Worst Depeche Mode Lyric

Detestation has a kind of particular connotation to it, in my lexicon anyway. It suggests a kind of "I am above this thing" airiness. Things that are detestable include: when the country club is closed, poorly paired wine with a meal, the poor, etc.

Ha yeah, he went to a comprehensive in Basildon - the same one as Alison Moyet, iirc.

(xx-post)

And the caveat "I will almost like" takes that airiness even further-- "I will not ever like this thing that I feel is beneath me, but I will accept some level of tolerance for it, for the sake of my beloved Ideal Woman, I will deign to consider a level of tolerance for something I find detestable-- but I will NEVER claim to actually like it"

That would be going too far, you see

my strongest memory of this song is a woman singing along to the whole thing at a DM show with tears in her eyes

I always thought this was meant to be creepy? I first heard it on the cassette version of the Singles 81-85 album where it's immediately followed by Shake The Disease which repeats the 'understand me' lyric but in a context where it's more obviously a threat/demand, and a reiteration of the 'I don't want to be tied to anyone's strings' sentiment - I'd actually thought until just now that the two songs were released as a double A side, but I was mistaken and it's Blasphemous Rumours/Somebody that was the double A-side. Shake The Disease is surely an intentional companion song to Somebody though?

'detest' feel like a real Morrissey word, though I can't off the top of my head think of any examples of him using it in his lyrics

Yeah, a Morrissey word is right

When I first heard this song-- via sheet music!-- it was my first exposure to DM. I guess, now, thinking about other Martin songs, that a "this is meant to be creepy" explanation makes more sense, he's always walked that line?

But like:

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/81niaViDThL.jpg

You might understand why I felt confused about the man's intentions? And I do feel that a great-many listeners would take these manipulative lyrics at face-value and just think that this is "normal male sensitivity and romanticism"?

I first heard it from the Veruca Salt cover, and assumed it was meant to be creepy

normal goth teen sensitivity and romanticism maybe