I find this such a sad song. I think it's about a person whose life is completely screwed up, in part because of his own faults, personal flaws and mistakes he's made because of these flaws, along with being in the wrong place at the wrong time, and constantly making the wrong decisions.

It also seems a little fatalistic, in that the person in question was put on a path destined to fail, one that he was not meant to take.

Anyway, I already love it, can't wait to hear more from the new album

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Brilliant song .. I really love the lyrics..

"I was born with the wrong sign
in the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrological_sign
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_(astrology)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ascendant

i think its just talking about how since "he" was born at the wrong time everything else went wrong

This song is about being predestined in a bad way, and not being able to do nothing but idly watch urself go by a path you don't want to take. Hes saying life ultimately unfolds itself only one way and its the approach we take to make it right or wrong, which is evident in the last part of the song where he repeats everything in the past tense, indicating he has now changed his way.

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This song is about being predestined in a bad way, and not being able to do nothing but idly watch urself go by a path you don't want to take. Hes saying life ultimately unfolds itself only one way and its the approach we take to make it right or wrong, which is evident in the last part of the song where he repeats everything in the past tense, indicating he has now changed his way.

Firstly, will this forum please change the lyrics from "the wrong lies on the wrong vibes" to "the wrong eyes on the wrong prize."

I think this song is collectively about HUMANITY and the theory of world systems.

Sounds like it is about the sudden comprehension, that after a lifetime of experience that everything you planned, the goals you worked toward, are worthless cause you were so completely without understanding of what the right things were. For example, if you have spent a lifetime acquiring wealth to support your family and your spouse decides to dump you, all that sacrifice (overtime, stress, put off vacations, etc) was wasted. You had a plan, but the other players had a different playbook, you become a loser in life. This song is so negative; it’s got to ring true to many a depressed soul. I feel worst for having analyzed the lyrics.

Like the lines "With the wrong tune playing till it sounded right". I think its about when you keep making the wrong choices that lead to bad circumstances & you convince yourself its ok, not your fault. Blame it on luck, when you were born, your family, the people you hang out with, anything to take that guilt off yourself. For a lot of people that choice is to do drugs - keep making the same mistakes until you can make them feel ok but it could be anything. Just a thought.

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This is a great song. I love the music video.

This song is so different from anything on my playlist,
lol! I love it! Even though the lyrics are dark
I love the music, the album cover I thot looked very cool
and creative, yet simple. Maybe symbolic....

Depeche Mode wrote the wrong song, with the wrong rhyme.
Their lyrics sound so wrong that it should be a crime.
Back together at the wrong time, or the wrong place
whatever wrong they did, this album's one big mistake.

wrong

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I think the song is about somebody who...well, feels that they are wrong. That they are too different, that they don't belong to the rest of the world because of being so different.

The line 'I used the wrong method with the wrong technique' scares the hell out of me, because I think it refers to somebody doing a big mistake like killing somebody else or something like that.

It's a quiet dark, sad and frustrating song, but yet in the end when it comes to 'With the wrong tune playing 'til it sounded right, yeah' it gets more positive. This again's got two different meanings again:
1) It reminds me of one of the band members practising one of their songs until it sounded right (maybe it was this songs?) but more
2) the person finally feels right. After all those 'wrongs' (downs) the character is 'right' (up) again.

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many have touched on parts of the track and have been right but i feel some of you have missed the mark so to speak. so i've interpreted the song and have given a meaning. keep in my mind this is only my interpretation. i could be wrong...

also keep in mind that you must make this interpretation from the point of view of the title of the album and believe in such things as astrology and fate with a bit of philosophy.

I was born with the wrong sign, in the wrong house
With the wrong ascendancy

- i agree with laurelinwyntre on this one. the stars/heavens play a role in our lives. now to understand this i'll have to go out on a bit of a limb here because one can't be born with the wrong chart. it is what it is. so i believe he was born with the wrong chart because he had the wrong parents or lack thereof. and they playing a major role in how he came to be.

I took the wrong road that led to
The wrong tendencies

- he made the wrong choices in life leading possibly to a life of crime and bad behavior.

