-shifter. The idea of that track was to enhance the gospel feel that the song originally had without going into pastiche, and to try to create the effect of it being played in a room, in a space. So we began by getting all four members of the group to do one thing each in the same space. Fletcher was bashing a flight case with a pole, Flood and Dave were clapping, I was playing a drum, and Martin was playing an organ. We listened back to it. it was embryonic, but it gave us an idea for a direction."*
>
>

Dave Gahan told Exclaim! in 2021 that he still gets goosebumps when he recalls recording the song:

> *"I immediately knew the song. It wasn't necessarily completely accurate to the way Martin wrote the melody line or the phrasing or the timing. I just sang it, and [after] I sang it, the tape stopped rolling and it went on quiet. I've got my headphones on and I hear [producer] Flood's voice go, 'Yeah, I mean, you could do another one. But I think we got it.'"*
>
>

Dave in Rolling Stone issue #670:

> *"When I first heard 'Condemnation', it was a total relief; I couldn't believe it."*
>
>

Dave Gahan has frequently mentioned Condemnation as one of his favourite songs. However, soon after playing in South Africa in 1994, it was no longer Dave who sang Condemnation, presumably due to his health and the strenuous vocal task the song requires, but it was Martin, accompanied by Alan on piano (the earliest verifiable date on which this change occurred was on 1994-03-16 in Hong Kong). Martin also sang the song on the 2013-2014 Delta Machine Tour. Dave did perform the song on his short 2015 "Angels and Ghosts" Tour, but in 2016 he told Stirile Pro: "There's certain songs from 'Songs Of Faith And Devotion' that, I feel they capture a moment: 'Condemnation' being one of those. And it's hard for me to perform that song now, it brings up so many emotions." He also told Exclaim in 2021 that he had considered putting Condemnation on his Soulsavers cover album 'Imposters'saying: "It's got everything in there. It's got that soulfulness, the redemption, the longing to belong in something."

## Critical reception

Music writer James Masterton described the song as "a haunting, beautiful ballad of the type they do so well" in his weekly UK chart commentary. Alan Jones from *Music Week* rated it four out of five. He wrote, "One of the more atypical singles in Depeche Mode's career, this slow gospel-style song bears a lusty, full force vocal, but a reverential and reserved instrumental track. Subtle and stylish."

## Music video

A music video was produced to promote the single, directed by Dutch photographer, film director and music video director Anton Corbijn. It was published on YouTube in July 2019.

For unknown reasons, the music video did not appear on Depeche Mode's music video compilation, *The Videos 86-98*, in 1998, replaced by the live version from *Devotional*. The original video eventually resurfaced on The Videos 86-98's 2002 re-release (The Videos 86-98+). Both videos appear on the Devotional DVD re-release in 2004 (although the "Condemnation Live" video was edited so that it wasn't identical to the one in the main Devotional movie).

## Lyrics

Condemnation, tried

Here on the stand with the book in my hand

And truth on my side

Accusations, lies

Hand me my sentence, I'll show no repentance

I'll suffer with pride

If for honesty you want apologies

I don't sympathise

If for kindness you substitute blindness

Please open your eyes

Condemnation, why?

Because my duty was always to beauty

And that was my crime

Feel elation, high

To know I can trust this fix of injustice

Time after time

If you see purity as immaturity

Well, it's no surprise

If for kindness you substitute blindness

Please open your eyes

## Bibliography

* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Condemnation\_(song)
* https://dmlive.wiki/wiki/Condemnation
* https://genius.com/Depeche-mode-condemnation-lyrics