DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 20: NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN

 

Before we got a taste of Music For The Masses, Depeche Mode released the second single from that album, no doubt hoping that the chart position for Strangelove was nothing more than a blip.

Booming drums courtesy of Led Zepplin, a guitar riff mistake type think turned into a noisy, powerful opening and a song filled with high after high - they couldn't fail right?

Wrong. Instead of bowing down at the majesty of Never Let Me Down Again, everyone said "houses and trousers? What?" and bought records by Wet Wet Wet and Bon Jovi instead.

Honestly, what more does a band have to do eh? Let's explore BONG14.

SEE THE STARS, THEY'RE SHINING BRIGHT - NEVER LET ME DOWN AGAIN

The Single

Picture courtesy of Depeche Mode Classic Photos & Videos Facebook Group

The world was introduced to Never Let Me Down Again on August 24th 1987. The single garnered the usual mixed reviews that one expected of Depeche Mode releases of this era. Smash Hits liked it, saying "So often The Mode thump out the same old synthesized ploddings but this one's definitely more memorable because it's... well, it's creepy. Shiver your spinal "column" to the hollow, jaggy and sinister toots, shake in your sandals at the eerie 'n' horrible choir-sound searing over the top of it all, and then ponder the sentence "Promises me I'm as safe as houses/ as long as I remember who's wearing the trousers". The b-side of this is quite a good disco belter too." More of the "disco belter" B-side shortly. 

The NME disagreed: "Never Let Me Down Again is oddly conventional and I wouldn't be surprised if it had something to do with drugs, man." They then quoted the first line adding "...Sarge, the sniffer dogs." Hmmm. The NME's "rival" Melody Maker was slightly less dismissive with Paul Lester saying the song was "(n)ot as pervy as their greatest moment (A Question Of Lust) but still possessing that uncanny ability to peel bakc the first couple of layers of contempt without shouting too loud." Business as usual then.

In Germany, Bravo magazine was very much in favour of the song, especially the Split Mix which I will come on to praise effusively in a bit. Of that remix they said "To my ears it's the most exciting piece of music DM has ever released! The new Depeche sound is unbeatable, as is the melody." Quite right.

For once, Depeche Mode didn't appear on Top Of The Pops in the UK. Instead, they appeared on ITV's short lived and not as good as TOTP show The Roxy.  It only takes 9 seconds for a number of questions to arise. Firstly, Dave's top. You'd like to think that the black t-shirt he was wearing got caught on a nail on the way to the stage thus causing it to unravel in a comic book style, leaving only half of it on him by the time Dave "Kid" Jensen got the band started. Sadly, it looks as if that's the top he chose. On the positive side, just look at Alan. That is peak Wilder right there. Hair taller than most houses, sunglasses and 142.5% leather. Well played Mr W. Dave then ruins this good vibe by playing air guitar. Stop that now Dave. Stop it immediately. The Jagger like hands on hips pose he pulls seconds later, revealing his top in all its "glory" is something I'm prepared to say he did in jest. It makes me feel better.

It's only a full minute in that we properly see Martin. He's fully clothed and is actually wearing white. This is very, very odd indeed. The big Bong Megaphones on the stage look good mind you. Fletch is up the back doing that aggressive synth prodding he does so well. 

The single's performance in the charts is yet further proof the British public had temporarily lost their minds in the late 80's. Instead of Never Let Me Down Again going into the charts at Number 1 and the Split Mix being declared the new national anthem, it entered the charts at 22 on 5th September and then fell to 26, 29 and finally 55 before popping on its chart trousers and leaving the chart house (erm..) for good. That's right, the highest it got to was number 22. I give up.

You don't need me to tell you how good Never Let Me Down Again is. It is a staggeringly good track, as loud and blustery and as powerful as Depeche had sounded to that point. A huge, booming beast of a song that is a guaranteed highlight of any live show. Oddly, the band disagree with that as they've only played it live once in Zurich at the Hallenstadion on 12th November 1987. 

I am, of course, being hilarious. It's been played 963 times by Depeche Mode and why the hell not eh? The arm waving section as the song builds to its crescendo is one of the great live experiences and, despite some slight odd arrangements in recent years, specifically the Exciter tour version (2001 is still recent - leave me alone) it is always a great, unifying moment at any Depeche gig. You feel as if the venue is moving as one, swept along on a communal high as arms fly around all over the place. Never Let Me Down Again live is a very, very special thing.

