Stripped

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6. A Question Of Time
7. Stripped
List of Black Celebration songs
8. Here Is The House
Stripped
Single-Stripped.jpg
Song Stripped
By Depeche Mode
Songwriter Martin L. Gore
Produced by Depeche Mode
Gareth Jones
Daniel Miller
Recorded at Worldwide International Studios, London, UK
Westside Studios, London, UK
Hansa Mischraum, Berlin, Germany
Length (mm:ss) 4:14 (album version)
3:52 (7" version)
6:42 (12" version)
Tempo 90 BPM
Time signature 4
4
Key G Major
Programmed by Martin L. Gore
Engineering assistance Richard Sullivan
Peter Schmidt
Additional engineering Kevin Paul
Kevin Vanbergen
Roger Johnson
Additional mixing Kevin Paul
Mastering engineer Tim Young
Remastering engineer Simon Heyworth
Recording Dave Allen
Recording assistance Phil Tennant
Design T&CP Associates
Photography Brian Griffin
Photography assistance Stuart Graham
Recorded Late 1985
Originally released 10 February 1986
Live performances as Depeche Mode 857 times *
Total live performances 857 times *

"Stripped" is a song from the 1986 album Black Celebration by Depeche Mode. It was released as a lead single on 10 February 1986.

Notes

Depeche Mode said in the 1986-02-22 issue of No.1 magazine:

Andy: "The idea of 'Stripped' is to get away from technology and civilisation for a day and get back to basics in the country. It's about two people stripping down to their bare emotions. In the video we're seen demolishing a car and taking a TV apart... it's a bit, er, symbolic."

Dave: "It's not about sex. It's to do with having nothing except yourself. The people in the song could strip off if they wanted to though. The song is also a bit chancy. It doesn't capture you immediately. Some people hear it and say "Is that it?" Others go "Brilliant!"."

Dave also told Gear Magazine in 1998:

"This came from a period when Martin was really looking into himself; it's about stripping layers back and seeing what's left. Sampling was very, very, new. We used to run all over town looking for interesting sounding things to turn into a rhythmical element of the song. That's my Porsche 911 starting at the beginning. They've long since gone."

Martin Gore in Bong issue no. 37, 1998:

"I think that since the 'Black Celebration' album we’ve started getting things right and 'Stripped' is one of the best atmospheres we've ever captured."

Quotes from the documentary on the DVD of the Black Celebration remaster from 2006:

Alan Wilder: "One of the first tracks we recorded, I think, was Stripped. And that just flowed, probably the only track on the album that did, and it was easy.[1] And I think I have to give credit to Martin's demo, because recorded the demo using the opening sound to that, which is an Emulator sample of a motorbike, ideally. And we said, "Well, let's just replicate that in the studio", and everything else just followed. We recorded Dave's Porsche, if you're trying to be [specific], a Porsche, and we recorded its ignition, which starts the track."

Gareth Jones: "Fireworks on Stripped, as well, is another famous piece. Obviously, on November the 5th, it was."

Daniel Miller: "It was rockets that we were doing, so we thought, if we angled them at a fairly low angle, we could set up a series of microphones and we would still be able to pick up the sound as it travelled along. If we straight up, we would have got just one sound, it would just have sort of disappeared, so we did that. We set up a sort of bottle at a very narrow angle and had, like, 5 microphones maybe, at, I don't know, 15 feet apart, something like that."

Martin Gore told Electronics and Music Magazine in 1986:

"[...] the rhythm of 'Stripped' was made up of the sound of an idling motorbike played half-an-octave down from its original pitch."

When Depeche Mode was interviewed about the songs on the '101' CD for the April 1989 issue of French magazine 'Best', Martin Gore said (translated from French):

"It's one of our best songs. It emerges out of the evolution of our music. After 'Some Great Reward', which was a pretty harsh album, we went in a more melodic direction with 'Black Celebration', and 'Stripped' illustrates this change well. It's a song that releases good vibrations, perfect for on stage. We all agree on that one."

Lyrics


Stripped

Come with me

Into the trees

We'll lay on the grass

And let the hours pass


Take my hand

Come back to the land

Let's get away

Just for one day


Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone

Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone


Metropolis

Has nothing on this

You're breathing in fumes

I taste when we kiss


Take my hand

Come back to the land

Where everything's ours

For a few hours


Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone

Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone


Let me hear you

Make decisions

Without your television

Let me hear you speaking

Just for me


Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone


Let me hear you speaking

Just for me


Let me see you

Stripped down to the bone


Let me hear you crying

Just for me


Songwriter: Martin L. Gore
Publishing Information: ©1986 Grabbing Hands Music Ltd/EMI Music Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved.

Music video

Live performances

Main article: Available recordings of "Stripped"
Main article: List of dates where "Stripped" was played

Live versions

This section provides an example of a live version of Stripped from each tour that it was played.

References

  1. In the same documentary, Martin contradicts him, saying: "Stripped took 9 days mixing and God knows how long recording."


1981-1985: Dreaming Of MeNew LifeJust Can't Get EnoughSee YouThe Meaning Of Love
Leave In SilenceGet The Balance RightEverything CountsLove In ItselfPeople Are PeopleMaster And ServantBlasphemous Rumours / SomebodyShake The DiseaseIt's Called A Heart
1986-1989: StrippedBut Not TonightA Question Of LustA Question Of TimeStrangelove
Never Let Me Down AgainBehind The WheelLittle 15Personal Jesus
1990-1998: Enjoy The SilencePolicy Of TruthWorld In My EyesI Feel YouWalking In My ShoesCondemnationIn Your RoomBarrel Of A GunIt's No GoodHomeUseless
Only When I Lose Myself
2001-2009: Dream OnI Feel LovedFreeloveGoodnight LoversPreciousA Pain That I'm Used To
Suffer WellJohn The Revelator / LilianMartyrWrongPeaceFragile Tension / Hole To Feed
2013-2017: HeavenSoothe My SoulShould Be HigherWhere's The RevolutionGoing Backwards
Cover Me
2023: Ghosts Again
1992-1998: Faith HealerDriftingStalker / Missing Piece
2000-2008: Strange HoursJezebelPreyAllelujah
2003-2008: Dirty Sticky FloorsI Need YouBottle Living / Hold OnA Little PieceKingdomSaw Something / Deeper And Deeper
2012-2015: Longest DayTake Me Back HomeAll Of This And NothingShine
1989-2003: CompulsionStardustLoverman
2012-2015: SpockSingle BlipAftermathsEuropa Hymn • "Pinking" (Christoffer Berg Remix)
Official releases