I was in the wrong place, at the wrong time
For the wrong reason and the wrong rhyme

- being at the wrong place at the wrong time may refer to his life since he started his wrong path but most likely i believe it refers to the time of his birth. being born under the wrong circumstances. refer to wrong house/sign/ascendecy.

Theres something wrong with me, chemically
Something wrong with me, inherently

- simply referring to the fact that he doesn't function quite normally which leads to frustrations with trying to make it in life.

The wrong mix in the wrong genes
I reached the wrong ends by the wrong means

- adding more to the fact that there are so many negative factors leading to his current situation. and because of his lot in life he chose the wrong means to achieve the wrong goals.

It was the wrong plan in the wrong hands
With the wrong theory for the wrong man

- loreiya touches on some of this. i believe that this person is different. maybe deeply introverted along with a dark past. he may even be misunderstood. this person, i believe, comes close the Byronic Hero [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byronic_hero] who made some wrong choices due to his circumstances. but for whatever reasons this person is capable of following through with the wrong plans and the wrong man to hold wrong believes about others.

The wrong lies on the wrong vibes
The wrong questions with the wrong replies

- seems that this person is dealing with integrity issues and is asking all the wrong questions and getting the wrong answers.

I was marching to the wrong drum with the wrong scum
Pissing out the wrong energy

- it seems like his mannerisms and way of walking very much matches this song.

Using all the wrong lines and the wrong signs
With the wrong intensity

- he's spewing out all sorts of bad things with what might be hatred behind his words and actions.

I was on the wrong page of the wrong book
With the wrong rendition of the wrong hook

- same old wrong story.

this man's life was simply fated for tragedy. even though he did make his choices in life he had bad luck. in this case every factor that could go wrong did go wrong including this person being a little different/special than the rest of us.

for those interested in the story of the universe and not their songs. check out

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Predeterminism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Determinism

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_will

For starters, will the poster of the lyrics please change "The wrong lies on the wrong vibes" to the CORRECT lyrics of "the wrong eyes on the wrong prize" as listed in the lyrics booklet that came with the album.

As a simple interpretation of the song at face value, the speaker exists under all the "wrong" aspects of life. Nothing is in his favor and the choices he has made have been incorrect. All in all, an unfortunate life, though partially his fault.


This post was mostly to have the lyrics corrected, though. Incorrect lyrics can lead to incorrect interpretations (though many will still exist).

Hmmmmm... lots of people reading the meaning as some sort of lifespan experience, when I'm seeing it as an individual experience between the songwriter and one other person. Musicians see lots of different women. Gore, part of the BDSM community, has different experiences with different Doms and subs. Then sometimes writes a poem/lyric to go along with each experience, some making it on albums.

So I see this one as a Domme who has Brainwashed him for the duration of the encounter between the two. Telling him he's wrong, over and over, until he finally admits he's wrong about everything and then after the experience, he writes it down and it became a song. Then he goes on to find another set of Doms/subs to play with to have another new experience. So it's not a "lifespan" experience with a duration of years.

A lot of people feel this is a depressing, fatalistic song, but to me is more of an acknowledgement of living, well, "wrong", and this realization is the first step towards making things right.

While written by Martin Gore, his reclusive nature leaves a lot of questions as to if this song is autobiographical - or if it's written from the eyes of lead singer, Dave Gahan. Assuming it is about Gahan, he stumbled into legal problems as a child after the death of his father, struggled with serious drug addiction, suicide attempts, several failed marriages (see the song "Precious" written regarding children and divorce, another issue both Gahan and Gore had in common).
After a decade or more of sobriety for Gahan, I think this song is an insightful reflection on the past, including the downfalls and negative opportunities fame gave to fuel several aspects of self-destruction.
As to the deterministic undertones, it could very well be from the 12-Steps program for sobriety; admitting one is powerless, making a searching and fearless moral inventory of oneself and admit when WRONG - the final step is to pass this message onto others.

I could be (pardon the pun) quite wrong about this interpretation, but it's the one that feels the most accurate taking into account the personal background of the singers and songwriters. Just sort of the simple explanation for a troubled past as "being in the wrong place at the wrong time".