The B-side is Pleasure, Little Treasure,a song that is my Mum's joint favourite Depeche track with Enjoy The Silence. These are the type of facts you need to know. It's a really good song but rightly more B-side than album track as it would have stood out a bit on Music For The Masses. It was played on 95 dates on that album's tour which I've always found to be rather brave of them. As you will see from the Rose Bowl footage, Dave once again treats us to his air guitar moves on this song. Oh Dave.

The Video

Anton returned and gave us a cracking video. Rather wonderfully, it starts as Strangelove ended with the orange Bong Megaphone fading it, only it's been abandoned by the four chairs it made friends with in Paris and has ended up in a field in Denmark. That must have been quite a night out. The orange fades to black and white and off we go.

We see some blurry, arty fields before we find Dave with his head down on a table looking like he was on the night out with the Bong Megaphone. An old man, real name Valdemar Christensen fact fans, joins him and enjoys his cup of coffee, ignoring Dave who continues to sit, face down. Suddenly though, Dave bursts into life and sings "I'm..." before promptly forgetting the rest of the sentence and looking sorry for himself again. He'll never go drinking with the Bong Megaphone again. He manages the second line before deciding he prefers coffee to singing while Valdemar minds his own business, ignoring the lightweight popstar beside him, Dave has enough and jumps in his wee bubble car, leaving a visibly relieved Valdemar to get on with his day.

There then follows quite a bit more driving before Fletch suddenly pops up in a field. Hello Fletch. And look, here's Martin too playing an accordion standing beside some logs as you do when on holiday in Denmark. Dave drives past them both and, as I can guarantee each and every one of you has done, drives along singing the second verse, drumming on the steering wheel. Admit it. You know you have.

Alan pops up, 132.8 % leather with hair slicked back in that way that only Alan ever thought was fashionable before things get very serious indeed. We see Martin free of logs and accordion pointing somewhere and Fletch running through his field pointing too. Even Valdemar gets in on the act, shouting, pointing and waving his stick. What's going on? Had Dave forgotten to get the Danish equivalent of an MOT and they were trying to warn him that the Danish Transport Authority were after him? (They deal with all vehicle roadworthiness tests in Denmark and are known as Faerdselsstyrelsen - FACT MODE!) Martin and Fletch keep running (very odd seeing Martin run) yet Dave just keeps on going. At 2 minutes 25 seconds, we have one of the legendary Depeche video moments where Alan runs around the corner like a black, leather clad giraffe and he looks sensational. Nothign can stop Dave though.

Suddenly, and inexplicably, Alan falls over in a field. Perhaps his hair was so slicked back that time itself slipped. Things get worse for Alan when he floats past us as if he's dead which is very bad news for the international leather industry. And then there it is.....

2 minutes 50 seconds in we see the field of wheat waving. Suddenly, something from a video becomes a very big thing in Depeche Mode world. Pause there and remember just what it feels like to be at a Depeche Mode concert. We'll be back there one day.

Anyway, back in Denmark, it's all kicked off. Dave is out of the car and doing an odd crucifix pose. Despite that though, we then have a shot of the car door opening from the inside. As you're mulling over the continuity issues there, it's suddenly dark and the no longer dead Alan and Fletch are lifting Dave out of the water he's ended up in while Martin comes over and peers in the car like a very odd man. There's footage of Fletch running and then footage of Fletch holding Dave which is impressive work on Andy's part before we see Martin heading off on a night out with the Bong Megaphone, no doubt ready to show it how to properly drink. By this point, Dave has been abandoned by the rest of the band and is seen stumbling up a banking, singing. As Martin sings his part by lamplight, we see Dave fall over in a manner that would embarrass most footballers. Alan and Andy rescue him again before Dave once again takes a dive again and, having been booked for the first dive, gets a second yellow and thus a red card. That was later appealed meaning he wasn't suspended for the Behind The Wheel video. 

Alternatively, it's a superb video and deserves to be watched over and over again.

The Formats

There were five formats plus a few promos in the UK. The picture above for example is a promo 7" version of the 7" although there is no difference at all between that and the standard one.

The artwork on 7BONG14 is fantastic. The A-side label too is an absolute joy. 

