“Somebody” by Depeche Mode

"Somebody" is the tender heart hidden inside Depeche Mode's 1984 album Some Great Reward, and Martin L. Gore didn't just write it; he stepped up to sing it himself. The band cut the album between late 1983 and mid-1984 at Music Works in London and Hansa in West Germany, producing with Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller for Mute.

Where so much of the record clanks and grinds, this one is almost a hymn, stripped back and unguarded, with Gore's voice doing all the work. Its release came wrapped in nerves. With "Master and Servant" having already stirred a mild fuss, "Somebody" was paired with the religiously charged "Blasphemous Rumours" on a double A-side in October 1984, a soft love song riding shotgun with a jab at faith. The single went top 20 in the UK.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.