"Enjoy the Silence" is a song by the English electronic band Depeche Mode, taken from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990). The song was recorded in 1989 and released on 16 January 1990 as the album's second single.
The single is Gold certificated in the US and Germany. The song won Best British Single at the 1991 BRIT Awards.
"Enjoy the Silence" was re-released as a single in 2004 for the Depeche Mode remix project Remixes 81-04, and was titled "Enjoy the Silence (Reinterpreted)" or, more simply, "Enjoy the Silence 04".
Video Enjoy the Silence
Background
Songwriter Martin Gore created a ballad-like first version of the song, which the band took into the studio in 1989. At band member Alan Wilder's insistence, the song was re-worked into the up-tempo version released on the album. The "Harmonium" mix, released on the 12" single, is not the demo version, but rather a new version created to sound like the original demo.
Maps Enjoy the Silence
B-sides
There are two instrumental B-sides to "Enjoy the Silence". "Sibeling" (the 12" B-side) is a soft piano-tune while "Memphisto" (the 7" B-side) is a darker, eerier track. The title of "Sibeling" refers to Finnish classical composer Jean Sibelius. According to Martin Gore, "Memphisto is the name of an imaginary film about Elvis as a Devil, that I created in my mind", and is a portmanteau of "Memphis" (where Elvis lived at Graceland) and "Mephisto".
Music videos
Original versions
The Anton Corbijn-directed music video for "Enjoy the Silence" references the themes and storyline of the philosophical children's book The Little Prince from Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. Footage of Dave Gahan dressed as a stereotypical king wandering the hillsides of the Scottish Highlands, the coast of Algarve in Portugal and finally the Swiss Alps with a deck chair is intercut with black-and-white footage of the band posing. Brief flashes of a single rose (which is also on the album cover of Violator) appear throughout the scenes.
When Corbijn presented the concept of the video to the band, which at the time was simply "Dave dressed up as a king, walking around with a deck chair", they initially rejected it. They changed their minds, when he explained that the idea was that the King (Dave) represented "a man with everything in the world, just looking for a quiet place to sit"; a king of no kingdom. Andy Fletcher jokes that he favoured the video because "[he] only had to do about an hour's worth of work".
The video uses a slightly different mix of the album version of the song (the most notable difference being a new and extended introduction) that has not been released in any audio format. The final long shots of the king walking through the snow are not Gahan but rather the video's producer, Richard Bell. Gahan had left the set, tired of the cold in Switzerland (recounted by Gahan in the intro to The Videos (86-98) and to the DVD of The Best of Depeche Mode Volume 1).
There are two edited versions of the Corbijn-directed video. One version begins with Andy Fletcher looking towards his right as the song begins. Shots of Dave Gahan dressed as a king singing directly to the camera are intercut with scenes of his walking through the Scottish Highlands, the coast of Portugal and the Swiss Alps. The video ends with Gahan singing the last line, "Enjoy the silence.", then putting his finger in front of his lips as if to quiet the viewer. This video is blocked in Canada, Japan, Mexico, United States. The second version begins with Martin Gore looking to his right as the song begins. This version omits the shots of Gahan singing directly to the camera. In this version, the only lines Gahan is shown singing are "Words are very unnecessary/They can only do harm." The video ends with Gahan sitting on a deck chair in the snow while the last line, "Enjoy the silence.", is sung. There are also differences in the group shots of the band standing together between the two versions.
Promo video
In 1990, a promotional video for "Enjoy the Silence" was shot by French TV (for the TV Show "Champs-Élysées" with Michel Drucker) featuring Depeche Mode lip-synching the song while standing atop the World Trade Center at the WTC rooftop World observatory, south Tower #2.
Personnel
- David Gahan - lead vocals and backing vocals
- Martin Gore - electric guitar, synthesizer and backing vocals
- Alan Wilder - synthesizer, drum machine
- Andrew Fletcher - synthesizer
Track listing
Reception
Pitchfork Media included the song at number 15 on their Top 200 Tracks of the 90s. In a review, Tim Di Gravina wrote that Enjoy the Silence is one of Depeche Mode's "greatest songs" with a "pristine and lush yet punishing musical environment" and "lyrics of violence and darkness". Di Gravina wrote the song is a "love song" as the narrator seems unable to form loving relationships with anyone, and demands silence from the world as "words are meaningless and forgettable", clashing into his world. The very act of communication where "words are meaningless and forgettable" causes the narrator so much pain, thus leading him to seek silence and to hide himself away as the only form of happiness he can find. Another reviewer Stephen Gore noted the juxtaposition on Violator between "Enjoy the Silence" - where the narrator wants silence from the world as words are "like violence" - and the next song "Policy of Truth", which argues that a successful relationship can only be based on lies.
Charts and certifications
Notable cover versions
Lacuna Coil version
"Enjoy the Silence" is the second single by Lacuna Coil from their album Karmacode. It made the New York Post's Top 100 Cover Songs list.
Music video
There is a UK version of the video and an International one. Both videos, shot with Closer music video on 12 March 2006, came out on June 2006, include the band performing in a dark room, but aside from that the UK version shows live clips of the London Forum show, while the International one shows scenes of a city (Portland, Oregon), the countryside, and a bay.
Charts
Track listings
There are three "volumes" of the single.
External links
- Single information from the official Depeche Mode web site
- Allmusic review
- Lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
- Enjoy the Silence arranged by Eric Whitacre for SATB
References
Source of article : Wikipedia
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