The rear sleeve is just as lovely though the label's information crammed appearance means it's not as striking as the A-side.

The second ever Depeche Mode cassette single appeared with this release. CBONG14 features the three tracks you can see above which we'll look at in a bit.

The cassette comes in a sleeve that it presses into rather than in the usual cassette box.

12BONG14 is home to the Split Mix of Never Let Me Down Again. That is all you really need to know. There should be a law that punishes people who don't like this remix such is its quality. If they had used this in Apocalypse Now rather than Ride Of The Valkyries, the film would have been improved. It is astounding and I will fight you if you say otherwise. Sadly, this was the last time the band would be directly involved in a 12" remix. The end of an era, but what a way to end. The label on the 12" is a work of art equal to the song's indescribable majesty. 

The B-Side gives us the Glitter Mix of Pleasure, Little Treasure which is a nice mix and the Aggro Mix of Never Let Me Down Again which is entirely oustanding and gloriously loud. Brilliant.

L12BONG14 is a curious chap. The artwork and labels are, naturally, splendid. Later pressings came with labels that were disappointing however as they looked as if they'd been photocopied. Anyway, the A-Side features the Tsangarides Mix of Never Let Me Down Again. Chris Tsangarides was a British producer famed for working with rock and heavy metal bands. His remix however is an oddly bland affair that takes away the rough edges and power of the original. I've never quite got it.

The B-side features the Join Mix of Pleasure, Little Treasure and the Spanish Taster version of To Have And To Hold.

There was a CD single too. CDBONG14 which, like Strangelove, came with a curious textured inner sleeve.

The CD features four tracks - the Split and Aggro mixes of Never Let Me Down Again, the Join Mix of Pleasure, Little Treasure and To Have And To Hold (Spanish Taster). The four track CD was reissued in a jewel box in 1992.

1992 also saw an 8 track CD single released that took all the songs from 7BONG14, 12BONG14 and L12BONG14 and put them in one safe place. 

The 2004 box set featured the same 8 tracks on CD.

There are two 12" promos if you fancy those. 12BONG14 (above) features the 12BONG14 tracks.

P12BONG14 features the single versions of Never Let Me Down Again and the Split Mix.

In Germany, we once again got a red 7" single but sadly this was the last of that particular series. The coloured vinyl 12" singles would carry on for one more release however.

The record features the same two tracks as 7BONG14

The first of two coloured vinyl 12" releases is this lovely orange version of 12BONG14.

It features the same tracks as 12BONG14 and thus includes the Split Mix meaning that it is a must have record.

The L12BONG14 coloured vinyl version is a marbled vinyl release.

It houses the same three curious tracks the standard L12BONG14 houses.

The German blue stripe CD features the same four tracks as CDBONG14.

The French CD single features those same four tracks too.

Moving away from Europe, the Japanese releases were on 7" and 12". The 7" is pictured above.

As with previous Japanese 7" releases, the cover is a thin, shiny sheet. On the back it you can find the lyrics to Never Let Me Down Again and Pleasure, Little Treasure in English and Japanese.

In America, a promo 12" was released featuring the album version of Never Let Me Down Again on each side.

The US 12" features 5 tracks. The A-side has the Split and Aggro mixes and is therefore possibly the greatest side of vinyl ever.

The B-Side contains the two remixes of Pleasure, Little Treasure from 12BONG14 and L12BONG14 and the Tsangarides Mix of Never Let Me Down Again.

Finally, there is a rare 4 track promo CD from America. It features the Split, Aggro and Tsangarides mixes alongside the CHR Single Edit of Never Let Me Down Again which is the single version. There are bootlegs of this CD out there which seem to be more common than the original so watch out. You are looking for a CD that has a black ring around the disc edge and a smaller black ring around the matrix area. The bootleg has no black ring around the disc edge so check before you buy.

What an odd single. A towering giant of a song, a remix that stands among the band's finest and the start of a one of the great Depeche Mode live experiences.

And it got to Number 22. 

Shortly after this single came out, the band released Music For The Masses and everything started to change for them. There would be one more single from the album and "wheel" have a look at that next time. 

DEPECHE MODE - THE SINGLES 1981 TO 2021 PART 19: STRANGELOVE

 

It took Depeche Mode only 8 months to get over the Black Celebration tour and record a new album - fast work especially by their recent standards.

