"World in My Eyes" is a song by the English electronic music band Depeche Mode. It was released on 17 September 1990 as the fourth and final single from their seventh studio album, Violator (1990). The song peaked at number two in Denmark and Spain, number 17 on the UK Singles Chart, and number 52 on the US Billboard Hot 100.

Background

"[Martin Gore] did the demo on his own," recalled Andy Fletcher. "I don't remember it standing out when we heard it then. But somehow, in the studio, it all came together brilliantly… Whenever I'm asked which of our tracks is my favourite, I always say 'World in My Eyes'." Gore also stated that the song is a very positive song. "It's saying that love and sex and pleasure are positive things." Additionally, Gore explained the stages it went through in terms of the original demo version. "I remember the original demo of "World in My Eyes" being slightly faster and maybe slightly more obvious. While we were recording it in Milan, [Dave Gahan] was going away for a couple of days, so we worked on it and turned it into this really moody piece. I can remember Dave arriving back in the studio, slightly jet-lagged and being totally shocked, thinking that we just ruined the song, but half a day later he came back and said 'That's really good, the way it's turned out'. It always takes a while to get used to things."

Release

The "World in My Eyes" single release includes two exclusive B-sides, "Happiest Girl" and "Sea of Sin", which were mixed by François Kevorkian and feature additional production by Alan Friedman. The "Jack" mix and "Tonal" mix are the main 7-inch versions respectively, while the 12-inch versions are "Kiss-A-Mix" and "Sensoria". No "original" versions of either tracks were released, or rather, both mixes serve as the finished versions of the tracks. The cover art for "World in My Eyes" has a photo of one of the band members making a shape similar to that of glasses with their hands. The 12-inch mix of "World in My Eyes" is the "Oil Tank" mix, which was also mixed by Kevorkian, although it features a large amount of added synth overdubs by Friedman and does not include the chorus or third verse. The 2004 re-release of the European single includes a longer intro for this mix. On the limited 12-inch single, there are pictures of all four members on the back of the sleeve. This includes two remixes of "World in My Eyes" and one of "Happiest Girl".

Music video

The music video for "World in My Eyes" was directed by Anton Corbijn. There are two versions; the original version was not originally released to the public until The Videos 86>98. The original music video features some footage from the World Violation Tour, while Dave Gahan and a girl he's with watch it from a drive-in cinema. The alternate version on Strange Too features the band in the car instead, more live footage, and the silent ending with Gahan is longer.

Notable cover versions

The song was covered by the Cure for the 1998 tribute album For the Masses.

Track listings

All songs were written by Martin Gore. UK 7-inch and cassette single UK 12-inch single UK limited-edition 12-inch single UK CD single UK limited-edition CD single US 12-inch and maxi-cassette single US maxi-CD single Japanese CD EP

Personnel

Charts

Release history