Deeper and Deeper

"Deeper and Deeper" was released as a double A-side single along with "Saw Something" and is the third track on Hourglass.

Lyrics

Dave's Take

"['Deeper and Deeper'] came about from a backing track that Andrew was working on, and to me it just had this very sort of dark feel about it and really aggressive and sort of filthy nasty rhythm track that they had put together, and I just had written these words...I think I was particularly pissed off on that day, and I decided to put it into the song...it's a song that's really sexually aggressive, and about wanting it, wanting to have things my way, to be in control, and that song was very much about performance. It came together really quickly...we completed it quite quickly and I had put this stuff on there; Christian and I arranged it in a certain way and Andrew was very keen for me to write another part which would be like a C-part, which would take the song somewhere else and I never heard that, or I didn't hear it being like that. So, it became a thing throughout the first six weeks of...we've got to come up with another part...so that the song is more of a developed song in a traditional form. But it wasn't about that- it was about an atmosphere. I never did it."¹

My Take

This song just sounds dirty and sexy. And it's one of few songs where Dave doesn't use his normal singing voice but he rather employs a very growl-y and scream-y tone throughout. I've got to imagine that it's pretty hard on the voice, and he does confirm that in this interview below where he said that he was "done" after singing through it just twice (starting around the 5:08 mark):

As for the lyrics, well...I've got to say that Dave is probably one of very few artists who could get away with releasing a song like this! The theme is quite similar to Depeche Mode's "Master and Servant," where it speaks of a power struggle within a relationship. But unlike the Depeche Mode song where the singer is the subservient one "underneath," this song is from the "domination's the name of the game" point-of-view. While the lyrics allude to a power struggle within a relationship, I definitely get the sense that there is a struggle within one's self, as well- namely, a struggle between the intellectual and carnal. In fact, Dave expressed it best when he said (while mentioning this song, also), "There's that side of me that wants to be the loving, caring father, and there's the other side of me that's just a dirty animal. If I don't let that out, I go nuts."² This has to be one of my favorite quotes of all time by him because it is so brutally sexy and honest.

Music Video

There is no music video for this song.

References

1. "Dave Gahan Hourglass Interview + Radio IDs", EMI Music, Greece (September 13, 2007)
2. "The Spin Interview: Dave Gahan", SPIN (November 2, 2007)