The first the world got to hear of this new work was on 27th April 1987 when Strangelove was released. There's a lot in this one - promos, US releases, odd Japanese floating heads and so on.

Let's have a riverfull of Strangelove.

YOU HAVE TO MAKE THIS LIFE LIVEABLE - STRANGELOVE

The Single

BONG13 was announced with a series of rather lovely posters (subway one above) and adverts initially promising a new 7" and 3 track 12" single. A dazzling new format, a CD single, was later advertised alongside a limited edition 12". To celebrate the new release, the band threw a party and invited Smash Hits.

Everyone got drunk, the party made the cover of the magazine and the promotional trail and the partying kicked off. Smash Hits guest reviewer Gary Numan gave the song Single Of The Fortnight in the 22nd April edition. 

In the same edition, Smash Hits featured a lyric poster. Martin, you appear to be wearing a parachute harness - please see a stylist immediately. Alan has returned to around 66% leather you will note.

The NME and Melody Maker were naturally less enthusiastic. The NME claims that the song lacked previous singles' "clumsy naivety" and remarkably said the song was "another sortie into Soft Cell territory."  I like Soft Cell a lot but this is nothing like one of their songs. Melody Maker said "...(W)here have all those invigorating, off the wall ideas gone? The last one they had was all leather and lace and I think it's about time they all got their heads together and had another one." The usual tripe.

Undaunted, the band appeared on Top Of The Pops on 7th May.

The single entered the charts on 9th May at the low number of 23. While a second or third single from an album might be expected to perform like that, it was not an encouraging number for a brand new single. The Top Of The Pops appearance led to the track jumping up seven places to 16 the following week however and no wonder. A sea of black, a quite wonderful song and...wait a minute...A GUITAR??! What nonsense is this? Depeche Mode are an electronic band. This is a disgrace etc etc. Guitar hilarity aside, even Alan's hair appears to have turned leather by this stage. 

The British record buying public continued their Depeche Mode boycott and the single tumbled to 20 the following week then 30 and finally 49 before the public quite clearly had had enough of this particular sea of love. All of this despite the single being released on the fancy new slice of the future CD single format in the UK. Depeche Mode embraced the future and their home country told them to sod off. 

Strangelove is of course a wonderful song as you all know. I think I still prefer the album as it's just a bit darker but the single version starts off incredibly. The only thing that grates is the Level 42 style slap bass type bassline. Fine for them, not right for Depeche Mode. Strangelove was initially a live favourite too, being played at every Music For The Masses and World Violation date. It then disappeared untul the Sounds Of The Universe tour where it popped up 28 times on the first run of dates. Where the Music For The Masses tour version, best encapsulated by the glorious 101 version, was sensational and the World Violation version hugely enjoyable, the 2009 version just didn't really work. It starts like the 101 version of course but the drums immediately detract from its power and it just limps on from there. All a bit toothless like much of that era's sets. The Anton video the band used is awful too. Thankfully, the song's 34 renditions on the Global Spirit Tour were more fun, with the song recreated as a Martin solo with piano from Peter. For a song many fans love, and for one that is an emotional highpoint of 101 (one of its many emotional highpoints), the fact it has only appeared 251 times is a pity.

The B-Side of Strangelove is of course Pimpf. By any standard, its bloody marvellous. It's been played live 101 times though not really as it was just the tape which it famously started but as we all love Pimpf, we can all agree that it formed a vital part of the 87/88 gigs. 

The Video

The good news was that the band had retained Anton Corbijn after the baby kidnapping A Question of Time video and with Strangelove, Depeche Mode found their image. Grainy black and white, Paris, leather, underwear models and even a laugh or two. This is the exact point Depeche Mode began to look incredible.

We open on a Parisian balcony with Alan and Dave (leather content 135%) stepping out to admire a headless woman before Martin and Andy do the same (leather content 76.9%) albeit from another balcony and with a different headless women. The Bong Megaphone is spotted in on of Paris' many beautiful parks before any notion of subtlety is forgotten entirely and we see Alan holding the megaphone in a wholly phallic way as we see the model with freshly grown head wander around near the Eiffel Tower. She pops up as we variously see Dave dancing and waving his arms and he and Alan looking like hugely bored entirely leather clad schoolchildren on a trip to Paris. "Yes that tower is really impressive but they sell booze to under 12s here so can't we go and do that?" We've all been there albeit with less leather and no megaphone in the nether regions.

Dave and Alan finally track the woman down and wander over to the camera to show off what they've been doing. Alan has a L on his right palm and Dave has an O on his. What could it all mean? Well, it's blindingly obvious but bear with me. Curiously, the woman they've been following all over Paris lets them into her flat and we get lots of footage of her on the bed as Alan and Dave hover in the shadows. Strange indeed. 

What of Martin and Andy though? The quieter pair of the two pairs ramble around Paris and we see Martin sitting on his own in a park with a Bong Megaphone and happily, it's not in any suggestive place. He and Fletch appear around 1 minute 34 and Andy's poor choice of a white top under all the black makes him look rather like a priest who is taking a clearly troubled fluffy haired boy on a tour of Notre Dame. Dave continues to sing and groove and then Father Fletcher lets everyone down by doing the Bong Megaphone as a nob routine. We end up in another lady's flat and she displays her full array of rubber clothing as the band hang around in the shadows clearly terrified. "Why can't we be playing space invaders with milkmen?" Martin (possibly) says. 

As we get to "Pain!" someone, probably Alan, kicks over a vase of roses and Dave appears with his sunglasses lit as if to suggest he's gone all demonic, The band then appear too singing "Pain" and then we see that Fletcher and Gore have copied the bigger, trendier boys and written a a V and an E on their respective right hands. L O V and E - once again, a Depeche Mode video uses unsubtle imagery to spell out its message, literally in this case.

The last 30 seconds of so are positively fun filled, we Dave pretending to faint, the band laughing because one of them forgets to sing the one word song title and much, much more, before it ends superbly on the Bong Megaphone surrounded by four chairs as colour bleeds into the film turning the megaphone orange.

It's an excellent video.

The Formats

Strangelove (7BONG13 above) was released on four formats. The Bong Megaphone features heavily as you can see and the label of the 7" is a fine thing.

The rear of the 7" is less fancy, as is the label, though it is crammed with useful information.

12BONG13 sees the Bong Megaphone turn around to say hello. The nicely labelled A-side features the glorious Maxi Mix of Strangelove. Again, I know I'm an old man who wallows in nostalgia, but those really were the golden days of remixes.

The rear sleeve mirrors the 7" sleeve and the label copies the 7" B-side label. The two tracks here are odd - the Midi Mix of Strangelove is a minute and half or so of general pointlessness and Fpmip is Pimpf with the "Oh- EE - AHH" bit at the start as well as the end. Hmmm.

L12BONG13 is a much more satisfactory affair. Firstly, it says "Limited Edition" on the front and that sort of thing pleases me. The Bong Megaphone is seen in all sorts of poses too and the label is white and very nice indeed. Music wise, we have the Blind Mix of Strangelove which is just great and Pimpf.

The Pain Mix of Strangelove kicks off the B-side and it's yet another enjoyable remix. It is joined by the gloriously haunting Agent Orange, one of Depeche Mode's greatest instrumentals. A masterpiece.

There were 3 12" promos for some reason. SBONG13 (above) features the single versions of Strangelove and Pimpf on the A-Side and the Maxi Mix on the B-side.

CLUBBONG13 features the Maxi Mix and the Pain Mix.

Finally, DANCEBONG13 features the Blind Mix and the Fresh Ground Mix, a more minimal version of the Pain Mix but one featuring a prominent Cameo sample that meant it couldn't get released. This promo sheet came with my version:

There's a 7" promo too - RBONG13. 

I mentioned earlier that this single saw Depeche Mode brave the new world of the CD single. Here then is CDBONG13. There are two variations - one with red writing on the CD and one with black writing. 

The CD features the single versions of Strangelove, Pimpf and Agent Orange as well as the Maxi and Midi mixes.

Whatever colour the lettering on your CD, they both come in an oddly textured protective pouch.

During the odd run of late 80's singles appearing on CD in 1992, CDBONG13 appeared in an extended format featuring the original 5 tracks and adding the Pain and Blind mixes together with Fpmip.

Finally, the CD in the fourth CD singles box repeated the 1992 reissue trick and featured the same 8 tracks.

Heading to Germany, we once again had a red vinyl 7".

You know how this works by now - same tracks as on the UK 7"

The coloured vinyl version on 12BONG13 is a lovely orange record.

It features the same tracks as the UK 12"

There is a coloured vinyl version of L12BONG13 too. Again, it comes on orange vinyl.

It features the L12BONG13 tracks, I should say that all the German coloured vinyl releases I refer to on here and in previous blogs also come in standard black vinyl.

The German blue stripe CD comes in a jewel box and features the three single versions of the A-side and B-sides plus the Maxi and Midi mixes. There was also an 8 track CD single reissue in Germany in 1992.

As well as a 7" and the two 12" releases in France, there is also this CD single which features the same tracks as the German CD single.

This cassette single is available too. It says K7 in the circle on the top right of the sleeve. There will be a reason for that but I've no idea what it is. The cassette features the Maxi Mix and the three single versions of the A and B sides.

The Japanese 7" is bizarre but wonderful. As you can see, the cover features four floating Depeche Mode heads. Why not eh?

The four heads re-attach themselves to their host bodies on the rear of the sleeve and, as a bonus, you get the words to Strangelove in English and Japanese. The tracklist is the same as on 7BONG13.

The Japanese 12" is a lovely thing too. 

It features the same three tracks as 12BONG13.

Strangelove reached number 76 on the Billboard chart and the single was released on a number of formats. The promo 12" above has a greenish sleeve and contains the Pain Mix, the Pain Mix (7" Edit) and Agent Orange.

The US 12" features the Maxi and Midi mixes on its A-side,

The Blind Mix and FPmip are on the B-side.

There was also a dreadfully sleeved additional 12". Look at that for God's sake. 

This monstrosity contains the same three tracks as the US promo 12". There is also a cassette single available which comes in a longbox.

STOP PRESS - BONUS BLOG ALERT

The band's American label Sire saw fit to re-releases Strangelove on 23rd August 1988. It's commonly known as Strangelove 88 though it isn't actually called that. It came out even though the Music For The Masses tour had ended and it appears to have been released with the 1988 MTV Music Awards entirely in mind.  It did better than the original release and reached number 50 in the Billboard chart. I wasn't going to do this as it technically breaches the rules I've set but I've come this far with Strangelove so I may as well finish it off

The Video

A new video was made and was directed by Martyn Atkins. Everyone is dressed in white and they all dance awkwardly as Dave sings, whirls around and generally is Dave, The very cool images and icons of the time are beamed everywhere and the video meanders on not doing very much at all. Full marks to Alan for singing "Pain" enthusiastically while Messrs Gore and Fletcher fail to put their backs into it. That's that really - there's not a great deal to say about it. In any event, this blog is now the longest thing I've ever done so I've probably said enough anyway.

The Formats

There is a 7" which features a 7" edit of the Album version (the album version being used on the video) and Nothing (Remix Edit) which we'll look at when we get to BONG16. There is a cassette single too that contains the same two tracks.

The 12" has a lovely sleeve as you can see. The A-side features the Highjack Mix of Strangelove (one for BONG16 again) and Strangelove (Remix Edit) which is an edited version of the Highjack Mix.

The B-Side features two alright but not worth getting that excited about remixes of Nothing - Zip Hop Mix and Dub Mix. The latter mix is exclusive to this format and the promo 12". That promo 12" contauins the same four tracks as this 12" in a sleeve as equally hideous as the 1987 12" above.

A two track 3" CD was released in a long thin sleeve similar to the Japanese snap pack sleeves that we've not yet looked at. My copy is sealed and intact. It's increasingly hard to find them in this state these days.

The two songs featured are the Remix Edit of Strangelove and the Remix Edit of Nothing.

You'll most commonly find the CD like this above. 

Finally, there is a fairly hard to find US promo CD. It features 4 remixes of Strangelove - Remix Edit, Album Version (7" Edit), Blind Mix (7" Edit) and Highjack Mix.  The Blind Mix (7" Edit) is exclusive to this release.

The sticker on the sleeve "hypes" the band's appearance at the 1988 MTV Video Music Awards.

And that is finally that. Strangelove was poorly received in the tone deaf UK but much better received everywhere else. It served as an indication of the new look and sound of Depeche Mode and set the scene for the massive success the band were about to have.

Next time, we'll look the single that followed it, the titanic Split Mix and wonder if "houses" really does rhyme with "trousers."